With the popularity of mobile devices, local SEO has become vital to driving business to your website and brick-and-mortar location. This fact is especially true for realtors. Realtors network to buy and sell properties within a specific locale. Most realtors are experts in their geographical area, so they can recommend properties that fit their clients’ needs. In turn, realty clients are usually looking for properties, residential or commercial, in a localized region. Since your expertise in the local geography, property availability and neighborhood features are important to your client, using local SEO is one of the best ways to find new business.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is including SEO signals within your content that is related to a specific locale. Just like you use keywords to match client queries with your content, with local SEO your keywords include specific location names as well as location-related terms. These should be included in the key areas such as title (h1), headings (h2), sub-headings (h3 – 4), and within the content. It is also helpful to including your pertinent keywords in the meta description and alt description for images and video.
How to Use Local SEO
It helps to know the persona of your best clients. Since your content is directed to your client persona, you can imagine how the persona would act when making a search for a local realtor or property. For instance, they may want to stay in their current neighborhood and search listings “near me.” “Near me” is a very popular search keyword. Using it triggers Google to run a search near the already-established location of the client according to their mobile or desktop device.
Other search possibilities can be “new construction in “city name,” or retail properties for sale in “city name.” If they are moving to a new city, they may search for 4-bedroom homes near schools in “city name.” The key is the name of the city or town they want to search in. These location-related keywords can be narrowed down in many ways including specific street names, neighborhood names, or even local venues. Maybe they have kids and want to find a home near a local park with a playground.
Including Local SEO on Your Website
Your website should always include the name of cities or neighborhoods that are your focus. If you work with strictly commercial or residential clients, make sure your website content makes that clear. Instead of saying that you’re a realtor for Melbourne, be more specific. Include keywords such as “Melbourne-based realtor specializing in commercial properties for retail clients.” That is very specific. Laser focus your marketing to the clients who are your best match. That way when they search for “residential single-family homes in Christchurch,” your website including your name and contact information will come up in search results.