What is Local Search Engine Optimization?
Local SEO is the technique of improving a website’s content in order to assist the website in ranking higher in local searches. If you run a small or local business, such as a small cafe, restaurant, or agency, you would want your website to appear at the top of Google searches when local customers look for items or services linked to your brand or business. The basic goal of local search engine optimization is to increase the visibility of your business in local searches on big search engines such as Google. All your company requires is a physical presence or to deliver services in a defined area.
Local SEO:
Local SEO is an excellent technique for small businesses looking to reach out to local clients and build their brands. According to research, around 89 percent of consumers use their smartphones to search for local companies on a weekly basis, while 58 percent use their smartphones to look for local businesses on a daily basis. So, when these percentages are considered, local SEO may be extremely potent and successful for small businesses that are trying to locate clients. Small companies may use local SEO to broaden their reach, attract traffic, and improve their online exposure.
Local companies confront a difficult issue because many of them are competing for top positions in Google’s search results. And, in order for a local business to be successful, it is critical that it improves its ranks on Google and other search engines. While Google is the most prominent and trustworthy search engine in the world, it is not the only factor in local SEO. Many people use various search engines to obtain access to information available on the internet. However, the vast majority of people throughout the world use Google to search for trusted information. Google is the first place local people look, especially when they are looking for local companies.
Why Choose Local SEO for Real Estate Websites?
Competition in the world of real estate is getting tougher by the day. To become a successful realtor or real estate business, you need to focus on beating your competition. The best way to do that is by optimizing your website for local search engine optimization. By focusing on local SEO rather than basic SEO, which will leave you competing with international real estate agencies and realtors, you decrease the competition significantly. And real estate businesses mostly cater to locals. So it only makes sense for you to invest in local SEO. You can do that by either availing local SEO services offered by industry-leading real estate lead generation agencies, such as Leadzexperts. They offer local SEO services specifically curated for real estate. Other services from Leadzexperts include real estate lead generation, social media marketing, real estate website development, and customer relationship management services.
Here’s how it Works:
Identifying Competition
Outranking your competition is a major part of search engine optimization. When you rank higher than other businesses and brands in your industry, customers are more than likely to prefer doing business with you. Customers around the globe trust search engines, particularly Google, to provide the most relevant and trusted search results. So when your business or brand pops up on one of the top 3 spots on Google, or at the least on the first page, customers will view you as a credible business.
To compete, you need to identify your competitors. You can find your competition by finding keywords that are most relevant to the services or products your business provides, then search them up on Google. The top businesses, this could be another real estate agency or realtor in your area, are your biggest competitors. Visit these top-ranking pages and analyze their content to see what is common between them. This will help you get an idea about the quality of content Google deems valuable and useful.
Keyword Selection
Once you’ve found your competition, it’s time to choose the right keywords that will be targeted in the content of your real estate website. There is no doubt that high-volume keywords are the best to pick. However, you still need to consider certain factors before trying to rank for these keywords. These factors include your website’s domain age and how many backlinks your website is attaining. The keywords should also include your area or city name, which is all local SEO is about. Experts recommend going for keywords that have featured snippets. Keywords with featured snippets can help attract more searchers to your website, which could generate more leads.
Optimized Content
The content on your real estate website needs to focus on property details such as the number of bedrooms, numbers of bathrooms, size of the lot, and more. Your content should also highlight amenities. Any other relevant information that makes your properties look appealing and attractive to potential homebuyers should be included. Keywords, especially location-targeted keywords, will help your website rankings and generate more traffic from local users.
Apart from promoting properties, you can also promote the area and the city in which your real estate business is based in. Through your content, you can answer the questions you know home buyers will ask. Providing useful and relevant information regarding your properties will compel home buyers to reach out to you. The written content of your real estate website needs to be high-quality and appealing to your target audience. High-quality visuals and images of the properties listed on your site offer a professional look to home buyers.
Local SEO Tips for Real Estate Websites
Search Engine Optimization Audit
Conducting an SEO audit will help you, or the SEO professionals you hire to handle your real estate web site’s SEO, understand your website’s current SEO strategy. This includes the performance of your pages and content, as well as where your local SEO strategy is failing. With this valuable data, you can create a new roadmap towards applying a more successful local SEO strategy. Even though the process of performing an SEO audit is lengthy. The information it will provide will help you in the long-term success of your website. Experts suggest focusing on certain areas while performing a thorough SEO audit. These key areas include content, website structure, page structure, links, accessibility, user-friendliness, and the speed of your website.
Accessibility
User experience plays a significant role in the success of your website and real estate business. The internet should be easily accessible to everyone, despite their disabilities. This is especially important for real estate agents and real estate businesses to take into consideration. The Americans with Disabilities Act has provided a basic guideline for websites, which needs to be followed.
Mobile-Friendly
More than 50% of internet traffic is generated from smartphones. In recent years, the majority of home buyers have used their smartphone to search for properties. This is why your real estate website needs to operate smoothly on phones and other devices. You need to focus on having a responsive web design, which will instantly resize your website to fit any screen. Other areas you need to focus on to make your real estate website user-friendly are page speed, homepage, hosting speed, form, site search, and navigation.
