Real Estate SEO and Pinterest: Like Birds of a Feather

By
Services for Real Estate Pros
pinterestA few months ago, the First Lady opened a Pinterest account and interest in the website has picked up more than ever. 
 
Pinterest is a unique social networking site, or more precisely, an image sharing site-- and it is the special uniqueness of the website that has made it a popular tool in the SEO game. To understand how Pinterest could help your SEO efforts, one would have to understand the basics of Pinterest, SEO and how they collectively gel to yield the desired results.
 
First, you should know that Google and other major search engines have started to display Pinterest profiles, pinboards and specific content from Pinterest on the first pages of the search results.
 
So... If you have a Pinterest profile and someone searches for your name or your profile name (see more on this at the end of this post), it can easily get displayed right on the first page. Your profile name can be anything you want it to be, unless it's already taken.
 
If you run a bakery-- for example-- and have uploaded images of your cakes, pastries and baked products on a "pinboard" within Pinterest-- when someone searches for the specific terms you are targeting, there is a decent chance of that pinboard getting better search results than your primary site!
 
Google considers the overall power of certain sites. ActiveRain is a great example of this and so is Pinterest. I'll bet, for many ActiveRainers, your AR blog posts show up before your main site does. Or maybe your AR profile shows up before your main website. (This will be mostly true for those that have newer "main" websites.) Often, when I search for a name, a Facebook page comes up first. This is another good example of "name branding" of keywords.
 

How One Coral Springs Real Estate agent is Using Pinterest...or soon will be!

 
First, create a Pinterest profile and keep your content specific to your expertise. If you are a Realtor in Coral Springs, you should post pictures of Coral Springs and especially, pictures of your Coral Springs home listings. Then, you should link your Pinterest with Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites to have a complete SEO strategy. (Sign up for Pinterest, and then they will guide you through linking FB and Twitter.)
 
I just set up this brand new profile for my friend and fellow ActiveRainer, Terri Poehler. Take special note of her user/profile name (coralspringsFL) because it appears in the URL and the "boards" I set up-- if you click here, you can see how her username is in her URL-- which is huge. You need a username that has your keywords in it. With Pinterest, you have 14 characters. Figure out how to get your keywords in 14 characters, or just settle.
 
What Pinterest does is create a mini network of relevant content, links, clicks, referral clicks, shares and everything which would then be considered by search engines for higher rankings.
 
The best part? It's easy! There is a Pinterest app of course, so as a Realtor, you could go around snapping pictures of your beautiful city or listings and uploading them right through your smart phone.
 
That's SEO on-the-go and I love that. Nobody can say they are too busy to do that, right?
 
Now go start pinning things to those boards! And grab a good user name-- think KEYWORDS-- before someone else does. CoralSpringsFL is now gone forever. Get yours before someone else does...like me.
 
But before you go, won't you please leave a comment, or give this post "plus" a or "like"? It is always very appreciated. 
 
Good luck out there!
Posted by

seo guru

Comments (63)

Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • Green • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

You are absolutely right: Pinterest is super easy.

But it requires time and quality( it is too easy to become absorbed in all those pretty pictures and start re pinning cool staff, Be selective and remember why you are there:)

 

Sep 06, 2012 06:06 PM
Wayne Zuhl
Remax First Realty II - Cranford, NJ
The Last Name You'll Ever Need in Real Estate

Good morning Michael - I love Pinterest, but more as a secret addiction and less as a marketing tool. I had no idea Mrs. Obama had an account - checking into it right now :)

Sep 06, 2012 08:54 PM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

I have not had time to explore this.  I do not have time to keep up with all the social media.  But I am interested.

Sep 07, 2012 02:48 AM
Mendy Mendenilla Janke
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Westminster, MD

I think this is a great idea.  I personally have 2 gmail accounts, one for personal use and one for business use under my own domain.  I really don't see the problem with maintaining 2 pinterest accounts associated with my 2 email accounts though.  As you mentioned maintaining them might become arduous at some point when I might re-evaluate but right now it doesn't seem to be a problem to post my personal, funny, kids crafts, favorite books, etc... to my personal account and real estate and local interest stuff to my professional one.  Maybe I'm looking at it too simply but I don't see how that can be considered spam.

Sep 07, 2012 04:52 AM
Joetta Fort
The DiGiorgio Group - Arvada, CO
Independent Broker, Homes Denver to Boulder

I didn't know you could post a pic just taken on the phone.  I'll be trying that today!  I 

Sep 08, 2012 01:31 AM
Sharon Denning
Momentum Marketing - West Richland, WA
Marketing that gets it SOLD

Micahel,

I'm sorry I must have worded that poorly. I was saying I know people DO click through. I haven't seen it done on real estate but I am sure it can be done. If it works somewhere else it'll work here. Recipe and pattern bloggers get Huge click throughs and gain followers through pinterest regularly. They also use it network with other bloggers on same subject! HMMM....

Also, I had not at all considered the link and making it SEO relevant. It's worth it just for that reason alone and why I subscribe to you. I created a new profile PascoRealEstate

Now I need to work on filling the relevant boards, ang getting creative with it. 

What about things to do in Tri Cities WA? Do you think linking to the AR blog about the activity would be useful?

Don't over Think it? Like the best SEO is no SEO? I do try to focus on just providing unique appropriate content. On my site. 

Could you tell me if posting the same exact content on my site blog and my active rain blog is a bad thing?

Thanks for all your great info.  and ideas

Sep 09, 2012 04:48 AM
Nan Jester
Exit Real Estate Gallery Jacksonville Beach, FL - Jacksonville Beach, FL
Realtor, Exit Real Estate Gallery

Great advice. Thanks for sharing this info.  The sooner we can become branded, the better.

Sep 12, 2012 03:59 AM
Anonymous
Serena Jones

I'm new to the SEO marketing... trying to encorporate everything I'm learning. I LOVE the idea of taking pictures with my phone and sending it over. THAT I do all the time anyways! Never thought to associate it to my town as the real estate expertert. Brilliant! 

Sep 17, 2012 07:34 AM
#52
Al & Peggy Cunningham, Brokers
RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage - Brampton, ON
Our Family Wants To Help Your Family!

Thanks Michael, heading over there now to see if we can spruce up our profile.

Sep 23, 2012 12:32 AM
Jane & Jeff Daley, PhD
Luxury Valley Homes Scottsdale - Scottsdale, AZ
Scottsdale Real Estate Arizona

We've been using Pinterest for ( http://pinterest.com/jeffdaley1946/ ) for awhile now and have not seen SEO improvement. It may be the URL that we are using. I don't believe you can change the URL once it's been established.

Sep 23, 2012 12:38 AM
Frank Castaldini
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Realtor - Homes for Sale in San Francisco

Majorly uesful article.  Thanks.  I am immediately downloading the printerest app to my droid.

Sep 23, 2012 01:40 AM
SEO Expert: Michael George
Phoenix, AZ
Real Estate and Law Firm SEO

Thanks for the comments folks.

Jeff & Jane-- I don't think you can either, although I haven't formerly investigated. Whenever I sign up for anything, I try and take a username that will be a keyword that people search for. You can always open another account!

Sep 23, 2012 03:17 AM
Michael Blue
Home Smart Realty West - Encinitas, CA
REALTOR - 760-889-8877, Encinitas/Carlsbad
Well I signed up. I don't know why I don't get it but I don't. I think I linked it to Facebook as you suggested and my name is EncinitasCAhome, I think? Have the app on my iPad and when I click on the app a bunch of pictures show up on my screen don't know who's they are but there they are. ????
Sep 23, 2012 03:35 AM
SEO Expert: Michael George
Phoenix, AZ
Real Estate and Law Firm SEO

Michael- what you are seeing is the Pinterest equivalent of your "newsfeed" in Facebook. Or, for that matter, the front page of ActiveRain. Different every time, with a whole bunch of pictures from people you may or may not know...

Your page is at http://pinterest.com/EncinitasCAhome/ as you said...

Now you need to start "pinning" things to your board.

Sep 23, 2012 05:03 AM
Kimo Jarrett
WikiWiki Realty - Huntington Beach, CA
Pro Lifestyle Solutions

Thanks for the lessons and information. I'm a little slow with social media but with some lessons, I hopefully will be Pinterest soon.

Sep 23, 2012 05:34 AM
Bob Miller
Keller Williams Cornerstone Realty - Ocala, FL
The Ocala Dream Team
Hi Michael that makes sense. In SEO terms Pinterest is always fresh content.
Sep 23, 2012 09:20 AM
Tony Cappaert
Contactually - Washington, DC

Thanks for the suggestions, Michael. I haven't quite found a use for Pinterest yet (my company is a technology startup) but it seems like it would work really well in real estate and other visually engaging verticals.

Sep 24, 2012 06:50 AM
Pat & Steve Pribisko
Keller Williams Greater Cleveland West - Westlake, OH

Michael, excellent post.  I thought I was covered, but you have made me re-think Pinterest.

Sep 25, 2012 02:18 AM
Melissa Marro
Keller Williams First Coast Realty - The Marro Team - Orange Park, FL
Jacksonville Real Estate and Home Staging

I've been using pinterest for my home staging biz and now that I've decided to dip my feet into the Realtor pool, I've started creating neighborhood pin boards as well. 

Sep 28, 2012 12:11 PM
Lori Cain
eXp Realty - Tulsa, OK
Midtown Tulsa Real Estate Top Producer

Now I need to figure out how to use my Pinterest iPhone app. Thanks again for ANOTHER great blog!

Oct 08, 2012 03:38 PM

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