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Real Estate Marketing

10 SEO Keyword Mistakes Real Estate Agents Need to Avoid

Statistics show that 78% of real estate searches start on a search engine, and Google alone accounts for approximately 75% of that search engine traffic. This means essentially almost 6 out of 10 prospective clients go to Google to search for real estate. The numbers are huge, and if you want these prospects to find you in their Google search, you need to have a robust SEO strategy.

A keyword list is one of the most fundamental parts of your real estate SEO strategy. The keywords help you get your business in front of your prospects at the exact time when they are searching online for the services you provide. Hence, it’s safe to say that keywords are the backbone of your real estate business, and you should take care that you avoid these 10 SEO mistakes listed in this article.

1. Not Doing the Keyword Research Properly

Keyword research is absolutely essential. It informs you about what you can expect from your SEO efforts and also gives you an insight of what’s in the mind of your market right now. Keyword research will also make you aware of the phases that match the search intent of your target audience. It is crucial that you take keyword research seriously and do it and analyze it well. There are some tools you can use for your keyword research, such as Ahrefs, SpyFu, MOZ, SEMRush, and Ubersuggest. Google also provides a number of free useful tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and Google news.

2. Targeting Highly Competitive Keywords

Some keywords such as “Los Angeles Real Estate” or “Miami homes” have high value than other keywords, and there’s more competition around them. For you to rank for these keywords, you need to be a big business with massive resources and an authoritative website. However, if you are a small or mid-size real estate business, rather than trying to dominate these general highly competitive keywords, focus on longer, more specific phrases. These phrases are called long-tail keywords. Phrases such as “2 bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles” or “when is the good time to buy a home in Miami?” are less competitive and help you rank your business on Google search easily.

3. Targeting Just One Keyword Per Content Piece

It is not a good idea to stick to one keyword per content piece. Your specialized content will overlap with other similar topics or searches at some point. So, it’s clever to identify some secondary high traffic keywords that have organically made it in your content and target them.

4. Not Including Target Keywords in Your Metadata

Once you’ve figured out your target keyword, always include it in the metadata of your content. This is important because the search engines read the metadata (located in your HTML as meta tags) to analyze what the page is all about. This metadata is displayed as a ‘snippet’ in the search result for your prospects to read.

5. Using the Wrong Keywords

If you target the wrong keyword, it can negatively affect your content’s performance. Wrong keywords may send the wrong traffic to your website. This can hurt your brand and also cost you an opportunity that could have otherwise been converted.

For example, if your specialty is commercial sales, you wouldn’t want to create content with keywords like condos or single-family homes. The wrong target audience will pick up this content, leading to a lost opportunity. Rather, write super-niche content with a laser focus on relevant keywords that include words like “commercial, offices, golf properties, etc.

6. Not Checking Content Performance

Writing content with relevant keywords and publishing it isn’t the end of your job. You also need to gauge its performance. This will help you understand whether your SEO strategy is working or whether it needs to be revisited for some tweaks.

7. Ignoring the Existing Top Rankers for Your Keyword

For example, if you target the keyword, “best neighborhoods in Chicago, ” and your top-most competitor is a travel site that names the 5 best neighborhoods in Chicago. To outrank this page, you have to deliver better content. You may want to write an exhaustive list of 10 great neighborhoods in Chicago, which gives the reasons why they are the best, and a list of top 10 things to do in each of these neighborhoods.

8. Overstuffing Keywords

You may be tempted to stuff your content with keywords to make your page more visible on Google search. But this strategy can backfire and potentially harm your ranking. Google can catch your strategy and penalize you for it. So make sure you use keywords in the right places, such as the introduction, secondary header, page title, and conclusion. Make it a point to use a keyword a maximum of 5 times in a 500 words content.

9. Not Looking at Actual SERPs

Most people spend too much time on keyword tools to check what’s actually ranking for those keywords. Google can show content for a particular query that actually doesn’t match the content for that keyword.

For example, you may be writing a blog, but Google may interpret the query for a product page result. So, make sure you look at the type of content that’s ranking for that particular keyword and model your content accordingly.

10. Ignoring Localization

Whenever prospects make real estate searches, Google shows them real estate properties near them. This is a huge opportunity for you to get the right prospects to visit your website. So, make sure your content is focused on localization.

We hope this blog helps you get a better ranking on Google that translates into qualified leads. We publish valuable articles and guides such as this one regularly. You can use this content to constantly improve your marketing skills and become a more effective real estate marketer. Want to receive updates about articles like this? Sign up now!

Related Article: Linkedin For Real Estate Agents: Top 7 Tips & Ideas

Rahul Agrawal

Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Styldod

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