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To stand out, real estate agents need to leverage both organic search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search engine marketing (SEM) strategies to capture the attention of buyers and sellers alike.
Whether you’re looking to boost your visibility on Google, drive more leads through paid ads, or build long-term authority in your market, this comprehensive guide will empower you with 30 actionable real estate marketing ideas.
From creating geo-targeted landing pages and leveraging virtual tours to dominating local SEO with hyperlocal content and mastering Google Business Profile optimizations, each strategy is designed to help you stay ahead of the competition.
By combining the best of organic and paid search tactics, these ideas will enable you to build a powerful online presence, attract high-quality leads, and ultimately close more deals.
In this guide, you'll discover real-world examples and step-by-step strategies to implement immediately, so whether you're just getting started or are a seasoned pro, you'll find invaluable insights to supercharge your real estate marketing.
Each section is structured to provide real-world examples, at least 200 words of in-depth exploration, and real estate-specific applications to ensure you’re equipped to bring more leads through both paid and organic channels.
Ensure your name dominates organic and paid searches. A strong presence here solidifies trust and authority.
In real estate, you are the brand.
Secure a domain like [JohnDoeHomesInCity.com] and make sure your brand shines. Use your name consistently in paid ads, and be vigilant about managing your brand name in organic search. Competitors may bid on your name in Google Ads, making it crucial to set up branded campaigns to protect your turf.
Set up a branded (among other keyword-rich real estate keywords) Google Ads campaign to ensure that anytime someone searches his name, an ad is shown at the top, along with a rich snippet from his Google My Business listing.
This prevents competitors from poaching leads and reinforces his authority in the local market.
Leverage location-based keywords for organic rankings and highly targeted paid search ads.
Optimize for hyperlocal terms like “3-bedroom homes in [City].” This can be achieved organically by optimizing meta descriptions, titles, and content for your geographic area. Paid ads can be set up using geo-targeting, ensuring your ads only show to users within specific locations who are actively searching for homes.
For example, a Denver-based agent could use Google Ads to target searches for “Homes for sale in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood” while simultaneously creating a blog post about what makes that neighborhood a hot market.
This would build a dual presence in paid and organic search results, driving leads through multiple channels.
A fully optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) for local search results, combined with regular Google Posts to boost engagement and visibility.
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing potential clients see when they search for a real estate agent.
Ensure your profile is complete with up-to-date contact information, high-quality images of properties, and regular posts showcasing new listings, market updates, or events.
Running Google Local Service Ads in tandem with your GBP can elevate your visibility, especially for location-based searches.
Put this tactic into play with this type of scenario: Realtor Sarah Martinez optimizes her GBP by updating it weekly with new listings and hosting virtual open houses via Google Posts. Additionally, she runs Local Service Ads for her target zip codes, ensuring she stays at the top of both organic and paid search results when locals search for agents in her area.
Create a content hub that ranks well in search and serves as the foundation for your SEM campaigns. This tactic will make you a subject matter expert within your niche and help build trust with potential new clients.
Start with a broad pillar page titled “Ultimate Guide to Buying a Home in [City],” which includes sections like market trends, neighborhood breakdowns, and home-buying tips. Home-buying can be an exciting time for someone, but may involve asking many questions. Take advantage of this and write about topics that will be useful for people. A well-designed and optimized real estate website will go a long way with new clients.
From here, create individual blog posts (cluster content) that dive deeper into each topic, linking back to the main page. Use SEM to promote high-performing blog posts through Google Display Ads to reach potential homebuyers.
Real World Example: Agent Michael creates a pillar page, “The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Home in Austin,” covering everything from market conditions to choosing the right neighborhood. Each section is linked to supporting blog posts, like “Best School Districts in Austin,” and is promoted through targeted Google Display Ads that drive traffic to the blog and ultimately, new client inquiries.
Leverage video content for organic SEO while utilizing YouTube Ads and Google Display Ads to boost visibility.
Video content is engaging and keeps visitors on your site longer, improving SEO. Create YouTube video tours of your properties and embed them on your website. Run targeted YouTube Ads that showcase your most impressive listings to potential buyers who have recently searched for real estate.
You can also upload these videos to your Google Business Profile to create engaging content. Updating this section of your profile can generate more leads through organic search.
Real World Example: Realtor Megan creates video walkthroughs of her high-end properties and targets users who have previously searched for “luxury homes in [City]” using YouTube Ads. The combination of video engagement and paid ad targeting results in higher visibility, increased traffic to her website, and a steady stream of inquiries.
A comprehensive local resource page that organically ranks for local search terms while also functioning as a landing page for PPC campaigns.
By creating a local resource directory featuring schools, parks, restaurants, and services in the neighborhoods you serve, you provide immense value to your community. This page can also serve as the landing page for SEO campaigns targeting searches for “best places to live in [City].”
Real World Example: Realtor Luke builds a local directory for his city, featuring local schools, hospitals, and amenities, and optimizes it with relevant keywords. He uses organic keywords that drive high and relevant search traffic to drive traffic to this section of the website, capturing potential homebuyers looking for information on relocating to the area.
A podcast that showcases your expertise and builds a loyal audience, supported by paid ads for additional reach.
Launch a podcast discussing local real estate trends, market updates, and interviews with industry experts. Promote new episodes with Google Ads and social media campaigns, using the podcast as an entry point into your marketing funnel.
Real World Example: New Jersey realtor Andrea starts a weekly podcast titled “Real Estate Roundtable,” covering market updates, buyer FAQs, and interviews with local professionals. She uses Google Ads to target listeners interested in the local market, increasing her brand recognition and lead generation efforts.
Optimize your website for voice search, ensuring your business appears in conversational search queries.
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular. Optimize your content to answer conversational questions like, “Where can I find affordable homes in [City]?” This approach works seamlessly with SEM as well—running voice-search-friendly ads can make sure your listings are found by users engaging with devices like Google Home or Alexa.
Real World Example: Alex, a real estate agent in Atlanta, uses voice search optimization to target questions such as, “Where can I buy a home in Atlanta under $500,000?” By incorporating these phrases into his content and SEM ads, he’s able to capture more mobile users and voice search traffic, driving qualified leads directly to his inbox.
Use schema markup to ensure your listings stand out in organic search with rich snippets that improve visibility.
Adding schema markup to your listings provides search engines with more context about your content. This can help your listings appear with enhanced search results, such as price ranges and reviews, boosting both organic click-through rates and the performance of your paid ads.
Real World Example: Sarah adds structured data to her property listings, resulting in enhanced rich snippets that show up in organic search results. Combined with Google Ads that reinforce her listings’ value, she sees a marked improvement in engagement and lead generation.
Create hyperlocal blog posts and ads targeting specific neighborhoods and zip codes.
Focus on hyperlocal content like “Why [Neighborhood] is Perfect for First-Time Buyers” or “The 2024 Market Trends in [City].” This works well in organic rankings and can be boosted with hyper-targeted PPC ads directed at people searching for real estate in those specific areas.
Real World Example: Chicago agent, Jake, creates a blog series about each neighborhood he services. He uses hyper-targeted Google Ads to drive traffic to these blog posts, ensuring that local buyers find him first when researching their next home.
By blending these real estate marketing ideas with solid SEO and SEM strategies, you can create a robust search marketing campaign that consistently brings in new leads. Each of these strategies is designed not just to improve visibility but to make your marketing irresistible, building long-term trust and engagement with your audience.
Create neighborhood-specific landing pages optimized for local searches to capture high-intent leads, then amplify them with targeted paid ads.
Creating a landing page for each neighborhood or city you service allows you to capture search traffic that’s highly specific to those areas. Optimize each page with local keywords, high-quality images, and detailed descriptions of the market. For SEM, you can use geo-targeting in your Google Ads to ensure your ads appear for users in or searching for those areas. This combination of organic and paid tactics ensures that you cover all your bases for people searching for homes in your city or neighborhood.
Real World Example: Realtor Emma creates landing pages for each neighborhood in Miami, such as “Homes for Sale in Coconut Grove.” These pages are optimized with keywords like “luxury homes in Coconut Grove.” She runs geo-targeted Google Ads campaigns that send searchers to these highly relevant landing pages, leading to a higher conversion rate as visitors find exactly what they’re looking for.
Collaborate with local influencers to build backlinks and improve your organic SEO, while leveraging their audiences for targeted paid campaigns.
Partnering with local influencers, such as popular bloggers or Instagram personalities, allows you to reach new audiences and build authority in your area. From an SEO perspective, influencers can provide valuable backlinks to your site, which improves your domain authority and search ranking. Pair this with paid campaigns where the influencer promotes your listings or services through sponsored posts or ads, creating a dual funnel of organic and paid traffic.
Real World Example: Agent Rachel partners with a local Instagram influencer known for showcasing the best restaurants and events in town. They do a virtual walkthrough of a new luxury property, which is posted on the influencer’s account. Simultaneously, Rachel runs a Google Ads campaign targeting users who follow this influencer or engage with similar content, maximizing the exposure of the property to high-potential buyers.
Prioritize mobile optimization for better organic rankings and a lower cost per click (CPC) on paid campaigns.
With more than half of all real estate searches conducted on mobile, having a mobile-optimized website is essential. Google’s mobile-first indexing means that your website’s mobile experience can significantly impact your organic rankings. Additionally, well-optimized mobile landing pages reduce bounce rates and increase conversions for SEM campaigns, lowering your overall CPC.
Real World Example: David’s real estate site is fully mobile-optimized, ensuring fast load times and easy navigation for mobile users. This improves his organic rankings and lowers his bounce rate from paid ads. As a result, his Google Ads campaigns see improved Quality Scores, leading to more cost-effective ads and better ROI.
Leverage Google Ads to dominate local real estate searches, bidding on keywords that matter most to your target audience.
Paid search allows you to place your ads at the top of Google’s results page for critical keywords like “homes for sale in [City]” or “real estate agent near me.” By combining this with strong organic content optimized for these same terms, you ensure that potential buyers find you whether they’re clicking on a paid ad or an organic result. The key is to use SEM to cover gaps while your SEO efforts work to climb the rankings.
Real World Example: Realtor James runs Google Ads targeting high-intent keywords such as “homes for sale in San Diego.” His ads lead users to a custom landing page showcasing his top listings. Simultaneously, he’s investing in long-term SEO for these keywords, ensuring that as his organic rankings grow, his paid search presence continues to generate immediate leads.
Retargeting campaigns remind visitors who didn’t convert to come back, combining SEM with organic content to nurture leads.
Not every visitor will convert on their first visit to your site. Retargeting campaigns allow you to display ads to these users as they browse other websites, reminding them to return to your site. You can further integrate this with organic strategies by directing retargeted traffic to high-value content, such as blog posts, market updates, or homebuyer guides, nurturing them through the decision-making process.
Real World Example: Julie, a real estate agent, sets up Google Display Ads to retarget visitors who viewed listings but didn’t take action. Her ads show on other websites they visit, reminding them of the homes they were interested in. By integrating retargeting with content on her blog, like “How to Know When It’s the Right Time to Buy,” she brings these visitors back to her site where they are more likely to convert.
Ensure your listings on platforms like Zillow and Realtor.com are optimized for local SEO. To gain more exposure, use paid ads on these platforms.
Real estate directory sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com are powerful tools for generating leads. By ensuring that your listings are fully optimized for SEO—using relevant keywords, clear descriptions, and high-quality images—you can increase the chances of ranking higher in both organic search and on these platforms themselves. Paid ads on these platforms can further boost visibility, especially in competitive markets.
Real World Example: Mark ensures his Zillow listings are fully optimized, including detailed descriptions and high-quality images. He also invests in Zillow’s Premier Agent program, running paid ads that ensure his listings appear prominently in search results on the platform, doubling his exposure and generating more leads.
A visually appealing portfolio page that highlights past successes and is optimized for local searches, combined with paid campaigns showcasing your expertise.
A dedicated page showcasing homes you’ve sold builds credibility and improves your chances of ranking for keywords like “top real estate agent in [City].” This page not only boosts organic search rankings but also serves as a landing page for paid search campaigns aimed at potential homebuyers looking for a proven agent in their area.
Real World Example: Realtor Lisa builds a “Homes Sold” page on her website, featuring high-quality images and detailed descriptions of past sales. She runs Google Ads promoting this page with keywords like “experienced realtor in [City],” leading to higher engagement and more trust from potential clients.
Contests help you capture leads organically while using paid ads to amplify your reach.
Running a contest like “Win a Free Home Staging Consultation” can help you build an email list of potential leads. Promote the contest organically through social media and email marketing, and amplify it using Google Ads or Facebook Ads to reach a larger audience. Once you’ve captured these leads, nurture them through email marketing campaigns.
Real World Example: Realtor Brandon runs a contest for a free home staging consultation. He promotes it via paid Facebook Ads and Google Ads targeting local home sellers, capturing hundreds of email addresses. Afterward, he uses email drip campaigns to nurture these leads into potential clients.
Online reviews improve your local SEO and increase your SEM Quality Scores, leading to better ad performance.
Positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, and Zillow are crucial for both organic and paid search performance. Reviews provide valuable social proof, improving your local SEO rankings. From an SEM perspective, positive reviews can improve your Google Ads Quality Score, leading to more effective ad placement and lower CPC.
Real World Example: Realtor Stephanie actively requests reviews from her clients on Google and Zillow. As her positive reviews grow, she sees an improvement in her local SEO rankings and a reduced cost per click on her Google Ads campaigns due to her improved Quality Score.
Organic & SEM Impact: Google rewards long-form, informative content. Paired with paid ads that drive traffic to this content, you can capture and convert leads effectively.
Creating long-form content, such as “The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Home in [City],” positions you as an expert in your market and helps you rank for a broad range of keywords. Promote this content using paid search or display ads to attract leads who are in the research phase of their homebuying journey.
Real World Example: Realtor Jason creates a comprehensive guide to buying a home in San Francisco, which ranks for long-tail keywords like “San Francisco homebuyer guide.” He runs targeted Google Ads that drive traffic to this guide, capturing leads and positioning himself as a trusted resource for potential buyers.
Focus on long-tail keywords to capture high-intent clients both organically and through paid search campaigns.
Long-tail keywords, like “3-bedroom homes for sale in [City],” attract highly motivated buyers. These keywords may have lower search volume, but they convert better because they reflect specific search intent. Optimizing your content for these keywords improves your organic rankings, and you can create hyper-targeted Google Ads campaigns that use these long-tail queries to attract potential homebuyers who are ready to act.
Real World Example: Realtor Emily targets the long-tail keyword “luxury waterfront homes for sale in Miami Beach” in her blog posts and landing pages. She also runs Google Ads campaigns with the same keyword, ensuring that her ads and organic listings show up for searchers looking for high-end properties, resulting in more qualified leads.
Call tracking can help you better understand which search strategies are driving the most phone calls, enabling you to optimize your SEO and SEM efforts.
Call tracking allows you to assign unique phone numbers to your different marketing campaigns, helping you track which keywords or ads are driving calls. This insight lets you refine both your organic and paid search strategies. By knowing which keywords lead to conversions, you can optimize your site’s content and adjust your ad spend to focus on the best-performing queries.
Real World Example: John, a real estate agent in Boston, uses call tracking to monitor his Google Ads and organic leads. He discovers that “condos for sale in downtown Boston” generates more calls than “apartments for rent,” allowing him to shift his SEM budget toward higher-converting campaigns and refine his website content around high-performing keywords.
Regularly updating older content to keep it relevant boosts your SEO performance and maintains its value for SEM retargeting efforts.
Google values fresh content, so regularly updating your old blog posts with new information, statistics, and market trends can improve your organic rankings. Additionally, updated content can be repurposed for SEM campaigns by retargeting users who have already visited your site but didn’t convert.
Real World Example: Realtor Olivia updates her “Top Neighborhoods to Buy in [City]” post annually, adding new information about market trends and school rankings. She uses Google Ads to promote the updated content to users who previously visited her site, encouraging them to return and explore her latest listings.
Conducting SEO audits on competitors helps uncover keyword opportunities and SEM strategies that can give you an advantage.
Running an SEO audit on your competitors helps you discover which keywords they rank for and how they structure their content. This information can be used to improve your SEO strategy and create better SEM campaigns. For instance, if you find that a competitor is ranking for “homes for sale in [City],” you can target that same keyword with an ad campaign while optimizing your site for organic ranking over time.
Real World Example: Real estate agent Frank uses SEMrush to audit his competitor’s website and discovers they rank highly for “new construction homes in Austin.” Frank then optimizes his content for this keyword and launches Google Ads targeting the same term, effectively capturing more traffic from buyers interested in new developments.
Write community-centric content to build trust and increase organic visibility while using paid ads to push high-value stories.
Homebuyers are interested in more than just properties—they want to know about the community. Writing blog posts or creating videos about local events, market changes, and neighborhood developments positions you as a local expert. Use paid campaigns to promote these community-focused pieces, reaching both organic searchers and ad-driven traffic.
Real World Example: Realtor Kate writes a blog post on “Why [City] is Perfect for First-Time Homebuyers,” covering local amenities, schools, and businesses. She runs targeted Facebook and Google Ads to promote the article, increasing both organic traffic and engagement from her SEM campaigns. This strategy results in more leads, as potential buyers are drawn to her local expertise.
Google Maps Marketing: Be Found in Local Search with Ease
Optimize your Google Business Profile and utilize Google Maps Ads to dominate local search and capture buyers ready to visit open houses.
Real estate is inherently local, and many buyers use Google Maps to search for agents and listings in their area. Optimizing your Google Business Profile for local search can ensure you rank in Google Maps for queries like “real estate agent near me.” To boost this, you can run Local Services Ads (LSAs) through Google, placing you at the very top of local search results when potential clients are looking for agents in your area.
Real World Example: Agent Paul regularly updates his Google Business Profile with images of properties, open house dates, and posts highlighting market insights. He supplements this by running Google Maps Ads, ensuring that when someone searches for “real estate agents in [City],” his profile appears prominently, generating local leads that convert quickly.
FAQs: Use Question-Based Content to Capture Voice Search and SEO Traffic
Create a detailed FAQ section on your website to target voice search queries while driving SEO traffic for common real estate questions.
With the rise of voice search, users are increasingly asking questions like, “How do I buy a home in [City]?” or “What’s the best time to sell in [City]?” Creating an FAQ section optimized for these questions improves your chances of ranking for voice search queries. For SEM, running Google Ads that use question-based keywords can capture searchers who are in the early stages of their home-buying journey.
Real World Example: Realtor Monica creates an FAQ page answering questions like “How to prepare for an open house in [City]” and “What are closing costs in [City]?” She optimizes the page for long-tail keywords and runs Google Ads targeting these common questions. Her page ranks well in organic results and her ads capture buyers early in their search process.
Create virtual property tours to keep visitors on your site longer, boosting SEO, and use them in video ad campaigns to increase engagement.
Virtual tours allow potential buyers to experience a property without leaving their homes. Not only do these tours increase user engagement (a factor that boosts SEO), but they can also be used in Google Ads or YouTube Ads to attract more viewers. Video content typically has a higher engagement rate, and virtual tours can help capture serious buyers who are interested in your listings.
Real World Example: Realtor Ben uses a 360-degree virtual tour of a property in his Google Ads campaign. The tour allows prospective buyers to explore the home from their phones or computers. This increases the amount of time users spend on his website, boosting his SEO performance while driving more conversions through his paid search campaigns.
Client success stories and case studies are powerful tools for improving trust and driving both organic and paid leads.
Case studies provide social proof that builds trust with potential clients. By showcasing the journey of a homebuyer or seller and how you helped them achieve their goal, you create compelling content that resonates with new clients. Promote these case studies through Google Ads and Facebook Ads, driving traffic to content that positions you as a trustworthy, results-oriented agent.
Real World Example: Agent Claire creates a case study featuring a family who sold their home above the asking price, thanks to her expert advice. She promotes the case study with Google Ads targeting sellers in her area, generating more listing leads from people impressed by her track record.
Use email marketing to nurture leads collected through organic search and paid campaigns, keeping you on your mind when clients are ready to act.
While SEO and SEM bring in leads, email marketing helps nurture them over time. Create segmented email campaigns for buyers, sellers, and investors, sending them market updates, property listings, and community news. Drive traffic to your website with engaging email content and use SEM to retarget email subscribers who’ve shown interest but haven’t yet converted.
Real World Example: Agent Steve collects emails from a free “Homebuyer’s Guide” he promotes through a Google Ads campaign. Over time, he sends a series of emails to this list with updates about new listings and market trends. He uses retargeting ads to follow up with subscribers who’ve clicked on his emails but haven’t yet inquired, ensuring his business stays top of mind.
We've covered 30 of the most influential and actionable real estate marketing ideas designed to enhance your search visibility, drive leads, and grow your business.
By integrating these SEO and SEM strategies into your marketing plan, you'll be equipped to dominate organic and paid search results, putting you in front of the right audience at the right time.
Whether optimizing for long-tail keywords, leveraging the power of local SEO, running geo-targeted Google Ads, or creating content that speaks directly to your audience's needs, each tactic plays a crucial role in establishing your authority and bringing in a steady stream of new clients.
But remember, the key to sustained success is consistency. SEO takes time to build, but combining it with well-planned SEM efforts will provide an immediate boost while your organic strategy grows.
Now that you're armed with these strategies, it’s time to implement them. Don’t let your competitors capture the leads that could be yours! Take the first step by implementing just one or two of these ideas today, and watch your real estate business transform.
If you need expert assistance or are ready to take your marketing to the next level, contact us now—let’s create a custom marketing strategy that ensures you stay ahead of the curve and close more deals than ever.
I’m Mitch Cornell, a patron of local SEO with a strong background in legal SEO, helping lawyers succeed in the search results. I worked for a top-rated legal marketing agency where I spearheaded hundreds of successful SEO campaigns for law firms. Now, I help real estate agents and continue to help lawyers achieve their best in search.
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