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Things Losers Say: SEO doesn't matter: Fact: Ranking #1 in Google can improve your real estate leads by 600%

I read it every day, "SEO doesn't matter... don't worry about SEO." Fact is, I couldn't disagree more. SEO is important. Why? Because when you rank for your prime short tail keywords, you

1. Garner more qualified traffic looking to buy or sell a home

2. Generate more real estate leads

I can categorically PROVE that SEO matters:

Let's clear the air- I don't sell SEO and nor have I ever sold SEO services to Realtors. I do, however, help Realtors SEO their sites for FREE and have helped to pull a number of Realtor sites back from Google penalties very quickly. Why? Because SEO isn't rocket science and enough people have their hands in a Realtor's pocket for me to need to sell a service you could easily and more effectively do yourself. Now, because I think SEO is important, doesn't mean I think it is the THE most important thing or that you shouldn't focus on writing on good, quality, engaging content. You need to do both. But knowing what terms to target and how to optimize your site so you can get found by those terms is critical to quickly ranking in Google.

Read also: How to select the best possible keywords for real estate blogs

Tool: KeywordDiscovery

Think SEO doesn't matter? Laurie Manny increased her real estate lead generation by 600% by hitting the number 1 spot in Google.

Case Study: When Laurie Manny jumped from the second position in Google to the first and second she went from 5 leads per day to 30. That is a 600% increase in real estate leads. Her traffic also took a flying leap forward from about 3500 visitors per day to upwards of 5000. So, clearly , the number one position in Google is more valuable than the number two position or any other position, for that matter. Therefore, you should do everything necessary to beg, borrow, steal, step over the competition to get to that coveted #1 position! Good news is, you don't have to beg, borrow or steal to step over your competition, you just need to know the basic premise of SEO. And that is: write keyword rich content, link to other posts on your site (a flat architecture is important) and build a few backlinks from other sites to yours.

See how when Laurie went to the #1 and #2 positions her traffic dramatically increased:

Real Estate SEO

See how her real estate lead generation increased as well

How did she get to #1 in Google for such a short tail keyword with such a high conversion value? She used on and off page SEO tactics. No secret sauce, no magic, just very trusted SEO techniques like a keyword rich domain, title tags and content coupled with a solid backlinking campaign on a platform designed to produce results when fed the right kind of content. The results are evident and undeniable.

Simple stuff you can do today to improve your search positioning.

1. Use keywords in title tag

2. Use keywords in heading tags

3. Use keywords throughout your posts where they make sense and sound natural

4. Build backlinks

5. Write new posts or update old posts 3-5 times per week

Read also: How to put your real estate blog on Page 1 of Google guaranteed

Can you get to #1 in Google without an SEO strategy?

Of course, but I can guarantee you it will take you a lot less time to rank if you have an SEO strategy that considers what your keywords are and how to use them effectively throughout your writing. I don't want you to become an SEO expert, but you should be educated on the subject.

Read also: 5 on-page SEO tactics that will improve your real estate blog

Tool: Where do you rank in Google for your keywords?

Now, I always point to Laurie, but we have a large percentage of our clients that are on the first page of Google for their prime, most valuable key terms, so here are just a few:

Marc Blasi
real estate serach engine optimization

Mariana Wagner

Colorado Springs Real Estate Connection

Ann Cummings

Page 1 on Google

Ines Garcia

SEO works

Heck, for my own site, I rank #4 for the very valuable and short tail term, "real estate leads."

Geez, you'd almost think we know what we are doing with SEO and lead generation. Who put the leads in my SEO? is exactly what RSS Pieces is about.

Long Beach Real Estate Blog Success Path

4 months old - Page 1 in Google

6 months old - #2 position on Page 1 in Google, generating 1-5 leads per day

1 year old - #1 and 2 position in Google, generating 30 leads per day

If SEO doesn't matter, then I challenge you to turn on the no follow no index meta tags.

Now, of course I know nobody in their right mind would do that- essentially tell Google not to index or crawl their site. I mean, Google is where you should be finding most of your new traffic from and as we have proven, you can generate some serious business from Google if you use the rigth tools.

How much traffic can you get from the various positions in Google

*2008 traffic percentages for each of the first 10 positions in Google (Data Source: SEOmoz):

Number 1 receives 42.1%
Number 2 receives 11.9%
Number 3 receives 8.5%
Number 4 receives 6.1%
Number 5 receives 4.9%
Number 6 receives 4.1%
Number 7 receives 3.4%
Number 8 receives 3.0%
Number 9 receives 2.8%
Number 10 receives 3.0%

Why do some blogs on the first page of Google not get any business?

I had this question asked in one of my webinars. This Realtor ranked on the first page of Google and said they ddn't get any business. The answer was clear when i visited the site. They were not asking for the business and therefore were not getting it! Sites without quality calls to action or effective lead generators do not guide the visitor through to the most important place for both them and you- the search for homes/lead generator, so be sure to call visitors to action and dump them into yoru lead gen.

Real Estate sites without calls to action and lead generators are guns with no bullets.

Week of March 17: Real Estate Blog Training Schedule

Learn how to optimize your real estate blog for better placement in Google.

Monday 1 PM: SEO Training

Join me for a 45-minute SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Seminar. Learn how to optimize your real estate blog for better placement in Google. This seminar focuses on basic on-page and off-page optimization techniques that will help your blog place for prime short tail keywords in 90 days or less.

Register to Attend this Meeting Today:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/en_US/webinar/island/joinAWebinar.tmpl

Webinar ID: 319349955
GoToWebinar Conference Call Service:
United States
Panelist: (616) 883-8033, access code 554-678-843
Attendee: (616) 883-8055, access code 566-114-708

Tuesday1 PM: Blogging Training

Join me for a 45 minute real estate blog training seminar. Learn how to write focused scan-able and engaging content that both readers and search engines will come back for. This course focuses on proven SEO copywriting techniques and provides a system for writing blog posts in 30 minutes or less.

Register to Attend this Meeting Today:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/en_US/webinar/island/joinAWebinar.tmpl

Webinar ID: 862131674
GoToWebinar Conference Call Service:
United States
Panelist: (641) 715-3399, access code 540-223-065
Attendee: (641) 715-3222, access code 347-992-934

Wednesday 1 PM: Backlink Building Workshop
Join me for a 45-minute SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Seminar on how to build high quality backlinks. Learn just how many backlinks you need to have to be a PR 5 and what kind of quality backlinks you should spend your time building. This is a workshop where I will take you through the process of building 10-15 very high quality backlinks to your site. Be prepared to work.

Register to Attend this Meeting Today:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/en_US/webinar/island/joinAWebinar.tmpl

Webinar ID: 495528189
GoToWebinar Conference Call Service:
United States
Panelist: (616) 883-8033, access code 299-542-878
Attendee: (616) 883-8055, access code 636-350-700
Webinar Password: Not required

Posted by Mary McKnight on 03/16/2008 12:05 PM

Comments (70)

seo, search engine optimization, google

Post is included in group: Blogging & SEO

70 Comments on Things Losers Say: SEO doesn't matter: Fact: Ranking #1 in Google can improve your real estate leads by 600%

MAR

2008

I'm surprised there are still people out there that think SEO does not matter. I would guess they would also believe the Internet is a fad.

Mary~Thank you for your continued help and encouragement for all of us to be successful. You have left me with a whole lot of excellent information to read up on.

Thanks for the information and screen shots. I've bookmarked it for future reference. If you have any time maybe you can check out my Denver real estate site, I would welcome any feedback.

Mary, Thank you for all your mentoring. I will be there tues and wed this week. AJ

As usual great information. I just added a lot of content to my website and saw a nice jump. It will take a little longer to get it all indexed, but these are some more excellent ideas. It's bookmarked for me!

Mary: Thanks for all the information. I'm signed up for Monday and Tuesday. This is so great and helpful.

Great information, I am still running a metric report on another tab from a link on this post. I am book marking this post.

Thans for commenting- HOT TIP: if you update old posts you will see a jump in google.

-mary

i can't believe the difference in number of leads received from being in 1st position vs the 2nd, wow! Also, I didn't know google even noticed if I updated old posts....thanks a lot Mary!!

Mary - THanks for the information, We get so busy selling real estate that we forget why we blog.

Thank you Mary! It just seems that all this takes so much time... So, here I am reading & blogging & probably should be making some sales calls. ;) Thanks for sharing!

I never thought much about SEO until recently. I am in the process of making many changes. Thank you for all the wonderful tip you have freely shared with us.

MAR

2008

Mary- Thank you for this very informative post. I definitely need help with SEO and appreciate any info I can get. Is it possible to listen to a recorded version of your webinar from today? Thanks.

I could not agree more! I have been working at the SEO stuff both with professional help and by keyword density and am now in a good position with both my main website (PopeHandy.com) and my Live in Los Gatos blog (LiveInLosGatos.com). And the calls and inquiries are totally on par with the google position! (My target areas were for Los Gatos and Silicon Valley real estate.) It took a LONG time to "get there" but now that I'm on page one of Google, I am getting the leads.

It matters A TON.

MAR

2008

Thanks, Mary. The tip on updating old posts is a good one. I have attended a few of your webinars recently and they have been very informative and well worth the time.

MARY you won me over with all I learned listing to you on the Real Estate Radio at the end of the interview I said man if I could take a week off from real estate and do everything that Mary says I could really cash in at that to all that you share and teach here.. I am over whelmed.. If you every want to take on a test subject I am open .. If you want to come to Atlanta and pick me apart and put me back together I am here and willing to put myself in the heat.. You have great knowledge and talent.

Mary - Thanks so much for continuing to share such valuable information. I'll continue to learn and improve, and hopefully so will my page rank.

MAR

2008

Mary,

I love reading your posts. Thanks for taking the time and please, keep them coming!

Any interest looking at my site? The address is under my profile if you do.

Very informative and helpful post, this one requires a bookmark so I can refer back.

Great points, good examples! We call it the hardest easy work you can ever do.

Hi Mary, Thanks again for Tuesdays webinar. I have been updating my blog w/ keywords and I even made some buttons and am putting them to use I am looking forward to this Tuesdays webinar.

MAR

2008

Nice post, how do you get the photos from your screen? I will check out your other post links too. I'm glad to hear you say realtors can do it themselve. of course not all may want to, but I heard SEO companies kind of scoff when you tell them you are doing it.Thanks!

MAR

2008

Please keep the tips coming :)

Amazing stuff. Alot to absorb, too. Are these webinars free. Do we have to pay to sign up. I'd love to, but right now, financial times are tough.

Mary,

Thanks for the post. Do you also do SEO work for sites or just blogs.

MAR

2008

Thank you for all of the useful links you post! Is that Trellian Company with the Keywork Analytics Info site free to use once you sign up? I was afraif to give em my info then get called by sales reps. Thanks. -Chris

MAR

2008

Will you have more webinars? I missed the last one!

nice touch on the link to "real estate leads" Hacker Language is Aw3s0/\/\3 ! :-)

Karen,

All Webinars are free. Charging for training on blogging and SEO is just sleezy. I am traveling this week so I will resume daily webinars next Monday.

Craig,

And no, I make it a point to never charge for SEO work. My advice is ALWAYS free and if you want me to review your site, just send me an email with the domain name. I'd rather to teach you to do it yourself so you never get taken advantage of.

Christopher,

Trellian is free.

MAR

2008

Mary...Thanks so much for all the info...Way too much for an old guy to absorb in one reading. I have bookmarked the blog so that I can return and read some more. My site needs help. I started to rank pretty good in google and then as I added content I seemed to drift away. My domain is dougfritchie.com

Thank You for the inciteful plan of action for SEO. It seems too simple to work, but you have the documented results! Let us know if you come up with any more helpful hints..

Jim Gibson
http://www.JimGibson.BIZ

It does make a difference to be high in the organic search...the quality of the leads is better..it also helps to focus on a niche market.

MAR

2008

Excellent information, Mary! I have bookmarked this and subscribed to your blog for all of the great info you share! Thanks!

MAR

2008

Mary - Everyone tells me you are amazing and it is true! My site is knocking on the door and I am trying hard to get it over the hump! Do you mind if I lean on you?

Wow, there is a lot of excellent information here. I had to bookmark this one to read when I am more awake again!!!

MAR

2008

Mary ~ I want to personally thank you for your posts... I know you are busy and I just tuned in to your blog and sorry I missed your web siminar, do you plan to have more in the future? I work on my site constantly and thinking about adding a blog link and or page, please review my site and give me your feedback and I would really like to get some advice on my SEO, I currently work with a company, they are sending me great reports, but after being off PPC for four months I went back on to generate the leads..... I would really like to see my site get to the top using generic marketing, any help would be greatly appreciated: My web site is http://www.redding-properties.info

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Mary ~ You mentioned that your recommend to re-post blogs and old blogs, can you laborate on how this should be done, are you talking about going back to the blog and adding to it? Or just reposting it?

Thank you for your help

Good tips. I have always bounced around the number one spot....but lately a big company with big money has moved in that gets 50,000 links and is just plastered everywhere....its tough to compete when someone is capable of getting that many links. Thats why i focus on smaller words now.......they focus on the big. I still can compete on the smaller words.

APR

2008

Thanks for the great ideas and how to get up there. I am excited, I am going live today with your/my site.

Nice Stats Mary! There is no question that being #1 is big. Having a double (indented) listing at the top is even better. Although, we have one company in our market that has a Link Hub for a major search term and he is making a killing.

THanks!

APR

2008

Anyone who tell you SEO is not important "will lie to you" or "don't know what they are talking about". Either way, steer clear!

APR

2008

Thanks for great information. I have worked on my site for a considerable time, and I do notice a better return, but is nowhere where it needs to be yet. I'm going to try and implement a few of the things you talked about.

APR

2008

Thanks for the great information! I am slowly unlocking the vault and learning how to push myself up in the ratings.

APR

2008

Thanks Mary,

This is so helpful.

Although I've sold homes for years, it's still hard for me to think of a topic to just sit down and write on. If someone asks a question, I can respond with a salient point, but just dreaming something up is another issue. And, I used to write corp communications for a living and am a published poet. So, what's the deal, Lucille? Do people usually take the Tues class and then loop back for the Mon and Wed class?

Thanks,

Terri Hayley

I just spent close to $3000 to have my site built because I wanted something different. Agents in my area all use "boilerplates" and look the same. I was at a loss for words when my web designer told me she couldn't show me how to make changes or hoe to add more pages if I needed more. HELP! I've logged into my admin section and my eyes went cross eyed because I couldn't tell what to do next.

Could you please check out www.HumboldtHomeInfo.com and see what I can do? I guess in the admin section, I can add page keywords and page descriptions. Do these matter?

The best placement on Google won't help you if the content isn't any good. I know a brokerage who seems to have locked in the first spot on Google with the coveted "Anytown real estate." They do a lot of business and I don't know how they maintain that spot - it never budges, BUT they have been losing market share big time for a couple of years now. I'm seeing some of their most prominent agents bailing while several brokerages no where near the top of anything interesting are scarfing up all the business. I say CONTENT first, SEO second.

APR

2008

John,

That is a Flash website- meaning Google can't read that website. Look at this - that is your Google result for your new site- the indexed pages are from the old site- click on them- see how you get a page not found error? You need to swap back to the other site ASAP- the new site is not going to perform. I'm sorry for this bad news- but at least you are getting it before something really bad happens ad at least now you can still fix it.

Ruthmarie,

Yes, content is important for users but SEO is important to search engines. Which needs to come first? people find you on the Internet based on a search, so you need to attract Google first, then play to people. Write rich copy that plays to both users and engines. If you are doing one than the other- you have no understanding of on-page SEO. On-page SEO is part of writing the content. You can write great content all day long but if you don't write to engines too (by key wording posts) no one will ever see it. You need to write to BOTH people and Google and do it at the same time - kind of like walking ad chewing gum.

I agree with Ruthmarie's comment about content being important, but our blazing blog and website wouldn't be worth a darn without an idx solution that actually converted visitors to registrations. :)

As the number 1 ranking site for "philadelphia real estate," PhiladelphiasRealEstate.Com attracts a ton of traffic-- Traffic that we're thrilled to see quickly thrown off into our search site.

So, Mary's right-- #1 is awesome. But it's even sweeter when it leads to leads...

APR

2008

Mary, thanks. this is a lot of good info in 1 place. looks like you worked hard on this. I just bookmarked it.

APR

2008

Mary-

Thanks for all the great info. Looking forward to more of your work.

Josh

APR

2008

Awesome info and FREE too. I like the fact that you keep it simple and factual. I'm no web guru for sure, but these little tweaks are sure to be effective! Thanks and tell us more.

Wow! Great post, I bookmarked it so I can go over it slowly and absorb all I can. do you have any more Webinars coming up in May? I also found RSS peices a few weeks ago and am still trying to take that all in as well. Glad you are here

MAY

2008

Wow! We learned a lot from this blog. Thanks so much!

MAY

2008

I learn so much from these blogs. Thank you!

MAY

2008

I am new to AR & blogging & your post & other post like it have opened my eyes to the importance of blogging & the effect it can have on my business.

Thank you

Good stuff. I still have a lot to learn I need to visit your blog more

MAY

2008

This is a great post that i just had to bookmark. Thanks!

I would really appreciate some input on why my Wordpress blog seems to be invisible to Google. I feel as if I have done my homework by studying a lot of the tips and lessons on SEO here and elsewhere but remain invisible.

I have consistently posted about Cape San Blas real estate at capesanblasblog.com since September, have included applicable keywords and tags, etc. etc., and yet when I Google "Cape San Blas real estate" I can go 6 or 7 pages deep and still not show up, while someone writing in a single personal blog about their vacation at Cape San Blas and later mentioning all the real estate signs, does show up.

Have I somehow offended the Google gods?

Mary - I just saw that this blog has been viewed 5665 times! Congrats and thank you for writing such awesome and relevant content!

Tina in Virginia

This is amazing... SO much to learn. I'm just trying to keep up but I seem to blog in waves although I know this kills any momentum. After reading this, I'm going to make a better effort at blogging regularly.

Thanks a bunch.

MAY

2008

Mary,

Thanks for sharing such important advise. Hopefully, everyone won't read this or we will all be fighting for the #1 spot! Thanks for a very informative blog.

MAY

2008

Wow, what great information. Are the seminars every week, or were they just for that week?

MAY

2008

Mary,

Great resources and you are making way too much sense. One point I would like to make is that Cornell did a study that outlined how important ranking #1-2-3 is vs the other 7 spots on page 1 Google results. According to Cornell:

1. 1st Position in Google: ranking #1 on page 1 of a Google search “will get you more than half of the clicks on a given search.”

2. 1st Position vs 2nd Position in Google: Ranking “first in Google will get you 4 times the clicks that the second position will.”

3. Top 10 Myth: According to seoresearcher.com “The ‘top-ten’ (Top 10 spots-page 1 on a Google search) itself is a very diverse group with the number of clicks increasing almost logarithmically as your rank grows.”

Here is the real kicker: “The first five positions get over 88% of the traffic, and the first three – 79%.”

I wrote these stats into my blog post "Why Being First In Google Will Really Help Grow Your Real Estate Business: Cornell Study Latest Blast To Realtor Community" posted on May 26th.

This post was rejected and removed by the "More Referrals: Client Referral Strategies" Group yet I thought Google was a big part of generating both leads and eventually referrals from those leads?

What do you think?

dean

MAY

2008

Mary,

You have provided so much great information!!! THANK YOU!! NOw I just have to go and do it!!

Take Care & Have a Great '08!

MAY

2008

Good natural search engine results is the most inexpensive way to find prospects. A professionaly designed and expertly written website is key to convert that prospect into a client.

JUN

2008

The problem with a website that does not have a blog embedded within it is that nobody will find the website. The content factor is very important but with a website content is not added everyday. Consequently without Google placement, prospects will never see the killer content on the website.

dean

JUN

2008

Great to find you on Active Rain again - I just found your blog earlier this evening. Great information that you always share!

Thanks

JUN

2008

I consider myself pretty lucky, first my broker gave me an invite to activerain, and also I found this post. Thanks for preventing many of us from wasting energy, I know that I have already learned a ton and will continue to learn, (I promise Colleen I will have a picture by the end of June if your reading this!!) I can't wait to put it all into practice.

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