SEO marketing has quickly become a must-know skill for property owners who want to succeed in a competitive real estate market. With house searches turning towards digital media to find their next home, improving relevance to search engines is the only way to reach your target audience and secure qualified applicants. In other words, it's not enough to have tasteful decorations, carefully selected appliances, and enhanced curb appeal. Rental property owners also need to boost their online presence, and this article will show you how to do it without breaking the bank.
Importance of Local SEO for Rental Properties
Being Consistent on MAP
Improve relevance to search results by putting more effort into your local SEO. If you’ve ever searched for “bakeries near me,” and got results with the exact location and distance of local bakeries, then you’ll understand how showing up on Maps can increase your rankings and drive more traffic to your business. Aside from optimizing your business and listings to show up on Google Maps, Bay Property Management Group Philadelphia suggests focusing on geo-related keywords to target the local audience. Use popular landmarks in your description to show how close you are to key areas like bus stops, malls, and commercial hubs.
Optimizing Google My Business Profile
Create a Google My Business (GMB) profile to get the algorithm to push your properties. Adding a pin on Maps can increase your visibility in prospective tenants’ search results, but if you want to soar through the ranks you have to leverage the algorithm. Google is partial to business listings and will often show relevant services that match the user’s query, and having a GMB profile is one of the easiest ways to show up in related searches. Additionally, you can make your business stand out by adding recent photos and replying to customer reviews.
Getting Targeted Traffic
Focus on local SEO to get targeted leads that are interested in your listings. Traditional marketing through newspaper ads, TV, and billboards are excellent ways to improve your business's visibility and attract potential renters. However, they succeed by casting their net wide, in the hopes that some of the people that see your ad will get in touch. On the other hand, sharpening your SEO strategy for the right audience may help increase visibility on search results for people who are currently looking for a rental property.
Saving Money on Traditional Marketing
Cut marketing costs by leveraging SEO to improve your ROI on ad spending. As previously mentioned, focusing on local SEO puts listings in front of potential tenants who are actively looking for a place to live, increasing the chances that the people seeing your ads will follow up and submit an application. In other words, you're more likely to fill your vacancies quicker by advertising to your target audience than through traditional mediums that might not reach the right prospects. Thus, property owners who properly utilize digital marketing strategies spend less on marketing and get more results in less time.
Create Valuable Content for Landlords and Tenants
Show Your Renovations
Give prospective renters a glimpse behind the scenes before posting your rental list. Purchasing a house and putting it up for lease the next day is quite rare in the real estate world because most properties need some renovation or minor cosmetic touch-ups before they're ready for residents. However, you can still garner traffic by showing your audience what you have in store and even engaging them in some of the decision-making to build a community of interest tenants. Additionally, opt for high-quality images and videos to show off your finished look and get more of your online audience interested in a physical viewing and eventual leasing.
Put Reviews Front and Center
Implementing SEO strategies can help rental listings become more visible on search results, but highlighting your positive reviews can bring in potential tenant applicants. If a prospective tenant likes your apartment, they're more likely to do more search, and a former review from a disgruntled renter can turn them off. Emphasizing good reviews can make potential tenants in the market for something else take a closer look at your rental and even put in an application.
Tackle Common Questions
Build authority in the real estate scene by answering questions tenants frequently ask. Professional photos and video walkthroughs can certainly intrigue your target audience, but offering a unique value about the property can help leave a good impression. Sharing tips on how to avoid paying rent late, or educating first-time renters on how a security deposit works can help establish your expertise in the rental market. Thus, whenever someone in your online community is ready to move out and look for something new, they'll think of you first which improves your relevance in the long run.
Promoting Rental Listings on Social Media
Highlight Your Property’s Features
Catch the eyes of potential tenants by investing in high-quality photos and videos that show off your rentals' best features. Sure, your iPhone can take really good pictures of your listings, but next to a professional camera, the results are obvious. Engage your audience visually if you want to get more rental applications.
Use Hashtags
Give more context to your posts by using hashtags. Tagging your rental listing posts is a great way to help potential renters find your content without relying solely on the algorithm to put you in front of them. On the other hand, a tenant searching for #rentalsinphiladelphia can easily locate your posts, leading them to your listings and business.
Engage Your Audience
Encouraging online viewers to leave comments can boost your relevance to whatever platform's algorithm you're using, pushing your content to potential tenants who might be interested in your listings. Encourage engagement in your social media through polls, quizzes, or asking for their opinion.
Conclusion
Using an SEO marketing strategy is a brilliant way to reach your target audience without breaking the bank. Focusing on local SEO can improve your ROI on ads by pushing your rental properties to prospective tenants and making it easier for them to locate your business. Creating valuable content by sharing behind-the-scenes footage, highlighting positive reviews, and answering common questions can improve relevance to search engines which generates more leads for your business.
However, you’ll get the best results if you use social media to your advantage. That’s right, your SEO marketing strategy should extend to your socials to get as many views on your rental listings as possible. It’s also best to invest in professional photos and videos that highlight your properties' features and use hashtags to categorize content that engages your audience.