Realtor SEO: CASE STUDIES and Pro-Tips For Real Estate Websites

At Stigan Media, our SEO team excels in managing search engine optimization campaigns specifically for local realtor companies. Our expertise in real estate SEO has demonstrated significant success stories. For example, a local realtor in Langley, Cloverdale, and South Surrey, BC, saw a remarkable increase in their organic traffic by over 130% within a year, thanks to our proven SEO techniques.

How did we achieve such impressive results? Keep reading this article or save your time contact us for a free SEO audit for your realtor company.

Take, for instance, our work with realtors in Langley, Cloverdale, and South Surrey, BC. By applying our bespoke real estate SEO techniques, we achieved a remarkable feat: increasing organic traffic by over 130%. This milestone was not just a number but a testament to the power of targeted SEO in the real estate sector. (Refer to the screenshot below for details).

We trust that our proficiency in realtor SEO is evident. Now, let’s delve into our methodology and established techniques, aimed at boosting your real estate website’s organic traffic and lead generation, detailed in the sections below.

1. Start with Proper Keyword Research

Effective SEO for realtors begins with keyword research. While this task may seem straightforward, its complexity and importance cannot be overstated. As experienced professionals in realtor SEO, we have systematized our approach to ensure we identify the most beneficial keywords for your business. Here’s how we do it:

1. Assessing Search Volume: First, we evaluate the search volume of keywords. Our goal is to avoid focusing on terms with negligible search volume, as they won’t drive traffic to your site. For instance, a previous client ranked first for ‘new row homes for sale Toronto, ON,’ but the keyword had zero search volume, leading to no website visits or leads.
2. Understanding Search Intent: We analyze the intent behind each keyword to ensure its effectiveness for your business. Keywords like ‘realtor Toronto’ typically indicate commercial intent with a local focus, aligning well with your business objectives. Conversely, keywords with informational intent, such as “Toronto neighborhoods with the best parks”, often lead to general information pages, providing little direct benefit for realtor websites.
3. Keyword Difficulty Analysis: Utilizing advanced tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, we assess the difficulty of ranking for each keyword. Our agency invests in these top-tier resources to accurately gauge which keywords are within reach, especially considering your budget. For clients with limited budgets, we focus on low-competition yet effective keywords to drive SEO traffic and leads to your real estate business.

Our thorough approach ensures that the foundation of your realtor SEO campaign is solid, setting the stage for successful and sustainable results.

2. Double-Checking Initial Web Analytics Steps Before Proceeding to Actual SEO Work

Before diving into the core of our SEO work for realtors, our agency takes an additional, crucial step that sets us apart: a thorough review of all the basics of web analytics. This ensures not only precise tracking of the project, but also the ability to provide our real estate clients with accurate and meaningful SEO reports.

Our process includes several key checks and setups:

1. Google Analytics 4: We confirm that Google Analytics 4 is properly tracking your website. This tool is essential for monitoring website traffic and user behavior, which are critical for assessing the effectiveness of our SEO strategies for realtors.
2. Google Search Console: We ensure full integration with Google Search Console. This invaluable tool from Google assists in tracking SEO performance and identifying technical issues that could impact your website’s search rankings.
3. Google Business Profile and Other Listings: We verify our access to your Google Business Profile and, if necessary, add your real estate business to Bing and Apple Maps. These listings are vital for enhancing local SEO and ensuring your business is easily discoverable by potential clients.
   
4. SEO Software Integration: Your project is added to our high-end SEO software for continuous position tracking. This allows us to monitor how your keywords are performing in real time.
5. Goal Setup in Google Analytics 4: Perhaps most importantly, we set up specific goals in Google Analytics 4 to track conversions and leads accurately. Whether it’s through website forms, phone number clicks, or tools like a commission calculator, these metrics help us gauge the real ROI (return on investment) of your SEO campaign.

This comprehensive setup is often overlooked by many SEO agencies, leading to incomplete or misleading reports. In contrast, our approach ensures you receive tangible data on the true value and impact of your realtor SEO optimization efforts.

3. Website SEO Architecture Audit

A critical phase in our SEO process is the audit of your realor website’s current architecture. This is often an area ripe for improvements, not just for SEO but also for enhancing user experience. In the realm of realtor SEO, the meticulous structuring of website links is especially vital.

During this stage, we identify the pages that are currently driving traffic and generating leads for your real estate business. These pages become our primary focus for optimization, ensuring they are fully aligned with your business objectives and target audience.

Furthermore, we conduct a thorough review and enhancement of internal linking. This involves creating strategic inbound links among these key pages, which helps in distributing page authority and improving the overall SEO structure of your website. We also pay close attention to the optimization of your website’s navigation bar and footer, as these elements are crucial for easy user navigation and can significantly impact both the user experience and your site’s SEO performance.

Our goal in this audit is to ensure that your website’s structure is not only SEO-friendly but also intuitive and user-friendly, facilitating smooth navigation for visitors and ultimately leading to better engagement and conversion rates.

4. SEO Content optimization for real estate

The subsequent step in our SEO process is the content optimization of the pages targeted for your chosen real estate keywords. We begin with a thorough rewriting of existing page content, ensuring it aligns with both SEO best practices and user engagement standards.

To achieve this, we utilize an advanced tool called Surfer SEO. This tool performs an in-depth analysis of content on the first-page search results, assessing the frequency and distribution of keywords. It algorithmically determines the optimal number of keywords needed for real estate content to rank effectively on search engines.

Armed with this data, our experienced SEO copywriting team takes center stage. Collaboration with our real estate clients is crucial at this point, as we gather essential information that must be included in the content. Our skilled copywriters then craft high-converting, engaging content that seamlessly integrates the necessary keywords as per our analysis.

This step is where many realtor SEO agencies falter, often resorting to low-cost outsourcing for content writing. Such an approach can lead to subpar content, merely stuffed with keywords, which might temporarily boost SEO rankings but fail to retain user interest. In contrast, our agency prioritizes high-quality, engaging content. Our in-house team of local writers possesses extensive experience in crafting content that not only ranks well but also genuinely engages your audience, keeping them on your website longer and encouraging them to explore further.

It’s a delicate balance between optimizing for search engines and writing for real people – and it’s a balance we excel at maintaining.

5. On-Page SEO Optimization

As part of our thorough SEO process, we next focus on on-page optimization, addressing not just the targeted SEO pages but your entire website. Here’s a brief guide on what to do to enhance your realtor website’s ranking on Google:

1. Meta Titles Optimization: Incorporate your primary keyword, such as ‘Toronto Realtor’, into the meta titles. This is crucial for search engines to understand the main focus of your pages.
2. Meta Description Optimization: While not directly influencing rankings, well-crafted meta descriptions can improve click-through rates, indirectly benefiting SEO.
3. Alt Tags Optimization: Provide accurate and natural descriptions for images, including targeted keywords. This improves image search visibility and overall page relevance.
4. H1s Optimization: Each page should have a single H1 tag that clearly defines its content. Including a combination of real estate keywords and location can be effective.
5. H2 to H6 Optimization: These headings help structure your content for both users and search engines. Avoid overusing your targeted keyword in these tags.
6. Implementing Schemas: Schemas help Google understand your website’s content and can enhance how your pages are displayed in search results, like showing reviews about your real estate business.
   

   GOOGLE SNIPPET WITH REVIEWS FOR OUR REALTOR CLIENT

7. SEO-Friendly URLs: While ideally addressed during the website architecture audit, always ensure that your URLs are well-structured and include your targeted keywords.
8. Internal Linking: Establish a robust internal linking structure across your website, including navigation bars and footers, to distribute page authority and aid navigation.
9. NAP Consistency: For realtor businesses, it’s essential to maintain consistent Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) information, ideally embedded with a map on relevant pages.
10. Customer Testimonials with Keywords: Incorporate authentic client testimonials on your pages, enhancing trustworthiness and relevance in the eyes of search engines.
11. E-E-A-T Implementation: This stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. We demonstrate these qualities to search engines by showcasing your certifications, awards, and detailed information about key team members in your real estate business.

Each of these elements plays a pivotal role in strengthening your website’s SEO, making it more visible and attractive to both search engines and potential clients.

6. Local SEO and Google Business Profile Optimization For Realtors

Local SEO is a pivotal aspect of SEO realtor strategy, especially since real estate services are closely linked to specific geographical locations. Optimizing for local search is vital in connecting with potential clients in your desired areas.

The Example of Google Business Profile for Realtor in Toronto

1. Profile Accuracy: Ensuring that your Google Business Profile URL and all fields are accurately filled out, with strategic use of targeted keywords for SEO realtor effectiveness.
2. Relevant Categories: We meticulously check and update your profile’s categories to accurately reflect the range of services you offer as an SEO realtor.
3. Image Optimization: Updating and enhancing images on your Google Business Profile to boost its appeal and relevance, aligning with SEO realtor strategies.
4. Optimizing Service Areas: Adjusting your service areas to precisely target the most relevant locations for your realtor business.
5. Regular Profile Updates: Keeping your Google Business Profile updated is crucial in our realtor SEO strategy. We make sure it’s always current, especially during holidays, to keep your clients well-informed.
6. Genuine Reviews Matter: In realtor SEO, real customer reviews are gold. We’ll guide you on how to get authentic feedback from your clients, enhancing your online credibility.
7. Avoid Fake Reviews: We advise against fake reviews – they can do more harm than good. In realtor SEO, trust and authenticity are key for long-term success.
8. Beyond Google – Bing Profile Optimization: We also optimize your Bing Business Profile, increasing your visibility where your clients are searching.

Completing our local SEO services, we ensure your Bing Business Profile is also fully optimized, covering all bases in our SEO realtor strategy.

7. Technical SEO for Real Estate Business

Many real estate SEO companies overlook technical SEO, but we prioritize it to meet Google’s standards.

Fixing Redirects and Broken Links

Using Screaming Frog, we scan your realtor website just like search engines do. This helps us find and fix 301 redirects (pages that lead somewhere else) and 404 errors (pages that don’t exist). Our goal is to ensure every page on your site returns a 200 OK status, indicating it’s working correctly.

Speed Optimization

Website speed is critical. Since 2019, Google has emphasized the importance of fast-loading sites. We use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to analyze and improve your site’s loading time. For example, check out how we optimized a real estate project.

Mobile Optimization

A common oversight is the mobile version of a site. We check for common issues like small font sizes or elements being too close. Our team ensures your mobile site is user-friendly and fixes any style issues.

SSL Certificate Check

We verify that your SSL certificate is up-to-date. An expired certificate can make your site appear unsafe to search engines, affecting your rankings.

8. Off Page SEO

Off-page SEO, mainly about getting backlinks, is a critical yet challenging aspect of realtor’s SEO. It’s not just about acquiring links but ensuring they come from reputable sources. Low-quality links, often found on freelance platforms like Fiverr, can harm your realtor site’s ranking.

At our real estate SEO company, we’ve developed a systematic approach to build backlinks for realtor businesses:

1. Local Directory Listings: We start by listing your real estate business on credible local directories. This not only provides valuable backlinks but also reinforces local SEO, helping Google better understand your location.
2. Building Links from Valued Domains: Over the years, we’ve established connections with over 1,000 reputable website owners. These relationships allow us to create posts that link back to your site, ensuring you get quality backlinks that boost your SEO.
3. Disavowing Toxic Links: Sometimes, your site might acquire harmful links, whether through spam, competitors, or other sources. Our team carefully reviews each backlink. If we find toxic links, we add them to a disavow file and submit it to search engines, indicating that these aren’t links we endorse or control.

This comprehensive approach to off-page SEO ensures your realtor website gains the right kind of visibility and credibility in the digital space.

Conclusion: The Importance of SEO for Realtor Businesses

In conclusion, SEO is an indispensable tool for any realtor looking to enhance their online presence and attract more clients. Through well-implemented strategies like keyword research, content optimization, technical SEO, and effective off-page techniques, your real estate business can achieve significant improvements in search engine rankings, visibility, and ultimately, client engagement.

Each step we’ve discussed – from optimizing your website’s architecture to building a robust backlink profile – plays a crucial role in establishing a strong online presence in the competitive real estate market. Remember, quality SEO can drive more organic traffic to your website, increase leads, and contribute to your overall business growth.

However, SEO can be complex and time-consuming, requiring expertise and continuous effort. If you find these processes daunting or prefer to focus on your core business, our team at Stigan Media is here to help. We specialize in tailored SEO strategies for realtors and can take the burden off your shoulders. Contact us for a quote, and let’s start elevating your realtor website to new heights. Let us help you navigate the world of real estate SEO, so you can reap the rewards of increased visibility and growth for your real estate business.

Specializing in SEO for realtors, Stigan Media provides a free SEO audit if you need help with your website.

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Oleg Tsegelnyk

Oleg is an experienced SEO specialist, with his career beginning in 2013. He joined Stigan Media in 2021 and has extensive experience working with content and affiliate projects. Currently, his main focus is on local SEO, through which he has achieved significant results for Stigan’s clients, and on the deep learning of GA4 for enhanced data analysis. He shares his SEO insights on the Stigan Media Blog and also runs a personal YouTube channel about online marketing in Ukrainian. View his LinkedIn Profile for more information.