By Chad Bowe
You’ve heard of SEO and you know that it has something to do with search engines and websites but if you are like most Realtors, that’s about as deep as the rabbit hole gets. I speak to small business owners and Realtors all the time and I can tell you that few to none really understand why SEO is important to their website and its success. That being said, let’s dive right in…
The purpose of SEO: Search Engine Optimization is a set of activities and standards that help a website to be found and displayed by popular search engines (Google, Bing, etc.). The goal is to create a scenario where the search engines see your website as the best and most authoritative among those that compete directly with it for the same search terms (aka: keywords). Websites that are considered the most relevant and authoritative are displayed on the first page of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This is where the magic happens. Websites listed on the first page get the vast majority of the clicks so getting as close to the first page as possible is your goal and SEO will help you achieve it.
Understanding search results: Want to see if your website is on the first page? Go to Google.com and type in: buy homes in (your city). After you hit enter, Google returns a huge list of relevant websites, starting with the one that it considers the most relevant to your search phrase. In simple terms, Google is saying, “You asked me to search for homes to buy in (your city) and here is a list of websites starting with the one that I think you will find most useful.” There will likely be two or three “paid results” directly below the search entry box, but immediately following are the “organic” results, beginning with the website deemed the best match for your search query.
Why SEO is important for your website: Have you noticed how many real estate companies (and websites) there are in your city? SEO is important because you are all competing in the same arena. What are you competing for? Clicks of course! As opposed to hard media (think signage on buses and billboards), search engines bring pre-qualified leads to you. These pre-qualified leads are people who are actually trying to find information about real estate in your area. Searchers are actively looking for the homes and properties that you have to sell and the most optimized and authoritative websites will get the bulk of the clicks. All things being equal, more clicks equal more sales.
How SEO can help: The obvious question is, “How do I get my website to show up on the first page?” For highly coveted keywords, only a few companies will be able to obtain the enviable position of having their website on page one of the SERP. However, the good news is that a smart Realtor can compete for variations of keywords that might not be getting as much attention. Many companies use this strategy with excellent results. Whether you decide to go for a niche or to compete head-on for the most popular keywords, a good SEO plan will help your website to rank as highly as possible.
Notice I said ‘plan’. SEO is an ongoing process that begins with website optimization and then extends to off-site activities like link building. Almost without exception the top websites have good site optimization and tons of high quality, in-bound links. For a given query, Google decides which website to display in the first position by looking for the keywords used in the query in the websites’ copy (or text), page title and filename and also takes into account how many quality inbound links each site has (a sign of authority). Based on these and a whole bunch of other factors, the website that seems most relevant and authoritative is the one that gets displayed in the top position, the second most relevant and authoritative follows and on and on.
This is a simplified overview of how websites are ranked, but the key takeaways are to use relevant keywords throughout your website and also to get as many quality in-bound links to your website is possible.
Chad Bowe is the owner of The GTA Consultant, a digital marketing consulting company in the greater Toronto area. His passion is helping Canadian real estate companies succeed in the digital space. Looking forward, Chad says he believes that technology and its proper application will be the deciding factor and point of differentiation that separates leading real estate companies from the pack. www.gtaconsultant.com Email [email protected]; Phone 416-830-4715.
