Optimizing real estate websites for search engines usually presents a major challenge because of the high level of competition in the real estate industry.

However, there are new opportunities for individual Realtors, brokers and even home sellers to optimize their websites to get high search engine rankings and free leads. This article discusses some rules to keep in mind for real estate website search engine optimization (SEO).

Secret #1: Choose keywords that are specific to the geographical areas that you are in.

One of the advantages of real estate websites is that they may use geographical identifiers. This results in less competition to be listed #1 in Google’s search results for your market.

There can be hundreds of geographical modifiers within a state or metropolitan area. The more keywords you optimize for, the wider you cast your net for free search engine traffic.

You will have practically no competition for most of these geographically modified keywords.

Secret #2: Choose keywords by distinctive property type.

Every area will have its own typical style of buildings, homes and communities. Keywords relating to such descriptive terms can be used to optimize your web page titles and tags. This will get you a steady stream of visitors looking for these specific types of properties.

If a region is known for gated golf course communities you can optimize for that keyword search term. Think of the almost endless possibilities in your area.

Put each type of building, house or community on a separate web page because you should have only one main keyword phrase on each page. This will bring to your site the largest number of targeted visitors.

Secret #3: Use Keywords That Serious Real Estate Buyers Will Use.

Respect your audience. People searching for real estate online using very specific search terms are usually well educated and among the more sophisticated and knowledgeable internet users.

You can use this to your advantage by providing information that relates to the specific keyword search terms you know they are using.

You begin with content about these topics on your web pages. You then include specific keywords in the titles, headings, and meta tags of each web page. Google and the other search engines will send you a constant stream of free leads in the form of website visitors looking for those topics.

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Leo J. Vidal, JD, MA, CPA is a real estate marketing expert, and a Realtor who helps property owners use special marketing methods to sell their homes fast.