Competition Slayer Real Estate SEO Expert Dave Keys

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  Dave Keys 4:10 am on February 8, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Capture the Feeling In Your Real Estate Presentations and Marketing – The First Step in Real Estate SEO 

  What does a visitor feel when they finally do connect with you? Do they even connect, have you been convinced that to succeed online you have to present a “professional” out of touch approach to your online marketing? If your prospect walked into your office after seeing your website, after reading your words, would they be surprised at how different you are than your real estate website seemed to make them feel? You want them to like you enough to feel like you’re the person they want to help them find what they’re looking for.

  You’re good enough to help them. Do they know it? Do they feel it? 

  

  Laguna Beach Condos photo by Dave Keys

   

  Make your website engage and help your client begin to sense you’re really going to help them get what they’re looking for. Are they looking for something you’re best at giving them? 

  Your marketing is your first offense against your competitors and the best bet for your clients. Don’t let them down. Get the right message to them right away.
   

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  Dave Keys 11:57 pm on February 7, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Frequency Of Content Matters to Google and Real Estate SEO 

  If you’re thinking that you can post here and there on infrequent occasion and your competitors are staying online and contributing frequently to their blogs and websites, you may want to take a look at the latest official Google announcements about their algorithm and ranking in search results. The proclivity to favor fresh content just got an even stronger boost with three of the seventeen updates touching directly or indirectly (the Panda announcement) on freshness as a topic of interest.

  Real Estate SEO tip: If you have access to photos and descriptions of your listings ahead of everyone else and you have the OK to post that listing anywhere you like, you might want to put it on your own blog or website before posting it in any content aggregator sources like your MLS. Google algorithms recognizes posting times and will favor your website as the source of the listing content, giving it better ranking in search results. Aggregators may still place ahead of you but you will show up much higher as the source of the content instead of as another also ran.

  Google likes fresh content even more than before. I believe this is more important than the old standard word count so frequently touted as good SEO, whether that magic number was 300, 500 or more words per post. Content may be king, but frequency gets noticed ahead of stale content and gets preferred treatment too.
   
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  Dave Keys 11:12 pm on February 7, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Advantages In Panda 2012 for Real Estate SEO 

  Busy? That could be a good thing if you reflect it online. Especially true if you’re a blogger who likes to get to the point and get there fast and frequently. Nobody likes a long winded talker and why should they like a long winded writer either?

  Have you been struggling to make that magic number- the obligatory 300 or 500 or 600 word post? It may not be as valuable as creating something unique- even a first crack at a listing- a blog post about your property before you put it up on the MLS to be consumed by content aggregators? 

  Google’s Officio-Blog posted 17 algorithm updates for all to see, including us SEOs. Most SEOs pounced on news about Panda, the boogeyman that scares all- and makes for great post fodder. Opinions have been prolific.

  Little noticed is that 3 of the 17 mentions touched on freshness and uniqueness. And, in a subtle way, allowable duplicate content if it related to recurring events.

  Several decidedly unscientific tests by yours truly have shown consistent results where Google favors and quickly indexes frequent posts if even moderately unique. I had one test post index in Google in under 30 seconds. I think they like it.
   
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  Dave Keys 6:12 am on January 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: back-links ( 2 ), Cornell University, heat map, Marketing ( 4 ), Mount Everest, search traffic, Sherpa, study   

  Real Estate SEO? Who needs that anyway?

  What is real estate SEO about anyway? There’s only one good answer:

  You sell real estate and You want to get from point A to point B. Low search rankings to high ones. You want to do it as quickly, cheaply and effectively as possible. This idea is perfectly illustrated in the comprehensive infographic below.

   Real estate marketing can be like climbing Mt. Everest. If I’m going to load you up with everything you need, you’re just going to get overwhelmed with the complexities of SEO. The important thing is to know what you need and make someone else, more accustomed to the environment carry it for you, just like the sherpas who help all the guys and gals who want to climb the real Everest. Getting over the SEO mountain takes a few simple but essential things. Good content, good website structure and most importantly, links of quality in greater quantity than your competitors.

  There are lots of factors in real estate SEO but that is the essence of it. For real estate, if you’ve been in the game any length at all, you know it’s not a game at all. It’s a hard fought competition; it’s really a battle for territory when it comes right down to it. The battle is won with ammunition and that ammunition is volume and quality of external links pointing to your website. Good ones.

  All things being equal, link-building can be predicted as to what’s required. Look at the profile of your competitors and determine to outperforme them. You cannot fall for the line that “great content” will make your website rank in Google. It’s a lie. That lie is why so many agents work on their websites ad-infinitum and still can’t seem to get to the places on Google where it counts. A 2006 Cornell University study proves it. Position 1 gets 56% of clicks, Position 2- around 13%, position 3 around 10% and the last positions you see without scrolling down, 4 and 5 get around 4% each.

  Little is left for the bottom five results. Virtually nothing after page one will ever be seen by 99% plus of all searchers.

  

  If you’re not on the top of Google, all that search traffic is going away. They will never see your website. 

  Real Estate marketing is like no other industry. Everyone in the exact same field looking for the exact same people searching for the same few keywords presents challenges to the realtor no other business faces.

  Real estate SEO is absolutely geographic and local. Top players in every market know this and they have a war chest of resources to dominate territory.

  The playing field narrows further as big box organizations like Trulia, Zillow, Homes.com and others move further into search marketing. 

  The good news is that virtually every real estate entity has some or many weaknesses in their SEO strategy. They can be beaten or at least competed with on a level playing field by an up to date SEO strategy that employs all the factors so clearly pointed out by SEOMoz in its 2011 search ranking factors algorithm study. Most SEO firms and do-it-yourself realtors miss at least some of the important factors in a successful SEO strategy for 2012.

  Call now and get my weaponized Real Estate SEO. 714-222-7961 or 888-216-1231. Real estate SEO is a battleground and I specialize in battlefield strategies that acquire online territory that is valuable to your real estate business and marketing.

  Remeber how you found this post? I’m at the top of my game for search terms like “Real Estate SEO” because those are the key terms that I have to beat my competitors for to get found by you and prove my value. I can do the same for you.

  To your advantage, I know the industry. 95% of the SEO work I do is for real estate agents. I’m on page #1 for “real estate SEO” and dominate #1 and most other positions for “real estate SEO expert.” I’m not the cheapest, just the most effective at getting you from point A to point B.
   
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  Dave Keys 2:51 am on January 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Google Plus Has 60 Million Users. How Many of them Buy and Sell Real Estate? SEO Influence of Google Social 

  Real Estate SEO substantially impacted by Google Plus social network. Are you in yet? Are you holding out for “pure SEO” or maybe just sticking with Facebook and Linkedin and possibly ActiveRain for now? According to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz (video below), Google Plus (G+) now has 60 million users and they’re marching toward 100 million. Guess what else? Everyone signed into Google gets ALEF. That’s a technical term in real estate SEO that stands for “A Little Extra Favoritism.” But you can do without that extra advantage you might have with 60 million users. Who needs another social network?

  Hello? This is Google! You’re ignoring the turning of a mighty ship to your own peril. It’s like watching the success of Apple and its stock rise after the introduction of the iPad and saying, “I’ll stick with my RIM stock, thank you.”

  Need help getting your real estate business on board with Google Plus? Call Dave Keys at 714-222-7961 or email me. davekeys@gmail.com.

  Google plus will never go away. Google is obviously favoring search results of websites with a strong social connection on its own platform. As much as we all may dis-”like” having to deal with yet another social network, real estate agents will do well to remember this isn’t just another social network, it’s the primary focus of all real estate SEO. It’s the inside track to Google search for every other user in the network of 60 million and growing. You may not like being inducted into the ranks of Google any more than being assimilated by the Borg, but that is where the money is and that is where improved search results will be. That is certain.

  I know that Forbes is running an article that says the number Google claims to be interacting on the network is misconstrued, but what Forbes misses is that no matter what the Google product a member is logged on, they will receive the socially integrated results derived from personal or “plus your world” search.
   
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  Dave Keys 10:58 pm on November 28, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Real Estate SEO Downgrade | How To Fall in Search Results Fast 

  If you want to fall from Google page one to page five in search results, follow this example. Otherwise, follow some real estate SEO expert advice and avoid this practice like the plague. Google is getting better at finding poor SEO practices and discounting them. It may seem like a penalty, but it’s more like an equalizer. Google determines that if your one-trick-pony is your sole SEO strategy, your real estate website is probably not as valuable as other real estate websites and a downgrade is surely on the way for you.

  Your real estate website is on Google’s radar all the time and the Boilerplate Anchor Text algorithm along with Panda and a host of other analyses of your on-page and off-page SEO is always ongoing. If you’ve been risking your website with poor SEO practices frowned on by Google then any short term gain you may have obtained is probably going to turn in to long term pain when the machines of Google’s 200+ algorithms catch with you. Why not get the right kind of SEO strategy now? Contact Real Estate SEO expert Dave Keys at 714-222-7961.
   
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  Dave Keys 6:04 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: anchor text, back-links ( 2 ), boilerplate, Real estate SEO ( 4 ), SEO ( 17 )   

  Google Boilerplate Anchor Text Algorithm A Caution Light for Real Estate SEO? 

  Recently, one of my client’s positions for a keyword sank more positions than any factors justified- that is until I read about Google’s recent ten algorithm changes on the official Google blog. The item that seemed to do the most damage to my short term efforts for this client was #3.

  Better page titles in search results by de-duplicating boilerplate anchors: We look at a number of signals when generating a page’s title. One signal is the anchor text in links pointing to the page. We found that boilerplate links with duplicated anchor text are not as relevant, so we are putting less emphasis on these. The result is more relevant titles that are specific to the page’s content.

  That quasi-newspeak focuses on two things:

  • Titles that match content are more important.
    The next bullet below will reinforce this but SEO practices in keyword distribution between your title and post content has picked up steam. I’ve heard observers say that 90% of how a page is ranked is straight from the title. These same observers promote link creation so the alignment of anchor text and the title is their main game. This just became a higher hurdle requiring at least more relevant content.
  • Repeating anchor text in back-links has less impact than ever.
    The biggie here in the lineup. You may have enjoyed a boost from a quick infusion of keyword specific anchor text in the past but that is becoming less effective. My own client had recent gains that were mostly lost to this new algorithm. My personal suspicion is that the #7 item on the Google list, related to their recently discussed freshness algorithm is also working in conjunction with algo #3 to search any recent influx of keyword “overoptimization” in the anchor text of newly created back-links found by Google. This may combat the auto-link generators like Xrumer and others. I’d say it’s gotten pretty aggressive with penalty-like results for those who don’t maintain a good balance between keyword and keyword-agnostic anchor text for their SEO, not just over the long haul, but in the short term too.

  In the chart below are embedded standings of competitors for one of my client keywords. This particular keyword has sunk in recent days while others have risen in response to SEO work including link building. Much focus was given to this keyword last month and it rose to #2 for a while but then fell to #8 with implementation of the boilerplate anchor text algorithm. You can see that based on the Page Authority and linking factors my client as (#8) that they should perform with a #3 or at least #4 placement, all things being equal. Some factors may explain lower rankings but this much disparity indicates a filter just like the boilerplate anchor text is cited to be. Call it a filter or whatever you please, the end result is that the overdoing of anchor text just got a little more risky.

  SEO campaigns dubbed as aggressive will need a second look. Link velocity and diversity of anchor text requirements may mean that a longer term less aggressive campaign will make more sense for real estate websites with weaker link profiles and truly aggressive real estate SEO campaigns will need to be even more diverse and sustained over a longer period to avoid the spike associated with a short term effort.

  

   
   
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  Dave Keys 5:31 pm on November 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Studying the latest Google

  Anti-boilerplate anchor text algorithm and already applying modifications like luxury Houston real estate targets. I think the freshness algo also integrates with this algo in a negative sense. Too many in too short of a time can probably now be extracted even with a “cloud” of other links more effectively.
   
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  Dave Keys 8:39 pm on November 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Google Downgrades Google AND Facebook Too! PR9 Rating for Top Players | SEO Expert Advice? Ignore It. 

  Musings about Pagerank | Real Estate SEO Expert Edition

  If my PR toolbar is to be believed, Google has once again downgraded itself. Google had done this back in the summer but then went back up to PR10 with the launch of Google Plus. Facebook remained a PR10 throughout this shift and re-shift.

  Google has downgraded its Pagerank Again… And Facebook’s Too

  

  If the Pagerank system is to be trusted then both Google and Facebook have lost traffic. Both have fallen from PR10 to PR9.

  Now the only website I know of right now to hold the venerable PR10 rating is the #1 result (for today) for the search, “click here”. That is the Adobe Reader page where you get the software to read those PDF files we all know and love.

   

  

   

   

   

   

  Meanwhile Google Plus is a PR8.

  
   
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  Dave Keys 4:30 am on November 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

  Denver Real Estate Agents – Suppose I want To Rank In Real Estate Searches? Pool and Mountain View Homes 

  Ranking in Google is an achievement derived from many factors. Denver is a highly competitive homes market with thousands of agents competing for space both physically, in print media and online in virtual real estate territories controlled by those who have paid their dues for a long time.

  Denver Homes with Pool and Mountain Views anyone?

  Case in point: There are over 2,500 links to the top website for Denver real estate. These are only the latest. The site has been receiving links over time, Majestic SEO shows around 28,000 back-links gained and many lost, over the last year. Even if those links drop off the sites they were on, Google has a good memory. The links aggregate over Google’s favorite algorithm- TIME. That’s right. SEO and linkbuilding in particular work best over time. A fact that many agents don’t always recognize when they launch a new site and then offer up a few back-links from blogs they control. That is not going to get you far in a short time in a major market. That’s just the simple truth. 

  

  If you want to seriously rank, you’ll need to embark on a serious online presence and in major markets, a serious professional grade, quality white hat SEO campaign to overcome what competitors have done over the long haul. There are no shortcuts in Denver or New York or any real estate market that is of any value. The search volume is just too high for serious real estate marketers to ignore. Take a look at Denver’s monthly real estate search:

  

  Now, that’s just too much virtual lead capturing conversion potential and wealth to ignore and you can bet that top players are going to invest heavily into obtaining it. If you want to compete directly, that’s the ranks you’ll have to join to be seen for general real estate terms.

  On the other hand, there are plenty of niche opportunities in every market as I have so frequently demonstrated in many major markets.

  Remember that text I inserted above?

  Denver Real Estate with Pool and Mountain Views anyone?

  You see this line isn’t exactly the same as the first. I exchanged homes for real estate. Well, I’m giving away a not so closely guarded secret here. Google loves synonymous terms and semantic references to meaning. That indicates natural human behavior and is a known component of its current algorithm for ranking websites for good content.

  If you’re serious about SEO then get ready for some serious work and investment or to be seriously left behind by those who do.

  Win an iPad! visit Houston Luxury Homes