Search Engine Optimization (SEO) overview

You may have heard the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization mentioned. Maybe you received a call from someone saying they can help you come up on the front page of Google. (Don’t bother… you can do this yourself if you have the time to do some reading).

SEO briefly defined

SEO means optimizing the content of your website so that buyers and sellers can more easily find it when using a search engine, which translates to helping the search engines decide that your page is more relevant to the search terms used than the other million real estate website pages that include the same words.

Yes, there probably are a million other pages with the same words. At least several thousand…

Search engine traffic generated this way is called “organic”, and it’s the free, natural version of links to your site. The others are paid for links, or advertising, PPC, paid placement, etcetera, and you shouldn’t rely on paid links for all of your traffic.

Good Reading

Joe Hall has some advice on this specifically for real estate, which I highly recommend taking the time to read. He wrote a fairly lengthy article on Marketing Pilgrim titled A Bulletproof SEO Strategy for Real Estate Professionals, and in it he says:

If your listings are on a higher end of your local market then using keywords that emphasize property features is important. This is because high end buyers often times let their ego do the searching. Keywords like, “granite countertops”, “hardwood floors”, and “vaulted ceilings” are all keywords that emphasize wealth and status. However, if your listings are on the lower end of your local market then keywords that emphasize that lower price will help market the listing to buyers looking for a deal or something they can afford. Specific keywords like this will target your audience and help automatically prequalify those interested, giving you more time to make the sale. Listing keywords should be used within ad copies and property descriptions.

SEO matters in the MLS too

I might add that, even if there were no search engines and we were dealing strictly with the MLS, using words and terms that entice buyers (and do not misrepresent the property or mislead the buyer) are essential in your descriptions in the MLS. I have analyzed buyers’ selections of which homes to see in person, and I’ve found that many of the buyers chose to view a particular home because of features they wanted such as “cherry cabinets and granit countertops”, “stainless steel appliances”. If your listing has such appealing features, and you do not put them in your MLS description… well, buyers are going to assume the house has plain laminate countertops. “Great home, must see” is too generic. Describe the house!