SEO in Real Estate

By now we should all be aware of the importance of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.  Quick review...  If you want your information to be found by the likes of Google, and you should, you need to fine tune it using some basic techniques.  This article is not about the intricacies of SEO, but the importance of it.

Let me demonstrate, and I have tried to make this easy for us, so when I show you a link just click on.

One visible thing to look for when you are listing a property is the URL (or web address).  Look at it. Is it descriptive?  If it is, you are way ahead.
This URL links to one of my listings on LoopNet, see if you think it is SEO friendly:  http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/Profile.aspx?L...  Note that this URL is three lines long and is not entirely shown on this blog post.

Here is a descriptive link for the same property, on my site, Wisconsin BrokerNET:   http://www.wisconsinbrokernet.com/2011/former-kmart-beloit-wi-2/   This URL tells me it was posted in 2011, it is in Beloit, and it is a forrmer KMart.  Fairly descriptive...

It is a listing in Beloit, the former KMart.  Let's try and find it on Google:  Search for KMart   Note when you see the results, that the first listngs are found on my site:  www.wisconsinbrokernet.com  (Heck, one is a broken link that I have to fix...)

Let's switch now to look at my website at www.wisconsinbrokernet.com,  where we use descriptive URL's.

Here is one URL for a listing commercial listing - Jung's Furniture store in Cedarburg, WI:  http://www.wisconsinbrokernet.com/2011/jungs-furniture/.   Compare that to the LoopNet URL above.

Look up Jung's Furniture on Google: Jung's Furniture   The Wisconsin BrokerNET listing is the first listing on Google.

One more quick example.  Let's look for a commercial / industrial building I sold in Janesville, Wisconsin:  Bub Enterprises, and I will look for something simple like "Sold Building Janesville".  The Bub Enterprise sale on my site, Wisconsin BrokerNET is number one in this search.  I will give LoopNet credit, they are number three, but they are a multi-million dollar company, and I am just a little guy, and I just started this site.  Oh, and my site charges nothing for listings, zip, free, and LoopNet charges thousands for four listings that are visible to all.  Plus my site has some information unique to Wisconsin, like economic development links, interactive maps,demographics (Note the demographics link URL - http://www.wisconsinbrokernet.com/wisconsin-demographics/)

Descriptive URL's are just one tool in your SEO toolkit. My site utilizes a lot more, like tags, news, and unique information to commercial real estate in Wisconsin.  Yours should as well.

SEO is one of those tools that gives you the ability to take on the big guys and get noticed, and quickly. Note that my site went live two months ago, and LoopNet has been around for decades, and already we can compete with them.  Just one small example of the power of SEO.  Get found or get lost (and I mean that in a nice way).

NOTE:  We have developed a sister site for Illinois as well, at Illinois BrokerNET.