How Can Real Estate SEO Help Rent Your Home Faster?

The United States Census Bureau reports an increase in renters, approaching 49.5 million. This gives investors ample opportunity to rent their homes faster and for a higher price — as long as they know how to reach their clients.

Experts predict it can take anywhere between 30 and 90 days to secure a qualified tenant for a rental property. Boosting your search engine rankings and organic traffic can speed up this timeline, helping property owners cover expenses and profit faster.

Also, approximately 48% of renters today are under the age of 30, making it more important than ever to put your listings online.

This article covers real estate SEO and how it can help your property management or leasing business. We’ll review a few benefits of using SEO for property management services, including how it can help you rent out your investment properties faster.

What Is Real Estate SEO?

Real estate SEO is a strategy that involves optimizing your website to appear higher in local search results. By including commonly searched phrases in the real estate industry and leveraging positive reviews, you can increase your visibility in your target market’s local searches.

Ultimately, this means that it’s easier for potential tenants to find your property management services via your website or Google business profile.

Integrating SEO and local keywords into your real estate or property management marketing strategy offers the following benefits:

• Appear Higher in Search Results for Relevant Keywords – The primary goal of SEO in real estate is to appear higher for relevant keywords, like “Rental properties near me” or “Rentals in [City] [State].
• Boost Local Brand Awareness – When your business appears higher in search engines, you can boost brand awareness.
• Establish Authority in your Target Market – When you create high-quality content that is well-optimized for your website, you can also establish authority in your target market. Potential customers are much more likely to choose a real estate agent or property manager they trust.
• Generate High-Quality Leads in the Long Term – SEO offers long-term results that continue paying off after the initial investment. Most real estate investors would agree that rental properties are a long-term investment, so it makes sense that a long-term strategy would work best.

 

Most investors know that attracting good-quality renters is one of the biggest roadblocks to a successful real estate investment business. SEO for note investors helps search engines pick up your website and rank it higher, boosting your online visibility. In addition to beating out other websites in your industry, you can also attract more prospective tenants.

How Can Real Estate SEO Help Rent Your Home Faster?

Over two-thirds of all searchers choose one of the first three pages in the results. This means that by ranking in one of these positions in local search, your real estate agency or investment business gets significantly more traffic, increasing the speed at which you rent your property.

Here are a few ways that real estate SEO can help rent your home faster.

Attract Desired Tenants Organically

Local SEO for real estate aims to drive organic traffic to your property management company’s website or listings. Unlike paid ads, local SEO offers long-term, ongoing search engine results. Using industry-relevant keywords and optimizing your website for user-friendliness leads to a significant increase in organic search results rankings.

Increase Brand Visibility Online

SEO for real estate also works to increase brand visibility online. The more people that know about you and your rental company, the faster you can find renters for your rental properties.

Good local SEO increases brand visibility and helps generate thousands of website visitors via organic traffic. Using geolocation targeting helps find interested tenants in your specific area much faster.

Generate Good Leads

Local SEO doesn’t just increase leads, but the leads you receive also tend to be more qualified. With careful keyword research to uncover the most relevant keywords in your industry, you can learn the exact search phrases your target renters are using.

Optimizing your website content with these keywords boosts your traffic for that specific target audience. The right local SEO strategy has the potential to put highly qualified, ready-to-sign potential tenants right in front of you.

It’s not important to just appear higher in Google search results but to appear at the top of the rankings for the most relevant keywords. Ranking high for “Homes for sale” won’t benefit a property manager much, so in-depth keyword research should be a part of your SEO strategy.

Local keyword research helps you uncover the short- and long-tail keywords with high search volume in your area. Use Google Keyword Planner to establish the best keywords related to your business type.

Builds Brand Authority and Trust in Your Region

Your online reputation is important to your rental property business. The most successful real estate and property management companies have brand authority and trust in the region where they operate.

Rental property owners can establish authority and trust using many strategies, including:

• Build Citations – Building citations establishes trust and consistency for your property management business.
• Establish High-Quality Backlinks – High-quality backlinks transfer trust from other websites in relevant categories to your own.
• Prioritize Reviews – Potential clients consider reviews when choosing a real estate agent or property manager.
• Online Directories – Submitting your information (business name, address, phone number) to online directories helps build backlinks, boost trust, and increase online visibility.

 

Boosted trust leads to higher rankings, which in turn translates to increased website traffic. More traffic to your property listings means more tenant applications and faster lease closings.

Enhance User Experience

A good user experience is a priority when using SEO to attract rental leads, including web and mobile optimization. Almost 74% of renters today use mobile devices to search for their next rental, making a mobile-friendly website important. If the site is slow or difficult to navigate, renters will give up on your website and look elsewhere.

Also, today’s renters expect an easy, convenient process from the initial contact to the signed paperwork. While 55% of renters still sign a paper lease in person, this number continues to drop significantly, leading to more and more digital leasing contracts. Offering an easy digital experience can help move your rental properties faster.

Improve Brand Protection

Another benefit of implementing local SEO into your property management marketing strategy is that it also offers brand protection over your reputation. Increasing the visibility of wanted content and encouraging reviews means you have control over how your business appears to your potential customers.

Submitting your NAP (name, address, phone number) to local business directories ensures all information included with your business listing is accurate. Optimization also allows you to view your reviews as they’re published, helping you identify any areas of improvement.

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Your Property Management Business

Here are a few search engine optimization tips for property management businesses:

• Optimize your Google Business Profile – Claim, verify, update, and optimize your Google Business Profile to develop trust and consistency across your brand.
• Leverage a Blog – Building an online blog helps property managers establish their authority and expertise in the industry. A blog also helps search rankings by using relevant keywords strategically.
• Follow On-Page Best Practices – Best practices for on-page SEO include things like optimized meta descriptions, title tags, and image alt tags.
• Offer a User-Friendly Experience – Site speed, mobile friendliness, and technical SEO are just as important to your SEO efforts.
• Submit your Real Estate Business to Local Directories – Submitting your real estate business to online directors helps establish trust and generate backlinks, which can lead to more leads.
• Create a Link-Building Strategy – Off-page SEO is crucial for boosting rankings. Search engines consider trustworthiness a factor, and building backlinks from other trustworthy businesses shows Google they can trust your property management company.

 

The best SEO strategies are comprehensive and include a good mix of on- and off-page aspects. Completing a competitive analysis makes it easier to understand the local market landscape, helping you create a strategy that ranks your website and business higher than others.

From Clicks to Committed Tenants

When you use SEO for real estate purposes, you have the power to turn clicks into committed tenants. A comprehensive SEO strategy includes technical aspects, taking control of your website’s content, and generating high-quality backlinks. Finally, localizing your website and encouraging reviews can help you reach and build trust with your customers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Search Engines Effective for Finding Tenants?

Yes, optimizing your real estate website with location-specific keywords ensures your business listings appear at the top of the search rankings. SEO is highly effective, and essentially a requirement for today’s real estate professionals.

Can your Rent Listings Appear on Search Engine Results Pages with the Help of SEO?

Yes, local SEO can help property management companies rank higher, including for individual listing pages. Using SEO for real estate services can also drive more inquiries, leads, and converted sales.

Is it Worth Hiring Someone for SEO?

Yes, hiring an SEO expert is the best way to keep up with search engine algorithms and Google’s best practices. Also, some aspects of SEO, such as building links, tend to be highly time-consuming. Hiring an SEO agency ensures an effective SEO strategy that allows you to focus on your investment projects and clients.