Many Real Estate agents are unaware of what structured data is, why Google loves it, and how it can literally boost your traffic overnight. I'm going to give you a crash course today on what it is, why it matters to Real Estate agents, and how you can begin incorporating it into your own website to improve your SEO and your web traffic.
1) What is Structured Data?
Stuctured data is code written in a certain format for the search engines specifically. Search engines like Google are able to interpret the structured data and use it for a variety of different things like populating Rich Snippets which are an SEO game changer.
2) OK, so now I'm completely confused, what the heck is a Rich Snippet?
Rich snippets are extra features that get appended to a search result by Google. See examples of Rich Snippets that are great for Real Estate below.
Review Rich Snippets
I don't have to be an artist to paint you a picture of how this can dramatically differentiate you in the search results compared to your competitors. I mean it's just night and day in terms of the traffic that you are able to generate once you get your Page Authority up and you have a rich snippet in there for ratings, it's game over. Your impression to click rate will substantially improve. That little 5 star review snippet is a HUGE differentiator and a force factor for generating qualified web traffic that converts.
More Rich Snippets That Are Great For Real Estate Agents
I think alot of people think that incorporating structured data into your real estate website is a one trick pony. Alot of people already know about the reviews. True, they still have no idea how to get them onto their real estate website or how to get them to stick in many cases (by the way if you're reading this, I specialize in that and it'll be the best money you spent all year on your marketing).
I hope that these pictures help to illustrate what structured data is, how it can help your SEO and how you can achieve it. I'm not completely oblivious to the fact that many of you don't have the slightest inclination to care about this junk. What you do care about is leads. I'm using it on my own website Pool Contractor to rank for review snippets.
Test Your Website & See
Google has a free tool to check your structured data and see if it will even qualify for a rich snippet. Here's a friendly piece of advice. If you have a Real Estate website, something state of the art that has IDX and all your MLS listings, take just one of your listings and run it through this free utility and see how it ranks for structured data. You would be amazed at what you find.
Joe, I get it but this stuff is so nerdy does it really matter?!
Taking just 5 minutes to educate yourself about this stuff will help your website generate more leads, I promise you. If you don't care what structured data is, ask your web guy. Show him this article and ask them, "Hey, why doesn't our website show up like this in search?"
I'm Results Driven, So Let's Look At Some Results
Here is an example of where the rubber meets the road. A sample of traffic data / impressions before and after ranking for rich snippets reviews. This is 1 page snapshot over a comparable time frame of roughly 2 months. Notice the number of total impressions that has improved and the number of clicks. I mean it doesn't get more black & white.
I can tell you that if you have a WordPress website, that there are literally a hundred different plugins that can help you get your structured data game on point including:
Best Resources I Know For Structured Data
Both of those plugins will help you score a touchdown with structured data without needing a guy like me. There are also other resources that will help you without a plugin or if you don't have a WordPress website. If however you aren't nerdy and into programming your own website, you can always bring in the big guns. There are plenty of web developers who are well versed in structured data and can help you score some big wins on getting your code game together on the back-end.
Google loves structured data and so does your web traffic. If you're not already incorporating it into your website, you're missing the boat. If you need some help getting your website and SEO up to snuff, feel free to reach out.
Thanks for reading this article. I'm a website development expert and marketing guru. I operate a Sacramento Web Design agency called Norcal Web Designs. We are not affiliated with or a part of ActiveRain or Google. The opinions posted here are my own and not paid or solicited from any company or sponsor.
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