SEO Strategy - How to Get Hundreds of Quality Real Estate Links
© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.
In this real estate SEO tutorial, I'll explain a proven strategy for link building success. Inbound links (from other websites to your website) will improve your search engine rankings, and thus your web traffic in general. Links from quality and relevant websites will get you the best results.
Anyone can buy their way into a link-building scheme and pick up a bunch of links. But these links will mostly come from low-quality websites that have nothing to do with your real estate niche. The key to SEO success is to attract links from strong sites that can pass authority along to your own site, and to do this naturally without buying your way in.
Quick story. I had a former client who, out of desperation, signed up with some link-building network. Within a month, he had thousands of new links ... but they were from some pretty sketchy websites. Before long, his Google rankings had plummeted. Why? Because Google has sophisticated algorithms that can spot this kind of thing.
My former client emailed me in a panic and asked what might have happened. It took me about three minutes of research (using Yahoo Site Explorer) to realize he was mixed up in a link-building scheme. He had links from some highly unusual websites, including a Pakistani "celebrity watch" blog. What does this have to do with Austin real estate? Absolutely nothing. It took me a couple of minutes to spot this trend, and it takes Google's search engine only a few seconds.
You can go this route if you want to, trying to buy your way to link-building success. But you've been warned. Sooner or later, it's going to hurt your search engine rankings. Oh sure, you'll coast along with some good results for a while. But then ... slam ... your rankings will crash overnight. It has happened so many times, to so many real estate agents, that it's not speculation at all. It's only a matter of time.
Unskilled, fly-by-night SEO companies will often use the kind of linking schemes mentioned above.
Reputable SEO firms, on the other hand, (and there aren't that many of them) use long-term strategies for link-building success. They use search engine optimization techniques that fall within these guidelines. The reputable firms do this, because they understand the value of consistently good rankings over the long term.
I'm no longer in the SEO business, because it reached the point where I no longer enjoyed the work. It's tedious, time consuming and repetitive, to say the least. But let's assume I still offered search engine optimization services. What would you get for the money if you hired me? In particular, what would I do to improve your link popularity, and thus your search engine rankings?
Here's what I would do, for starters:
The list above is only a snapshot of a proper link-building program. It takes time and effort over a sustained period. But it all revolves around two things -- quality content and proactive networking. This is where most real estate SEO firms fall on their faces, and it's why I recommend avoiding them altogether.
The work I've outlined above requires time and personal attention, and these are two things most SEO companies cannot provide. They take on too many clients, so they have to cut corners to save time. So instead of using the professional-grade link strategies listed above, they'll resort to linking schemes and other risky strategies.
At some point, you just have to ask yourself the tough questions: How much are search engine rankings worth to me? Do I have the patience and determination to do it right? How bad would it hurt my business if my search engine rankings plummeted one day, out of the clear blue sky? How much trust am I willing to place into the hands of a total stranger (SEO firm)?
Anyone can buy their way into a link-building scheme and pick up a bunch of links. But these links will mostly come from low-quality websites that have nothing to do with your real estate niche. The key to SEO success is to attract links from strong sites that can pass authority along to your own site, and to do this naturally without buying your way in.Quick story. I had a former client who, out of desperation, signed up with some link-building network. Within a month, he had thousands of new links ... but they were from some pretty sketchy websites. Before long, his Google rankings had plummeted. Why? Because Google has sophisticated algorithms that can spot this kind of thing.
My former client emailed me in a panic and asked what might have happened. It took me about three minutes of research (using Yahoo Site Explorer) to realize he was mixed up in a link-building scheme. He had links from some highly unusual websites, including a Pakistani "celebrity watch" blog. What does this have to do with Austin real estate? Absolutely nothing. It took me a couple of minutes to spot this trend, and it takes Google's search engine only a few seconds.
You can go this route if you want to, trying to buy your way to link-building success. But you've been warned. Sooner or later, it's going to hurt your search engine rankings. Oh sure, you'll coast along with some good results for a while. But then ... slam ... your rankings will crash overnight. It has happened so many times, to so many real estate agents, that it's not speculation at all. It's only a matter of time.
Professional Grade Link-Building Techniques
Unskilled, fly-by-night SEO companies will often use the kind of linking schemes mentioned above.
Reputable SEO firms, on the other hand, (and there aren't that many of them) use long-term strategies for link-building success. They use search engine optimization techniques that fall within these guidelines. The reputable firms do this, because they understand the value of consistently good rankings over the long term.
I'm no longer in the SEO business, because it reached the point where I no longer enjoyed the work. It's tedious, time consuming and repetitive, to say the least. But let's assume I still offered search engine optimization services. What would you get for the money if you hired me? In particular, what would I do to improve your link popularity, and thus your search engine rankings?
Here's what I would do, for starters:
- Evaluate your website to make sure it's worth linking to in the first place. Does it offer plenty of useful and original content? Does it offer helpful tools and resources for local buyers? Is it unique in some way, or just another agent website? If a website is not worth linking to, then there's no point in launching a link-building campaign. Until you make the site "link worthy" in some way, you'll be restricted to the kinds of linking schemes mentioned earlier.
- If your website lacked content, I would start with that. Writing website content is not as hard as you might think. But if you absolutely detest writing, you can hire a writer through a service like Elance. At a minimum, I would create some pages for every major subdivision in your area of operation, information about local builders, etc. Here are some more content ideas to get you started.
- Here's a link building "secret" that SEO people have been using for years. Webmasters love to link to helpful lists. So if you can create such a list relevant to your city or town, you'll pick up some good links over time. For example, you could create a list of home builders in your area, with detailed information about each one. Or a list of neighborhoods. Or a list of good restaurants. Or ... you get the idea. The more work you put into it, the more links you'll pick up later on.
- Steps 1 - 3 above will make your website more link worthy. Once that stage is complete, I would start an outward campaign to promote the new content. Here are some of the steps I would take...
- I would send emails to every webmaster in your city who offers information to local residents -- the kinds of websites that would link to your new and helpful resources.
- If there was something truly unique and useful on your site, I would send out a press release through PRWeb.com and several other distribution channels. I would send the same release to all of the local news channels in your city or town. Each press release would link back to your real estate website from the company profile.
- I would start an article marketing campaign to pick up additional links over time. This would include two phases. The first phase would be to publish the articles through various distribution websites designed for that purpose (like EzineArticles.com). The second phase would include a few "handpicked" websites that allow guest articles. Each article would link back to your site, as the citation source.
- If you weren't already blogging, I would set up a blog for you and help you devise a blogging strategy. Publishing new information on a regular basis is a solid link-building strategy, and blogs make it easy to do.
- I would "rinse and repeat" by reiterating the strategies that worked best. If we had some good success with the neighborhood profiles, I would create more of those. If the lists turned out to be popular, I would double up on that front. You get the idea.
- It's a never-ending strategy, but the results will compound over time. More links = better rankings and more web traffic. This gives you better exposure to your key audience. And, if you have some kind of lead-generation system in place, you'll get a lot more clients via the Internet.
The Problem With SEO Companies
The list above is only a snapshot of a proper link-building program. It takes time and effort over a sustained period. But it all revolves around two things -- quality content and proactive networking. This is where most real estate SEO firms fall on their faces, and it's why I recommend avoiding them altogether.
The work I've outlined above requires time and personal attention, and these are two things most SEO companies cannot provide. They take on too many clients, so they have to cut corners to save time. So instead of using the professional-grade link strategies listed above, they'll resort to linking schemes and other risky strategies.
At some point, you just have to ask yourself the tough questions: How much are search engine rankings worth to me? Do I have the patience and determination to do it right? How bad would it hurt my business if my search engine rankings plummeted one day, out of the clear blue sky? How much trust am I willing to place into the hands of a total stranger (SEO firm)?
Labels: Real Estate SEO
posted by Brandon at
7:26 AM
