Welcome to Real Estate Search Engine Optimization PDF Print E-mail

The objective of search engine optimization is to increase web visitor counts by ranking very high in the results of search queries using the most appropriate keywords describing the content of your site. In layman's terms, you want to trick out your website to get as many folks to see it as possible!

We track the search engine optimization (SEO) industry daily so we can keep our finger on the pulse of new and improving technologies and practices that work to get our clients better ranking. Imagine being able to sit back and watch, week by week as your site crawls up to number one at Google! What's more, with good SEO our firm also assists you in developing strong and appealing content for your site visitors that will keep them on your website longer and increase your leads. However, as with any real estate marketing, it takes time - energy and expense.

It is not enough to simply add META tags and do a submission of your site to a million search engine indexes and directories. The first promotion step in obtaining significant web visitor counts is to seek first-page search engine results. An early step is to build a great content-rich site. One of the last steps is to create an aggresive link campaign to get as many links TO your site as possible. In the middle is a step that is VITAL if you want to obtain front-page results, and most sites skim past this step because it is forgotten or too complex, but without competent search engine optimization your site will be destined to obscurity - nobody will ever find you! The following FREE advice describes how to design your keywords with search engine optimization and ranking in mind.

There are no search engine optimization secrets -- just ranking and promotion methodologies to follow in order to beat your competition in obtaining a high ranking for desired search keywords. This page targets improving search engine rankings by using the following key elements:

  • Proper use of meta tags, title & description
  • Strong use of target keywords throughout the content of the website
  • Aggressive campaign to increase inbound links to the website

If you think of nothing else when you optimize your website, you should think of this: Make your site the best possible site for your market. If you do nothing else, you will gain top ranking. How? Do you have a favorite site that you go to where the content is updated frequently? Where the site is easy to use and has a wealth of information? Yes! And your website can do the same.

Some steps we can take:

  • Ensure we're using targeted keyword phrases, phrases that your customers would use to find you
  • Ensure we have massive amounts of excellent content that will keep the visitors coming back
  • Ensure we have hundreds (or thousands) of other real estate related websites linking to us

What elements will prevent us from ranking well?

  • Heavy use of Flash or Javascript
  • Little or no actual text on the website
  • Use of frames
  • Poor use of the title tag
  • Targeting generic keywords like 'agent' or 'mls'
  • Overloading on keywords
  • Submitting to 1,000 search engines
  • Reciprocal link exchanges with bad neighborhods (or sites that link to bad neighborhoods!)

Did you know that if you have only one inbound link to your site then you never have to submit your site to the search engines?

Search engines have small programs called 'spiders' that roam throughout the web looking at websites. They travel from link to link and read every website page they can get hold of and they return the results to the search engine. Thus, as long as one other website links to you then you'll be found and ranked according to your content.

Did you know there are 'black hat' SEO firms that will promise you top level results, but who use very un-ethical methods to get you there.

Unethical SEO firms could possibly get your website permanently banned from all search engines. That's a dangerous game to play, especially if they're getting you top ranking for useless keywords that nobody ever uses. Anyone can get you great ranking for useless keywords because there is zero competition.

So, here is a description of how we gain good ranking:

Meta & Description tags - Meta tags are the HTML codes at the beginning of your webpage. They explain what your website is about. A sample meta tag might look something like this:

<title>Real Estate Virtual Assistant - Home</title>
<meta name="description" content="Real Estate Virtual Assistant - Real Estate Website Design - Real Estate Search Engine Optimization, Real Estate Virtual Assistant - Real Estate Website Design - Search Engine Optimization." />
<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<META content="30 days" name=revisit-after>
<meta name="rating" content="Safe For Kids">
<meta name="copyright" content="2005 by VirtuAllin Administrative Services. All rights reserved.">

Let's look at these a little closer:

  • Keyword tag - This is no longer used by the search engines (thanks to all those spammers!) so don't worry about using it
  • Title tag - This is the title of your website and should contain at least one keyword phrase - don't use Stan Smith or Century 21 - use Miami Real Estate & Homes for Sale..
  • Description tag - This is where you'll write a brief description of your services. Be certain to include at least one or two of your keyword phrases here.
  • 30 days - This tag tells the search engine robots to return in 30 days to re-spider and check for updates. It may not be necessary, but it's good to have in case you have a spider that might only come around every 60 or 90 days.
  • Rating - This tag tells the search engines that you have no adult or inappropriate content on your website.
  • Copyright - This tag ensures the search engines register that any and all content on your site is protected by copyright laws. This will help you prove your case should some other website steal your content and post it as their own.

Content is King!

Another key element in good SEO is content. You may have a website that is ranking number one in Google for several keywords, but if your website is hard to navigate or doesn't have any truly valuable information - you still won't get any leads (or sales!). The average consumer will spend a great deal of time doing research on the internet and to truly attract their attention, you have offer them....benefits! For example: free reports on neighborhoods, schools, buyer tips, seller tips, community events, how working with you will be better than working with anyone else. Often referred to as WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) - good content that is useful and beneficial to your ideal customer is what you need to have on your website.

Lead Generation Forms - If you build your terrific site with all this fantastic real estate content, but don't include excellent 'call to action' or lead generation forms - you'll still have no new customers. This is a vital step to ensuring your SEO efforts pay off in the long run.

Inbound Links

The final key to the SEO puzzle is inbound links. An inbound link is when another website links to your website. What will help your site the most is an inbound link from another real estate related website. There are many ways we can generate these inbound links; through real estate directories, other agent websites and through creative methods such as posting to real estate forums with your link in the signature line. Let me explain further:

  • Real Estate Directories - There are several sites on the Internet devoted exclusively to listing a directory of many real estate and real estate related websites. Some require a fee, but I recommend using those that are free such as my own: Real Estate Directory
  • Agent Links - We can launch an article creation program (that is also a benefit to your website viewers) where we offer real estate related articles to other real estate agent websites provided they include a link back to your site. We can submit your articles to hundreds of article directory sites, real estate blogs and more.
  • Creative linking - This can be a fun way to generate inbound links. What you can do is create a signature that includes a link to your website and use that at real estate forums (such as Agents Online) whenever you make a post, and each time you do - you'll generate another inbound link to your website.

Once you've chosen your top keyword phrase, be certain that you use it as the anchor text of any inbound links. In other words, when the link is used in HTML it should have the keyword at the text or visible portion of the link rather than your website name or your name. For example, Real Estate Virtual Assistant links to my website with my keyword as the anchor text. This gives added weight to the link with the search engines - it tells the search engines in one line that your website is directly related to your keyword phrase.

In closing, w hy should you use VirtuAllin to increase your search engine ranking? We know our stuff and we have gained huge results for our clients in many different markets, again and again. Want proof? Take a look at our example:

Sold on VA - Jack Dice
'Ashburn Real Estate'
April 14th, 2004
Rank: 280
Sold on VA - Jack Dice
'Ashburn Real Estate'
April 30th, 2004
Rank: 139
Sold on VA - Jack Dice
'Ashburn Real Estate'
May 12th, 2004
Rank: 44
Sold on VA - Jack Dice
'Ashburn Real Estate'
July 18th, 2004
Rank: 12

Other SEO Successes we've achieved:

Check Google for 'indianapolis relocation' and find our client www.indianapolisrealestateguide.com
Check Google for 'cupertino real estate' and find our client www.siliconvalleyprop.com
Check Google for 'ft. hood real estate' and find our client www.cptaction.com

Check my ranking! It can easily be checked at this link. At the time of this writing, my website is in the 2nd spot!

I'm confident I have the skills and the experience to get your website ranking well for your market. While I can't guarantee placement, I can guarantee that I will strive to generate the best results as efficiently and as economical as possible. Let me prove it to you - call me today and let's talk about your SEO needs.



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