Why Keywords are Important for Your Real Estate Blog and Website

You have probably heard of keywords and keyword phrases. In order to effectively use keywords and phrases to optimize blogs and websites for SEO purposes, you must understand what they are and why they are so important.

Basically, when an internet user types a word or phrase into a search engine, those are considered keywords and phrases. Optimizing your real estate blog and website with keywords is important because it drives in traffic.

Keywords are used to describe the information listed on your blog or website. Let’s say you frequently post information on real estate foreclosures or the median sales price for listed properties in your area. Real estate foreclosures and median sales price would be your keywords. Keywords are added to blogs and websites in the form of tags.

The keywords are then stored in an index within search engines. The next time someone types the words real estate foreclosures or median sales price into a search engine, your real estate blog or website will be listed in the search engine index. Your page rank determines how high your website is listed in the index.

To help you find which keywords and phrases are most commonly being searched for, you can use keyword tools provided by sites such as Google. To narrow down commonly searched for keywords and phrases, look for ones that are related to your type of website. In this case it would be real estate, foreclosures or average prices. Also, to make your word and phrase search easier, Google lists keywords and phrases by category and subcategory.

Choose your keywords wisely and do not overdo it. Remember, the keywords you have listed in your tags must appear within your website and blog. Keyword stuffing, meaning adding content full of words and phrases with no meaning to simply drive in traffic, is not allowed by search engines. Keyword stuffing can result in suspension or removal from search engines.

Include the Current Real Estate Trend in Website Announcements

Posting up to date and relevant information about the industry on your website is an effective way to entice visitors. More visitors increase website traffic making your website more visible within search engines. Running a website with a high page rank makes marketing your brand and services easier. More traffic leads to more clients and increased profits. You’re doing all you can to optimize your website for SEO purposes, so what else can you do along those same lines?

Providing industry related announcements is a great way to provide information that people are looking for like news on real estate foreclosures and upcoming open houses. Monitor industry blogs, forums and the news. Watch for and write about a specific real estate trend and include current information in the form of announcements on your website. Most highly ranked websites routinely post announcements on their home pages. Use specific keywords in your announcements to attract visitors.

Announcements typically include news about real estate foreclosures, listings, statistics, upcoming open houses, a specific real estate trend and much more.

When writing an announcement to post on your website the information you post and style of your writing is of utmost importance. The purpose of an announcement is to provide readers with news. Follow these tips to write effectual announcements.

Be Direct: Capture your reader’s attention and provide them with information they can read and understand after one read through. Only include pertinent information. For example, when announcing upcoming open houses, provide the date, location and time at the beginning of the announcement.

Tone: Write in a friendly tone. Insert keywords naturally. A flowing and easy to read announcement is easier to remember.

Length: Announcements should be as short and precise as possible. Keep your readers attention by making your point at the beginning of the announcement. Do not leave any questions unanswered.

Always use factual information. When writing about real estate foreclosures, use current information that pertains to your area. Proofread, fact check and eliminate all spelling and grammatical errors before publishing. An announcement containing errors of any kind makes you less credible.

SEO for Real Estate Blogs

Can you search engine optimize a blog? Of course you can and you should. SEO for real estate blogs is actually pretty simple whether you are writing the blog yourself or employing a web content provider to do it for you. Those with experience in blogging know that in order to gain exposure for their blogs, they must post new content on a regular basis. That means writing a new blog post at least two to three times a week. Many serious bloggers go above and beyond those numbers and post daily, some multiple times a day.

So how do you search engine optimize a blog? First, begin by selecting topics of interest such as real estate foreclosures. If you are going to spend the time writing or pay a web content provider to write for you, you need to blog about topics that people are interested in. Now that you have a list of topics, construct a list of keywords that people are most likely to type into a search engine when browsing the web for information. Use two to three keywords per post and insert them naturally into your writing one to three times per post depending on its length.

Next, comment on other people’s real estate blogs. Your web content provider can do this for you. Search engines love relevant links. Refrain from commenting on blogs that are not related to your own. Every time you comment on another’s blog, link to it. Also, once you have established quite a bit of content in your own blog, insert links in your posts to other posts that are similar in nature. For instance, if you wrote a post about real estate foreclosures and have other posts relevant to that one, link to it. Make sure the posts you are linking to have up to date information.

Since you are already reading and commenting on other blogs related to the industry, reference them in your own posts. If you write a post about the percentage of real estate foreclosures in your, area provide a link to a blog that offers advice on preventing foreclosures. Make sure you are not referencing the competition. You don’t need to provide them with more exposure. Referencing other blogs is a great way to network and gain exposure for yourself in return.