Do We Need Mobile SEO?

Mobile usage on Smart Phones is growing, rapidly.  Studies suggest that by 2014 the mobile web browser will be more used than the desktop web browsing.  For the Real Estate Industry I think this trend may come sooner — many home buyers today are always on the go and searching forreal estate from their mobile device fits their busy lives.

Many of the popular social media sites and search engines have had mobile sites in place for quite a while – making mobile friendly listings searches and mobile website with advanced SEO techniques vital!

SEO for your Mobile Website

SEO for a mobile website is basically the same as for any other website, with a few exceptions.  Keywords, titles and anchor links should still be apart of your SEO strategies.  However, remember that mobile search engines often consider a site’s speed and its ability to be rendered quickly on a phone so don’t get too involved with adding overhead (such as large photos, blocks of content or long videos).

Mobile SEO Keywords

When you are adding your keywords simply importing the ones from your regular website does not effectively boost your mobile website’s SEO.  Desktops and mobile devices are used AND act differently — keyword strings are much shorter on mobile devices and keep in mind that people tend to use predicted keyword strings on mobile devices vs. desktop computers.

Understand your MOBILE target market and niche. You have to think from a different perspective and put yourself in a mobile Web user’s shoes. List all the possible keywords (regardless of competition, length and strength) then get some recommendations from your customers, friends and colleagues. Then research your keywords with a tool called Google AdWords; using their Mobile Keyword tool. Just like typical keyword research you have to know the strength of every keyword you are going to use.

Mobile SEO Anchors and Titles

Remember to use the same principles of Anchor Text that you use in your regular SEO and make titles concise.  Keep in mind that your buyers/sellers are looking on a much smaller screen and at a much slower pace.  Speed is everything in the mobile experience. So if you have not built in these basic concepts into your mobile website, you should seriously consider it!

Read more on Mobile SEO here!

 

Update to Article: 14 Difference between Mobile and Desktop SEO

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SEO 101 – Are Back Links Important to my Blog?

You hear it every day, back links are a major backbone of your SEO strategy.  But what exactly are back links and are they really worth it?

Back links can be explained as a link that is created (by a person) TO your website BUT that person DOES NOT link back to their site or blog.  This is also called an inbound link.

Since that individual did not link back to their website or blog the link they created becomes very creditable since the originator felt it was important enough to put on their website.  Links of this kind are generally considered to be of higher quality – again – because the originator deemed you as an authoritative source.  While back links boost SEO to your site or blog the source that created that link can also play on the SEO of that back link.  A back link from realtor.com (website with authority) is better than a back link from an agent’s website.

So how do you get back links?

Now that we know what back links are I want to explain how to get them.

• Blogs
• Squidoo
• Profile back links
• Blog commenting
• Article Marketing
• Press releases
• Social Bookmarks
• Website directories
• The Real Estate Carnival
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Forums

Keep in mind you get what you put in – commenting on other blogs and articles will increase the likelihood of getting comments, and back links, to your site or blog.

Don’t forget about the anchor text!

Anchor text is the click-able text in a hyper-link.  For example if you are linking your Hillsdale New Jersey community page on your website the anchor text might be Hillsdale New Jersey.  So on your page it might look something like this, Click here to explore Hillsdale, New Jersey and find out all this quaint town has to offer.  Notice I did not hyper-link “Click here”.  I am pointing this out because Google understands the link “Click Here” to be directing a reader to another source that is about “Cick Here” not Hillsdale, New Jersey.

What have you done to get back links from other readers and websites?

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New Facebook Business Pages – What REALTORS® Need to Know

On March 30 Facebook will be changing the way your Business Page appears – mimicking the timeline format of your personal page (or ones you’ve seen). This new page includes a large 850 x 315 pixel cover photo, enhanced admin panel and the ability to highlight and pin important wall posts. But I have to argue, are those enhancements a good enough exchange for custom landing pages and fan gating…I think NOT! Facebook, so far, has taken away the ability for a designer and third party technology companies to create forced landing pages for Real Estate professionals – eliminating a great lead generation AND capture tool for agents and offices.

Although the new cover photo offers a great avenue to wow your ‘like-rs’ there are several rules set forth by Facebook that says your cover photo CAN NOT INCLUDE:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

So with that said what the heck is the purpose of using Facebook for your Real Estate Business now?!

I do think the enhanced administration control panel is a nice upgrade. It allows you to view new likes, who is interacting with your wall posts and easily invite new followers either from your personal account or a third party email platform. This new control panel also allows you to easily track your daily reach and effectiveness of your posts. Facebook also implemented a new feature that allows you to pin and highlights wall posts on your Business Page by hovering over the posts block and clicking on either the pencil or star icons that then appear.

We understand that technology needs to evolve but please give us back our fan gating and landing pages!!

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How Do REALTORS Leverage Pinterest?

First let me tell you WHAT Pinterest is –Pinterest is a social media network where users ‘pin’ pictures found online of relatable and likeable topics. On Pinterest you will find photos of wedding invite ideas, at home crafts, dream homes and much more!

How Can REALTORS Leverage Pinterest?

When you create a Pinterest account you’ve setup an online visual message board where you are able to ‘pin’ photos of basically anything you can find on the internet! Many users pin adorable pictures of animals and children, recipes, clothing (too expensive for most of us) and bucket list vacation destinations. REALTORS can capitalize on this social media network by posting community and real estate resources – notice I did NOT say real estate listings. This site should not be used in place of your MLS or IDX listings search!

Here are some example Pinterest boards REALTORS can create (I am going to use ‘Pleasantville’ as my niche market):

• Pleasantville favorite places
• Pleasantville house architecture
• Pleasantville parks and golf courses
• Pleasantville best restaurants
• Pleasantville museums and art galleries (lifestyle)
• Fun things to do with kids in Pleasantville
• Dream kitchens
• Dream bathrooms
• Dream back yards
• Home decor
• Landscaping ideas
• Home improvement ideas

You can even add a personal side to your Pinterest account (which we suggest with all social media accounts) and create a board for your favorite recipes, craft ideas or a popular topic DIY (do it yourself) projects. A good example of a Real Estate company using Pinterest correctly would be the Corcoran Group.

If you are interested in having us send you more information or help you setup a Pinterest account please let us know — we are here to help!

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Tips on Keeping (or increasing) Your Rankings on Google

Update Your Content and Keep It Fresh and Exciting

Adding up-to-date content that is full of useful information for buyers and sellers is important to keep Web site visitors coming back for more.  Real estate agents should add useful resource links for community information and schools. Check all your existing resource links and make sure the sites they point to are still there. If you are displaying listings on your site make sure your prices current. Keeping your content current will ensure that your site is optimally positioned for the most relevant search terms.

Keep Optimizing your Title tags and Meta Tags

Make sure that the new page you added has been properly tagged using the correct Meta tags and that text includes targeted long tailed keywords. Typically, many Web site owners are diligent when they first optimize their sites, but when they add new pages to their site.  They forget that these too need to be optimized. If you r page is talking about local community content, be sure to be as detailed as possible. The more unique you content is the better the chance of great rankings.

Google Toolbar

If you haven’t done so already, try downloading the Google Toolbar. This great tool sits alongside your Web browser and has some very useful features. It will show you the Page Rank of each site you visit. This is a rank out of ten that indicates how relevant Google thinks the page is. The higher the number, the better ranked the Website is likely to be in Google search results. This tool will let you see how other real estate agents are ranking and it will serve to make you react accordingly to make sure site more optimized.
Monitor All Backward Links to Your Site

The quality and quantity of links that point to your Website can affect your search engine position. Using the Google Toolbar, you can view all backward links for the Websites you visit. Use this to find all the sites that point to your own Website and make sure they list your site correctly with your targeted keywords in the link text. You can also check on your biggest competitors and see which sites link to them — contact each of these linking sites and see if you can encourage them to link to your site as well.

Keep Up the Good Work

If your site has climbed the search engine rankings it is very possible that you have passed your competition. By doing so you can bet that the other real estate agents will try to pass you. So again it is important to follow the basic principles above.

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Why Are My Search Engine Results (SERP) Not The Same As yours?

Ever wonder why you see different ranking results then someone else?  I know I often talk with clients and they see different SERP than I do. So why is that? Here are some common reasons.

Web History

Personalized search results are no secret now a days.  Google for example will customize your results based on your browsing history. They do this by tracking when you are signed into your Google account or by the use of cookies.  Ever notice when you are in Gmail for example and you are writing about Florida all of a sudden the ads are tailored about Florida.   Search engines are always looking at how you search so they can make your experience better in the future.

Location

Search engines know where you are and will deliver different results to different people in different locations.  So if you are looking for a Real Estate Agent in New Jersey most likely you will get results from your area first.

Social Media Activity

Now that Google’s +1 button and Google+ have been introduced, there is even more tweaking of the search results based on your Google contacts plus-one. For example, if a contact from your:

- Gmail chat list
- Google Plus
- Google Contacts list
- Google Reader
- Google Buzz

plus-ones a webpage or a search result the +1′d page may appear higher in your personalized SERPs and will contain your friend’s “recommendation.”  Recommendations are a powerful driving force on your results.  People tend to trust a website more if a friend recommended it.

If you do not like this type of behavior sign out of all your social media accounts and clear your browser cookies.

Universal Search

Universal Search also changes the way you see results.  Depending how you filter the results can change your rankings.  For those of you who do not know what Universal Search is?  Google now combines all results into a single universal result.  They will combine results for various sources such as Video, Images, News and other types of results. So in the universal result you may be ranked 5^th but in the web only results you may be ranked 55^th.

Google and search engines alike are constantly changing the way they search and deliver results so what happens today on a search may be different tomorrow.  The good thing is that the change is mostly positive and usually yields better information to the consumer.  Google and all the other search engines are constantly striving to deliver the best possible results as often as they can.

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