Real estate agents can achieve significant exposure on the
Web through their Web sites and blogs. According
the National Association of Realtors 2006 survey of Internet use (http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2006/01/hmbuyersellersurvey06),
24% of all buyers first learn about a home they purchased through the Internet,
and a whopping 77% of all buyers used the Internet to search for homes. An increasing number of home buyers (and
sellers) are savvy with technology and conduct their initial investigation of
homes real estate web sites.
Unfortunately, there is a surprising number of real estate
Web sites that don’t rank well in search engine results, even for properties in
their own communities. The agents who
own these sites likely don’t know much traffic and Web visibility their
missing.
Real Estate Location Keywords for SEO
So, how do we go about determining which keywords will work
well for an agent’s site? First and
foremost, it’s critical to know the specific cities to target, the size and
relative importance of each, and what variations exist for each name. For example, let’s choose Waukesha County, Wisconsin
for as a sample. Here’s the list of most
populous cities in descending order according to the 2000 U.S Census:
Waukesha
Brookfield
New Berlin
Muskego
Oconomowoc
Pewaukee
Delafield
These should be the core of the keywords used for a Waukesha county real
estate site as most buyers and sellers will target specific communities when
conducting searches. Variations should be
included such as Saint and St., Mount and Mt.,
directionals such as North and N., and Fls.
and Falls. Don’t forget to include Waukesha County itself!
Subject Keywords for Search Engine Optimization
The next sets of words and phrases to consider are subject
words. These represent the subject
matter of the site (and their derivations) for which visitors would look. Typical phrases that should be a the top of
the list are:
Real Estate
Realtor
Realty
Homes
Homes
Home Selling
Foreclosures (if these are important)
Properties
Properties
Real Estate
Condominiums
Again, this is a standard list that immediately comes to
mind. Consider using a keyword suggestion
tool or using the services of a Milwaukee Real Estate SEO Expert to help you
determine which ones are most valuable or others that belong on the list.
Secondary Real Estate Keywords for Long-Tail Searches
The last set of words to consider is secondary words that
will likely be part of long-tail searches.
Those are searches that go beyond the typical two to three core words
that were already chosen and they’ll generally be a part of the majority of
search traffic that will come to a real estate site. A few examples are:
Values
Agents
Listings
New Homes
For Sale
Financing
Relocation
Selecting keywords is one of the steps required in creating
a strong organic search engine profile for real estate Web sites. For more information on optimizing real
estate web sites for search engines, contact Demtron, your Milwaukee and Waukesha SEO Experts.
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