Real Estate SEO Adviser

Going Overboard With Reciprocal Links

August 5, 2007 – 3:33 pm

A lot of real estate agents over-rely on reciprocal linking networks as a way to boost their search engine ranking. And they are later surprised when they incur a Google penalty that drops their search engine ranking down several pages. So I would like to dig deeper into the world of reciprocal linking to shed some light on things... Let's revisit the goal of search engine companies for a minute. These companies derive massive revenues from their search engine advertising / pay-per-click programs. These programs, and the revenue they produce, depend on a broad user base. Well, in order to retain and expand their user base, search engine companies are always ...

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Avoiding Google Penalties - Not Rocket Science

August 5, 2007 – 11:00 am

It is ridiculous, and even a bit sad, that you can conduct a Google search for the phrase real estate website +google penalty ... only to find more than a million web pages discussing the topic. It's ridiculous, because optimizing a real estate website without being penalized by search engines is a simple matter. And it's sad, because somewhere within those thousands of discussions there are some real estate agents who did not intend to do anything wrong -- but merely followed the advice of a person who was either (A) an idiot, (B) an over-aggressive search engine geek, or (C) a dangerous combination of the two. The truth is, you really have ...

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Marketers and Consumers Often Speak Differently

August 5, 2007 – 10:33 am

Pop Quiz -- If money were no object, would you rather have a custom home or a luxury estate? If you worked on the marketing team of a high-end home builder, you might opt for the phrase "luxury estate." But if you were an average consumer, you would be more familiar with (and more inclined to search for) a "custom home." What's my point? Technically speaking, both of these phrases describe the same thing -- a nice house! But the latter phrase (custom home) gets typed into search engines a lot more than "luxury estate." A lot of ego-blind home builders tout their luxury estates in brochures, direct mail pieces, and on their ...

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Avoiding the SEO “Hunch”

August 5, 2007 – 10:20 am

I am always amazed that some website owners spend hours, weeks and months trying to optimize a website for phrases nobody is searching. I see it a lot in all kinds of industries (including real estate). But here's a prime example from a non-real estate company. Example of an SEO Hunch: I know a company here in the Austin area where I live that sells graphic design services. Their tag line and other marketing materials make frequent use of the word "Awesome." So they optimized their website for such search phrases as "awesome design services Austin." One day, they became excited when their website began to appear on Page 1 of MSN ...

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Real Estate Search Engine Submission: Don’t Bother!

August 5, 2007 – 10:07 am

Stop me when this sounds familiar: "We specialize in real estate search engine submission. We will submit your real estate website to hundreds of search engines for only $199." About once a week, I get one of these spam emails claiming to offer real estate search engine submission services. Thankfully, I know enough about SEO to realize that website submission to search engines is not necessary. Thus, any "company" offering real estate search engine submission is a waste of both time and money. What is a Search Engine Submission Service? In a nutshell, these companies will submit your website to a variety of search engines. This amazing feat of technical prowess involves entering the ...

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SEO and the Sound of One Hand Clapping

August 5, 2007 – 9:31 am

A Zen master once spoke of the "sound of one hand clapping." Here's how I would translate that famous quotation to real estate search engine optimization. A real estate SEO program that lacks other important factors like lead generation and onsite conversion is like one hand clapping ... yes there's movement taking place, but there is nothing being produced. When you use SEO to drive traffic to a real estate website that does not convert visitors into leads or clients, you are clapping with one hand. But in order to produce something, you have to use the other hand as well. You have to focus on your lead generation and website conversion ...

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The Search Engine as Marketing Channel

August 5, 2007 – 9:13 am

I once got a phone call from a real estate who was new industry. He was calling to inquire about my real estate SEO /search engine optimization services. He had a certain urgency to his tone of voice, so I knew what was coming next. He said he was ready to put a lot of marketing dollars toward SEO, in the hopes that it would help him establish his business. "I really believe in the search engine optimization thing," I remember him saying. "I know it's going to bring a lot of business." I agreed that, yes, a strong SEO program can certainly drive web traffic. And if you capitalize on that ...

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