On April 1st Google changed its official local SEO rankings guide to include “prominence”. The adjective joins “relevance” and “distance” as the three main things determining how a site performs in local search. Local rankings are different from general SEO rankings, which were also updated recently. These are the rules governing the results which appear on maps, in boxes or packs at the top of a SERP, and very prominently on the right hand side of the results page. More importantly, they more or less control mobile search rankings. Local SEO has never been more important. It increases visibility on smart phones; where more searches take place, with higher click through rates, and greater intent to purchase. More importantly landing a spot in the local pack actually puts your site higher on desktop pages than regular results. So if you aren’t paying attention to local SEO start now.
Now that there’s no doubt local SEO is important, how do you actually do it well? 2/3 ranking factors are fairly self explanatory. Won’t insult everyone by explaining what “distance” means. Just know it’s generally calculated using location settings from the smart phone performing the search and the gps location of a GMB verified addresses. Though the application is slightly different for local, “relevance” is very similar to regular SEO and involves matching site content to the question implied in the query. Adding “prominence” is new. It’s not crazy to think that since people normaly hire an SEO agency to get prominent, making notoriety a ranking factor is stacking the deck for established companies. It’s still too early to tell if that’s going to happen. In the meantime here are a few ways real estate agents can build “prominence” and improve both their general and improve local SEO at the same time.
Sponsor Local Charities And Events
The only lead generation strategy that makes an immediate difference in local communities. Besides the obvious karmic benefits, links from area specific organizations will increase your site’s authority for queries originating in that region and for general phrases like “apartments for rent" with the reiong's name added at the begining or end. Becoming more of a presence in the community in real life is a fantastic way to increase your visibility online. Getting involved with anything from a charity your passionate about, a local sports team, or even a historical society creates plenty of natural networking and link building opportunities with a definite local focus. Even if these links are technically outside of the real estate sector, they associate your brand and your website with a particular location which makes your listings more “prominent” to search engines.
Show Expertise With Trust Enhancers And Titles
Many agents use trust enhancers by highlighting certifications and awards on their home pages. A logo from a large brokerage firm, picture of an award you’ve won, or even link to a news article singing your praises all work to build trust with people seeing your website for the first time. If possible, it’s always a good idea to tastefully include a few of these things. For those just starting out, there are a few ways to collect authoritative titles with the same SEO link benefits as some awards. The most obvious is to become a real estate concierge. Not only does it sound classy, working with real estate lead gen apps like Ask Avenue helps increase your overall traffic. The link from a respected site associated with real estate will help search engines know a new agent is in fact involved in selling property while the bumb in traffic makes site content appear more relevant to a given query. Guest blogging almost anywhere, joining real estate communities like Active Rain, and putting together webinars or ebooks are other ways to let search engines know you’re an expert at what you do. Like in the real world, being known as an expert at something will increase your prominence in that field.
Sometimes Volume Works: Start With A Narrow Focus And Gradually Expand
Like authority and the flu, prominence can be contagious. Sometimes, sheer volume can make something appear more prominent. Creating content focussed on a low competition subject area or keyword will inevitably increase how prominent your site appears to search engines for that type of information. As long as the mass of content being created makes logical sense and is of comparable quality to the rest of your site, even pages that have nothing to do with the chosen subject will eventually see an SEO benefit or rankings increase. This is a long game but it works. For example, instead of blogging about “awesome bungalows” one week and “semidetached homes for sale” the next, tweak titles so both posts are presented as a series. This narrows the keyword focus around 1 thing, related to both original ideas only now the shared phrase is capable of generating qualified real estate leads. Something like “Affordable Family Homes In Pleasantville: Bungalows” and “Affordable Family Homes In Pleasantville: Semidetached”. This sets you up to link both of these posts to other content about property in the area, marketed for the same demographic, and about the same type of building. Doing so passes along some of the prominence and authority your site built up with less competition to higher profile pages. It takes some effort but absolutely works.
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