By focusing on SEO, you can increase visitors to your website and drive more leads into your pipeline.
You may have heard about “SEO” and wondered what it is and why is it important to your business’s website. SEO stands for "search engine optimization," and it is the process of improving the visibility of a website on search engine results pages, like Google. Search engines are the librarians of the internet. Their systems collect information about every page on the web so they can help people find what they are looking for when they type in a search query. Every search engine turns all that information into useful results. When your webpage has higher SEO rankings, the search engines will place your pages at the top of the results list.
KW Technology hosted a webinar with Katrina Benton who showed attendees how to transform their blog into an SEO machine. KW associates can view the recording of this webinar on KWUConnect here.
Ranking Higher Means More Leads
For real estate agents, an optimized website is a great lead generation machine. This is because more than 90 percent of buyers start their homebuying process online. But just having a website does not guarantee people will find it. To get on the radar, you need to create consistent website content such as a blog.
Focus Your Content
Ensure that your website content is focused on the markets you serve and the kinds of buyers and sellers you want to work with if you serve a specific population. If you work in a large city, it's easy to get lost in the search engine ranking with broad phraseology. Instead, choose a more specialized approach and stick with particular markets and neighborhoods you know well.
Put yourself in the client’s shoes and ask, “What would they want to know and how would they type that question into the search?”
Words Matter And Pictures, Too
Search engines account for every word on the web. This is why your content, headings, titles and links are so valuable to your website's findability.
You can enhance your website and blog posts with images. Including engaging, colorful images in your pages and blog posts is essential. Not only will the right photos entice potential customers to your site, they will help your content shine among a group of similarly-themed sites. Keller Williams agents: watch this short video on KWUConnect to learn more about picture power for your website.
Most people begin their online real estate research with a local keyword phrase like “[Your City] real estate agent.” Knowing this, you’ll want to make sure your site incorporates similar phrases such as:
[Your City] real estate
[Your City] homes for sale
[Your City] real estate listings
You can go even farther by drilling down to the main issues home buyers have such as:
[Your City] best schools
[Your City] best neighborhoods to raise children
Mobile Friendliness
In May 2015, Google announced that more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the United States and Japan. This means that your website needs to be easy to read on a mobile device. This is called “responsive.”
Without optimizing your business’s website for mobile search, your mobile search rankings will drop and be seen by fewer customers. Ultimately, this will result in fewer visits from mobile searches and fewer website-driven leads.
Keyword Optimization
Gone are the days where simply placing a keyword multiple times on a webpage will help it rank higher. Search engines caught on, and in an effort to deliver results readers actually want, emphasis was shifted.
Search engines look for relevant results now, not just who has the most keywords placed on a single page. Make sure that your content speaks to those topics for which you want to rank for with detail and purpose. You don’t have to do this all alone! Install an SEO plugin on your site to help guide you to setting the page up for keyword optimization. Many experts recommend Yoast SEO for WordPress sites.
You can also pay for Google AdWords, which charges you per click and you get to set the budget. Google ads will place at the top of a page before the search results and will be noted as an “ad.”
This is just an introduction into the world of SEO optimization. Start by getting your website set-up and optimized with as many relevant local search terms you can. Then plan a consistent blog schedule to post original content that is written with your reader in mind, not just rankings.
You will also want to install Google Analytics on your website to give you helpful insight into your visitors and content performance.
Are you an SEO overachiever? To take your strategy even further, consider working with a specialist who can help you rank higher.
See you online!