One of the best real estate marketing tips is optimizing your presence on Google search results, also known as “Search Engine Optimization.” When done right, you will have a much better chance to rank higher on local search results.
This guide has been written up with 10 solid tips to get you there.
1. Create and Optimize Your Google My Business listing.
This feature is a free method to establish your presence in local web searches, prioritize it over rivals and take clients from competitors. These details are vital to clients so make sure that you fill out every section of the Google Business Profile. When done right, you will greatly improve your rankings and metrics for people who take action upon finding you. Staying on top of these results means that you need to optimize and constantly update it like your website.
2. Get Customer Reviews
If you want to boost your business in local searches, customer reviews are vital. Google reviews make it simple and easy for someone who has interacted with a business to leave a rated review. Just open Google Maps on your device and type “customer rated [location name]” into the search bar. You will then be able to write a review and give feedback on your experience with the company. Deploying customer satisfaction surveys is an excellent way to get feedback and figure out where your business is doing well or insufficient. Surveys can also inspire customers to leave written feedback that conveys a more granular understanding of what does and does not work.
3. Optimize Your Website For Mobile Devices
Most customers are on mobile devices, meaning that your website needs to look good on the most prominent platforms. Search engines and individual mobile users who search for local businesses tend to prefer sites that are optimized for mobile viewing. Technology continues to evolve and with that evolution comes the need to change how to browse websites. Because people are seeking answers immediately upon reaching a site, your site needs to not only look good but be easy to navigate; fail to deliver on these aspects and you can lose potential business to competitors. Remember that mobile searches occupy over half of all Google searches and customers who visit a website poorly optimized for mobile viewing are much more likely to go elsewhere.
4. Update Your Businesses Information for Superior Visibility
Google’s algorithm does not just look into the proximity and relevance of a business for rankings, it also considers activity level. Optimizing your profile lets Google know that you are keeping busy, so it places you higher in local results. This not only drives traffic and conversions but your potential clientele will appreciate how accurate things are. Regularly keeping your business profile current can get customers to your site sooner.
5. Index Your Website
Make sure that your website provider has the ability to add longtail keywords. This helps search engines spit out more informative results. This content gets indexed and spat back out in search results but with indexing focused on the most relevant results. Adding Keywords to landing pages ensures that search results are more relevant and optimized for local SEO by syncing your Google Business Profile. This then helps provide quick answers near or at the top of the search engine results page (SERP).
6. Up Your Reviews
82% of consumers check reviews on local businesses, meaning you need to convert them into customers. While you can encourage customers to leave reviews, remember to respond to those reviews and you will improve local SEO. This then encourages more conversions of customers to clients.
7. Use a Heatmap
Heatmaps visualize user behavior from a scale of red to blue; the warmer the color, the higher the engagement. This data gives a good idea of how well your page performs compared to others and helps visualize customers’ relationships with your business. Local SEO is about being in sync with customers in your area, rather than general SEO which can be hard to chase. Heatmaps prove the popularity of specific keywords during a given time of day. Heatmaps are valued because you can discern local users and their browsing patterns and then properly optimize your website and content strategies. They can also show you which links are leading or trailing behind in bringing traffic your way.
8. Keep Your Listing Accurate
The best way to keep a high search rank is to verify its location. Google Business Profiles may be a good start but remember that sites like Yelp and Yellowpages can also affect exposure. Inaccurate information found in any of these citations can confuse customers and lead to poor user experiences on Yelp, Facebook, and Google.
9. Add User-Generated Content (UGC) & Keywords
People tend to follow the advice of other customers and those voices help socially reinforce conversion rates by establishing trust. Photos, reviews, videos, Q&As, and even general comments are all types of UGC and can give search engines more data to figure out what your site is all about and its relevance.
10. Optimize for Voice Searches
Voice searching has become the new “typing” and visibility for businesses unoptimized for this sort of searching will suffer; 27% of all users search the web with voice search on mobile devices. As more and more customers use phones before purchasing, you need to maintain visibility in local searches. Voice searches go beyond traditional keywords and use natural language, meaning good results require optimization. Customers also inquire about store hours, directions, and even the availability of certain features.
So now that you have this solid 10 list of tips for optimizing local SEO, you can better keep relevant on search engines. Keep your information and profile current and accurate, encourage reviews and other UGC, remember to account for mobile and voice searches, longtail keywords, and use heatmaps.