SEO stands for search engine optimization. In other words, you want your website to be at the top of the list, or “above the fold” whenever someone searches anything related to your real estate focus.
Note
The term “above the fold” is inspired by the newspaper industry where the most important news and headlines appeared on the front page, above the fold of the paper. When “above the fold” is used about a web page, it means the information appears at the top of the page, without the user having to scroll down.
The famous research by Jakob Nielsen states that 80% of user attention is focused above the fold and only 20% is focused below it.
So, you can understand why everyone wants to be at the top of the page. SEO is how they accomplish that coveted top spot, but it takes a lot of time and effort. To get a visual, let’s google “real estate for sale in Chicago”
These are the results that appeared above the fold on my screen.
We know that the PPC listings at the top of the page will change based on advertisers, but look at the organic (not an ad) listings. Zillow and Trulia are the only 2 full listings. Realtor.com has the first line but then you must scroll down the page to see more. It’s no surprise these sites are at the top of the list – they have enormous traffic to their site!
SEO rules change periodically, just like everything else!
Maybe you’ve been around for a while and can remember keyword stuffing as a winning strategy? Yeah, that doesn’t work anymore. And, if you don’t know what we’re talking about – that’s OK – you don’t want to do keyword stuffing anyway!
The Search Engine Journal put together a list of the 4 Most Important Ranking Factors, According to SEO Industry Studies.
And, if you want more info, Neil Patel has a Step-by-Step Guide to Improving your Google Rankings Without Getting Penalized.
SEO wasn’t built in a day, so give yourself a break if you’re not ranking higher than Zillow. On second thought…change your expectations! You’re not going to out rank Zillow, so a different strategy is required. Might I recommend a content strategy with long tail keywords?
If any of this is Greek to you – no problem! We’ll have more in the courses to help you reach your goals.