Understanding search for Estate Agents (part 1)

| Online marketing

Understanding search for Estate Agents (part 1)

 

A lot of you may think that a website is enough for your online presence but these days it’s really not, in fact it is just the first step towards your online campaign.

Having a website just isn’t enough anymore, you need to get found through search which means you have to begin thinking about how your customers are going to try and find you.

Why search matters

First we will start off by trying to get you to understand why search matters to your customers and business. These stats should help justify why your business needs search:

Search can be profitable:

  • 14.6% - the sales return rate from SEO leads. Outbound leads such as direct mail and print advertising only has a 1.7% sales return rate.
  • Search is the number one driver of traffic to your website, beating social media by more than 300% on average.

Search is worldwide:

  • 92% of people on the internet use search engines.
  • 59% of people use search engines at least once a day.
  • 175 billion searches are conducted each month. Google alone has 115 billion searches conducted a month.

Search is competitive:

  • 75% of users will never go past page one of Google.
  • 53% of organic search clicks go to the top search result.

What makes a good keyword for local search?

Now you understand the importance of search, you have to choose the right keywords for you. Here you need to think about how your customers will find you. Here are some tips for choosing the right keywords:

1. The length of your keywords should preferably be 3-5 words long

2. Your local area information should be included; this may be the city you cover or your office location.

3. You should state your relevant products or services. For example this could be one of the following “estate agents”, “letting agents”, “properties for sale”, “commercial agents” or “chartered surveyors”.

4. Only use commonly used words and phrases, don’t get too technical. Just think about what you would search for to find your business.

5. Think of the questions your customers will ask the search engines, give them the answer. 

 

Article continued... Part 2 - Understanding search for estate agents