Ranking near the top of the organic results on the search engines should be every real estate web owners goal, but achieving this goal is much easier said than done. Below you will find some of the common and basic questions that we get from a lot of our clients when wondering how, if, and when their site will begin to rank on the coveted search results pages.
Search Engine Optimization FAQ
What are some things I can do on my own to increase my rankings?
Some suggestions to get your site going in the right direction, towards high natural rankings, involve the following:
(1) Add quality, relevant content to your website on a consistent basis
(2) Get people with websites that are relevant, quality and preferably ranking well themselves to put a link on their website that points to your website
(3) Promote your website’s url (a.k.a. domain name) all over the Internet in as many relevant places as possible
How do I know if my site is ranking or not?
The easiest way to see if your site is ranking is to simply go to Google, Yahoo and/or MSN and do a search for the key terms and phrases that you feel your site should be ranking for. If you do not see yourself on the first page of those search engines for those relevant, desired key phrases than your site is not getting the placement and exposure it needs. You can also seek out a professional SEO company to run a professional Natural Ranking Report for your website if you are interested to see how your site is doing. The bottom line is that if your site is not ranking on the first pages of these search engines for the terms you want it to come up for then you have some work to do. We highly recommend you consult with an SEO professional to determine the best plan of action to reach your goals for your website.
Why is my site not ranking on the first page of the search engines?
There are a multitude of factors that can come into play here. The most important thing to consider is how good of a relevant resource your website is for the terms and phrases that you are expecting your website to show up for in the search engines. The search engines will only rank the most credible, authoritative, legitimate, resourceful and relevant websites at the top of their natural rankings. If your website is not showing up on the first page of these search engines than you have some work to do – adding unique content, or working on getting in bound links are the 2 fastest/easiest way to start. It is highly recommended that you consult with an SEO professional in order to spend your time and/or money effectively
Is purchasing links through a broker effective?
We do not recommend purchasing links through a link broker, or any other mean for that matter. We strongly believe, and recent action by Google has supported this, that any paid links will eventually be recognized and penalized accordingly. The best way to look at paid links is in the sense that they are ways to trick the search engines into thinking that your website is more popular than it really is by paying other websites or link brokers for links on their sites. In most cases, these link brokers will not even be providing the most effective types of links on their sites, which makes buying links even more risky. With this said though, there is some value in having a link on someone else’s site that you may have had to pay for. The case for this would be if that link is going to drive a significant amount of relevant, useful traffic back to your website, thus making that link expense possibly worthwhile down the road should one of the referred visitors become possible business for you. Remember that appeasing the search engines is the not always the most important thing, getting results from your website is. Just make sure you ask all the right questions and properly educate yourself before spending any time or money on something you are unsure of. Our search engine marketing division is also here to assist you with any questions or concerns you have as well. Feel free to call us at 800.550.1650 to schedule a consultation.
Can I just use content from another site to make my site rank higher?
Using content from another online source and trying to pass it off as your own is not recommended. Besides putting yourself at risk from receiving a cease and desist letter from the original content owner, you are actually forcing the search engines to put these copied pages of content into a duplicate content filter. Duplicate content does not draw a penalty it just doesn’t get indexed. Search engines only need one page of content with the same information. We recommend that any and all content on your website be 100% original, authentic and relevant to what you want the search engines to rank your site for.
I’ve got a ton of domain names. Will these help my site’s rankings?
Simply put, NO. If your domain names have never had a website on them or are brand new then will provide absolutely no search engine value to your site. Forwarding all of these domains, or even multiple domains, to your website is not recommended as this can be seen as somewhat "spammy" to the search engines.
Is running a PPC campaign going to help my site rank naturally?
No, the Sponsored Results, which are the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, are completely autonomous from the natural results. You could be spending $10,000/month and getting over 20,000 people to your site per month from your PPC ads and this will have absolutely no effect on your search engine rankings.
How often should I update my Title Tags?
Title tags should be done once and done right. The only time you would ever need or want to change them would be if the content or material on a specific page changed to something different than what your current Title tag represented. The search engines still heavily weight proper Title tags so it is important that they are done correctly. If you are the least bit unsure of what yours should be then we strongly recommend speaking with an SEO professional.
Does the domain name of my site affect my rankings in any way?
Your domain name can be a very important factor in the overall search engine value of your site. However, your domain must fall under these criteria to do so:
(1) Have some age behind it - older domains that have had a site on them for many years (at least 3) will be given more credibility than new domains without sites as the search engines see these as more legitimate. In addition, the older a site/domain is, the more likely it is to have accrued some valuable backlinks from other websites. Remember, link popularity is one of the defining factors behind well ranking websites.
(2) Have relevant keywords - domains that are keyword rich or exact matches for what you want your site to be ranking for will usually help your site that much more than just having a domain with random words that consist of something that someone might not ever know, remember, or use to perform a search. For example, for a site wanting to rank for "Los Angeles Real Estate", the domain (losangelesrealestate.com) is going to be more valuable than (johnsmithrealtor.com)
Choosing a domain name is extremely important. Our search marketing professionals are more than happy to provide you with some assistance in choosing yours if you would like.
How does blogging help me rank higher?
Having a blog can be an extremely effective tool to not only get traffic to your website, but also to help your website rank higher itself. The only way these two things can happen though is if your blog itself has some search engine value on its own. Just like a website, a blog needs a constant infusion of fresh, quality, relevant content as well as links from other websites pointing to it. When your blog has accrued a solid foundation and schedule of content and valuable backlinks from other websites than you can relay some of the value of your blog onto your website to help its natural rankings. Remember, a blog is basically a website so it must be treated as such, the defining factor is that you are most likely going to want to update your blog even more so than your website in order for it to gain the traction it needs to be effective.
How can I get links to my site?
Getting other websites to link to you is extremely important for the overall search engine value of your website. Since these links are so valuable and effective, they are also some of the hardest things to attain. The most effective links that come from extremely relevant, resourceful, authoritative, credible websites involve dedication, persistence and a little "know-how" must be attained naturally. They should not be exchanged, bought, traded, or farmed from other sites. Attaining these links can very often be a long, tedious process, but one that pays huge dividends in the end. There are literally hundreds of ways to get people to link to your website back to yours. Unfortunately, disclosing these tried and tested methods is not something we wish to share with everyone in order to keep them under the radar of other search marketing companies and thus more effective for our customers. If you would like us to implement our effective link building tactics on your site or if you would like to learn more about how to build strong backlinks to your site then please call 800.550.1650 to setup a consultation today.
How can I increase my site’s PageRank?
Google’s PageRank is basically a measurement of how popular your website is in terms of links. The more valuable backlinks your website has, the higher your PageRank is going to be. Take Wikipedia (online encyclopedia site) for example as they have a PageRank of 8 out of 10. The reason their PageRank is so high is because many people link to them as it is a resource for many people. You need to use this same mentality with your own website. Is your site worth linking to? If not, then your PageRank will always suffer. Instead of focusing on your PageRank, you need to focus on making your site the best resource for what you are offering and/or specializing in. Once you do that people will naturally link to your website out of necessity or interest.
