Local SEO for Real Estate Agents:
If you’re not using local SEO for real estate agents, you’re likely missing out on some incredible opportunities in the real estate industry. Every day, people in your area are searching online for real estate help. Some are probably typing “real estate agent near me” into Google search as you read this!
Without a solid local SEO strategy, those potential clients are finding your competitors instead of you.
The good news? It’s not too late to change that. Let’s dive into what local SEO for real estate agents is and how it can help you connect with clients exactly when they’re looking for your services.
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What Is Local SEO for Real Estate Agents?
Local SEO optimizes your online presence to attract potential clients within your specific geographic area.
When homebuyers or sellers search for terms like “real estate agent near me” or “best real estate agent in Austin,” a well-optimized local presence ensures your agency appears at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
Similar to traditional search engine optimization, local SEO requires keyword research and careful optimization of your web pages with real estate keywords placed strategically.
However, local SEO extends beyond your real estate website. You’ll also need to pay attention to factors like your Google Business Profile and other local SEO efforts that we’ll break down in this guide!
Traditional SEO vs Local SEO
You’ve probably heard of traditional SEO, which involves optimizing your real estate website to rank higher in search engines. However, fewer people discuss local SEO, a powerful strategy that can deliver impressive results. By focusing on local SEO, more people in your geographic area can discover your real estate services, helping you attract more clients and grow your business.
Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO focuses on improving website visibility in national or global search results. For example, you might write a blog post about “how to buy a home in a competitive market,” and this content would compete with real estate websites from all over the country.
Traditional SEO is a great marketing strategy for real estate agents. It helps you:
- Attract potential clients from across the country (or even globally, depending on your focus and goals)
- Create valuable content that continues driving organic traffic over time
- Build your website’s authority, which boosts all your SEO efforts
- Position your firm as a thought leader in specific real estate niches
If you want your real estate website to rank high in Google search results, start with these SEO keywords for real estate agents.
That said, traditional SEO for real estate agents can be highly competitive and may take longer to show significant results. You might also attract leads from areas where you don’t operate or where you don’t have the necessary licenses to provide services.
Local SEO
Local SEO, on the other hand, targets potential clients within your specific geographic area. Rather than competing for broad search terms like “buy a home,” local SEO focuses on location-based queries, such as “real estate agent in San Francisco.”
Many real estate agents overlook local SEO in favor of broader marketing strategies, but it’s a powerful way to connect with clients in your area.
Research shows that 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information, and 60% of mobile users have reached out to a business directly using the search results.
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Why Local SEO for Real Estate Agents Matters
Local SEO for real estate agents provides a direct way to connect with potential clients who are actively searching for real estate services in the local market you serve.
When someone searches for real estate agents or real estate listings, they are often looking to make a move soon, whether it’s buying or selling a property. Local SEO ensures that your real estate business appears in local results at exactly the right moment, allowing you to attract clients when they need help with their real estate needs.
Here’s what local SEO can do for your real estate company:
- Attract clients in your area who are ready to work with a local agent now
- Increase your visibility in your town, city, or region
- Help you stand out against larger real estate agencies in local search engine results
- Build credibility with positive reviews and complete business listings
- Boost your presence on Google Maps where local clients are searching
- Reach people who are specifically looking for a local agent
- Strengthen your reputation within the local real estate community
If you want to add local SEO to your digital marketing strategy but don’t know where to start, learn more about our local SEO services.
Want to give it a try yourself? We’re sharing 10+ proven strategies to get your real estate business ranking higher in organic search results below!
What Is the Best Strategy for Local SEO: 10+ Proven Strategies
1. Focus on Local Keywords
Your real estate website content should include terms that local clients are likely to use when searching for real estate services. Every real estate SEO strategy is unique, but if you want to improve search engine rankings for your local real estate business, this usually means incorporating your city, neighborhood, or service area into your primary keywords.
For example, instead of just “real estate agent,” use “real estate agent in San Francisco” or “homes for sale in downtown Austin.”
Here are a few key places to add local SEO keywords:
- Page titles and headings
- Meta descriptions
- Image alt text
- Service pages (e.g., buyer and seller guides)
- Blog posts
- Contact page
Focusing on the right local keywords will help boost local search results, but be cautious about keyword stuffing. Only use your targeted local SEO keywords where they make sense and flow naturally.
Google can drop your page rankings if you’re using too many keywords on purpose, so overdoing it can actually hurt your SEO performance.
2. Optimize Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is very important for local SEO success. A complete, accurate profile helps you appear in Google Maps and local search results. Make sure to:
- Fill out every section of your profile, including real estate services and your service areas.
- Add high-quality photos of your office, properties, and team to create a personal connection.
- Keep business hours up to date so potential clients can reach you at the right time.
- List all your real estate services, such as buying, selling, or property management.
- Post regular updates about new listings, market trends, or tips for real estate professionals.
- Choose accurate business categories like “Real Estate Agent” or “Real Estate Agency” for more precise targeting.
- Add special attributes, like “local expert” or “specializing in first-time buyers,” if applicable, to stand out in search results.
Here are examples of well-done Google Business Profiles for real estate agents in New York City.
3. Create Location-Specific Pages
If your real estate business serves multiple locations, you should create dedicated pages for each area. For example, if your real estate agency operates in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, you could create pages like “Real Estate Services in San Francisco” and “Real Estate Services in Los Angeles.”
Each page should offer detailed information about that specific location, such as your office address and the real estate services available in that area. You can also enhance the page by including area-specific content, like insights into the local real estate market, neighborhood guides, or relevant property listings. This will help improve your local SEO and make the page more valuable to potential clients searching for real estate agents in those locations.
4. Get Local Reviews
Reviews from past clients play a significant role in your local search engine rankings. Therefore, when offboarding clients, be sure to ask them to share their experiences and leave a review on Google.
You should also:
- Respond to every review promptly to show you value feedback.
- Address any negative feedback professionally, demonstrating your commitment to improving your real estate services.
- Make it easy for clients to leave reviews by providing direct links to your Google Business Profile.
- Thank clients who take the time to review your services to show appreciation for their support.
Online reviews serve a dual purpose: they not only improve your local SEO but also help establish trust with potential clients, making them more likely to choose your real estate agency.
5. Maintain NAP Consistency
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. For local SEO and general business purposes, this information must be consistent and accurate across all online platforms.
Make sure to check these places:
- Your website
- Google Business Profile
- Social media accounts
- Business directories
- Professional association profiles
- Review sites
Even minor inconsistencies can negatively impact your local SEO. Plus, inaccurate contact details can lead to lost leads, as potential clients might struggle to reach you through the wrong email or phone number.
6. Create Local Content
Just like with traditional SEO, your local SEO can significantly benefit from starting a blog and regularly publishing valuable, location-specific content.
You can create detailed articles about local real estate market trends, neighborhood guides, property investment tips, and other topics that your local audience might be searching for.
Strive for a healthy mix of traditional and local SEO content. If you’re not sure where to start, learn more about our SEO blogging and content marketing services!
7. Optimize for Mobile
Most people search online using their phones. Statistics show that 64% of searches are done on mobile devices, compared to just 35% on desktops. This makes it essential for your website to look good and function well across all screen sizes.
Many website builders automatically adjust for mobile view, but sometimes important details are lost in the process. Make sure that:
- Your website layout adjusts smoothly to different screen sizes
- Buttons are easy to use and functional
- Business information is clear and easy to find
- All internal links work properly
- Your site loads quickly
- Interactive maps work well on smaller screens
It might not seem like it, but mobile optimization is essential for a successful SEO campaign. Google and other search engines might lower your rankings if your website is dysfunctional on mobile.
8. Monitor Local Competitors
Understanding your local competition is essential to identifying opportunities to stand out. Look at other real estate agents’ websites to see what services they emphasize, how they present themselves, and what real estate SEO keywords they are ranking for. Tools like Ahrefs can help you analyze this.
Instead of copying your competitors’ strategies, look for gaps in their content that you can fill. For example, if other real estate companies aren’t creating content about local property laws, neighborhood guides, or trends in the market, this could be your opportunity to position yourself as the go-to real estate expert in those areas.
9. Build Local Backlinks
A backlink is when another website links to yours, essentially telling Google, “This real estate business is trustworthy and worth checking out.”
Local backlinks are especially valuable because they come from other businesses and organizations in your community. They signal to search engines that you’re an active, respected part of the local scene.
Here are a few ways to build local backlinks:
- Join local business organizations and get listed in their directory with a link to your website
- Participate in community events and include your website in event descriptions
- Partner with local schools or libraries
- Write guest posts for local business blogs
- Contribute to local news websites
- Create content for community newsletters
Building local backlinks is a great way to improve your SEO, and we can help with that as part of our SEO services.
10. Clean Up Your Technical SEO Foundations
Creating high-quality content is essential for search engines, but Google won’t rank it on the first page if there are issues with your technical SEO. Your website or content might not even be discoverable.
Consider conducting a thorough SEO audit and checking these key technical elements:
- Proper title tags and meta descriptions
- Short, readable URLs that include target keywords
- Functional links (no broken or dead links)
- Clear website structure and navigation
- XML sitemap submission to search engines
- No duplicate content issues
- Image optimization (size and alt text)
- Internal linking between pages
Technical SEO can be tricky, and it’s often one of the most important reasons why people hire SEO experts.
11. Track & Analyze Your SEO Strategy
Your SEO journey will be an ongoing process, constantly evolving. It’s crucial to understand what works and what doesn’t. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and keyword research platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush are great for tracking your SEO performance and helping you refine your real estate SEO strategy as you go.
Additional local seo Services We Offer For real estate agents
In addition to these services, we offer:
Our Framework for local seo for real estate agents
VISION
When you’re ready to have your financial brand grow through your content, we’re here to help you become more visible as an authority in your niche by creating your content backed by our three pillars below.
Our goals when implementing content marketing strategies for alternative lenders are to increase traffic, leads, and conversions for your organization. Allow us to operate in our areas of expertise by creating content that converts and optimizes your content with SEO.
When you take these two things off your plate, you can focus your time, energy, and resources on YOUR areas of expertise. It’s time to stop stressing and overburdening your internal team. Outsource this area of your business to us and get it right the first time. Because not only are we experts at content and SEO, we’re experts in the finance niche.
STRATEGY
You deserve to experience what it’s like to work with us because we understand the big picture. A piece of alternative lending content marketing is never one and done.
We create content that connects to your audience, your other content, and your overall sales and marketing goals.
EXECUTION
Allow us to implement your strategy by taking massive action with one or multiple of our packages.
It’s time for you to save hours spent researching, crafting, ideating, and guessing because when it comes to your content ranking, it’s not just about your great ideas. It’s about how you execute your ideas.
ANALYTICS
We constantly keep a pulse on what’s going on data-wise in the alternative lending industry and keep you informed too.
We do this by regularly monitoring analytics through Google Analytics and Google Search Console, sending reports to our clients, taking action based on the data, and keeping content fresh and updated over time.
We’d never claim to be experts, but we are aware of the strict compliance standards within the financial industry. Moreover, refreshing content is crucial since numbers, regulations, etc., change in the financial services industry sometimes yearly.
Get A Proposal
Turn leads into customers and get started today. We’ve partnered with finance and real estate brands around the globe with digital marketing campaigns, including SEO, content creation, lead generation, and beyond. Get results with the pros in your niche – we’re not a generic agency that works with everyone.
How Long Does It Take for Local SEO to Work?
Local SEO is a long-term investment in your real estate business’s growth, not a quick fix. Our clients usually start seeing meaningful results within 3-6 months, but the exact timeline can vary based on several factors:
- Your starting point (whether you’re starting from scratch or improving existing SEO)
- How competitive your local market is
- The current state of your website and online presence
- The number of locations you’re targeting
- The quality and frequency of your content updates
- Your Google Business Profile’s completeness and activity
- The number of reviews you gather
- How consistently you implement SEO strategies
Some improvements, like updating your Google Business Profile, can show results within weeks. However, other efforts, like building local authority through backlinks and content, take longer to see significant results.
Get in touch with us, and we’ll give you a better estimate of what to expect!
Local SEO Services for Real Estate Agents: Are They Worth It?
You could try managing your local SEO on your own, but working with an SEO expert offers several key advantages. SEO, especially local SEO for real estate businesses, involves many moving parts, from technical optimizations to ongoing content creation.
Professional real estate SEO services help you avoid costly mistakes that could hurt your rankings and save the time you could spend serving clients. Learn more about our local SEO services or browse the Resource Hub if you want to DIY!
Frequently asked questions
Q: Do Real Estate Agents Need SEO?
A: Absolutely! Many of your potential clients turn to search engines first when looking for real estate services. Without SEO, your business misses out on these valuable connections, no matter how great your services are. Even if most of your clients come through referrals, SEO helps those referred clients validate their decision by ensuring your online presence reflects the quality and professionalism of your real estate services.
Q: Is Doing Local SEO Worth It?
A: Yes, especially if your real estate services are focused on a specific geographic area. Many clients prefer working or need to work with local real estate agents who are familiar with the market, neighborhood dynamics, and regulations. When someone searches for “real estate agent near me” or “homes for sale in [city name],” local SEO ensures your agency appears in these results. This leads to a steady flow of qualified leads who are actively seeking the services you offer.
Q: Do I Need a Website for Local SEO?
A: Yes, a website is essential for effective local SEO. It is the foundation of all your SEO efforts. You can create dedicated pages for different locations, showcase property listings, and publish location-specific blog content to improve your rankings. In addition to your website, other local SEO components, like maintaining an up-to-date Google Business Profile, are key for maximizing visibility.
Q: Is Local SEO Paid?
A: No, local SEO is not the same as paid search. Local SEO mainly involves organic (non-paid) strategies to improve your search visibility. While you may invest in professional services or SEO tools to optimize your site, the search rankings are earned through optimization efforts, not through paying for ads like in Google Ads.
Q: How Is Local SEO Different from SEO?
A: Local SEO focuses on improving your visibility within a specific geographic area, while traditional SEO targets broader, location-independent searches. For instance, if someone searches for “how to buy a house,” that’s traditional SEO, looking for general information. However, if they search for “real estate agent in Miami” or “homes for sale near me,” that’s a local SEO search.
Q: How to Rank High in Local SEO?
A: Several factors come into play when it comes to local SEO, including optimizing your website for location-based keywords, building and maintaining your Google Business Profile, and collecting positive reviews from clients. It is also beneficial to start a blog with high-quality, location-specific content and consistently work on building local backlinks to strengthen your online presence.
Hire an SEO Agency for Real Estate Agents
Local SEO can be a highly effective digital marketing strategy for real estate agents.
SJDS Digital Solutions is an SEO agency that understands both local search optimization and the unique needs of real estate businesses. Learn about our local SEO services or get in touch!
