I have been training brokers and agents on Real Estate SEO for the past 6 years with great Success (three of which as a Full-Time Real Estate Trainer); I am very pleased with the inroads I have been able to make with so many. The term SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization but I prefer using the term Organic Marketing; and it stems from my desire and commitment to earn placement with Search Engines rather than use trickery; so-called Black Hat SEO.

My primary focus in the past 3 years has been on what I call The Fundamental Architecture of Real Estate Websites – without these fundamentals Ranking a website is an exercise in futility – le me share 3 examples of such Essentials:

1. A Properly Integrated Database of Listings for The consumer to Search; Google to Index; and Fully Scalable; (Enough with the Framing of Content – Vendors who do not understand this concept should not be in Business.)

2. A Registration-Driven Lead Capture System with Delayed Registration within the Control of the Broker, the Agent, and the Consumer. Capturing Leads to manipulate is so 2000s – our customers have matured and they Register to get Value NOT Information. (PS: To the Vendors – enough with the Sub-domains – Map the agents’ Domains fully!)

3. The proper Content Management System so Brokers and Agents can add information, Landing Pages, and Featured Listings in order to offer the best Internet Marketing Platform for their Sellers – External Platform are adequate since all of them Syndicate Listings; but the MOST Powerful one is the one the Real Estate Agent/Broker Controls.

I will stop here with examples of The Architectural Fundamentals – there are about 25 Essential Blocks that form the Primary Container of a Successful Real Estate Website. Agents and Brokers have to rely on Real Estate Website Vendors to build these tools and offer them at a reasonable price; some do a better job than others but none so far have truly stepped up to offer the best Marketing Website for Real Estate Agents. Large Brokerages and Franchises end up going on their own and spend lots of Resources to build such Websites – but individual agents and small brokers have a harder time; they are the ones I train in Workshops so they can roll up their sleeves and start competing using Internet Marketing.

Now comes the toughest problem – Link Diversity!

Let me first define this: A Web Page acquires link juice by having 2 essential ingredients; Good Relevant Content (which you control); and the number of links (or votes) other Web Pages and Websites pointing to the aforementioned Page. In other words the more links point to a particular Page the higher the page ranks; well NOT Quite…

It is not just the Quantity it is the Diversity of websites that reference that page that enhance its Internet Visibility; furthermore this diversity cannot be gamed by placing a bunch of websites in a few IP Addresses or C-Blocks – the diversity has to be quite widespread in order to reach a measurable PageRank; for example all Real Estate Website Vendors have the same IP Address for all their websites – so linking them leads to weak visibility.

This is a Hard Problem and there are many techniques for tackling it – but it truly starts with Powerful Content.

Right now I am designing what I call Phase II Trainings for those who truly understand Real Estate SEO and want to embark on a journey of Organic Visibility focusing on the Hard Problem. (I ask you to develop some good habits: Blog Regularly; Seek Colleagues; Embrace Video; and connect to Social Media.)

The Internet and Real Estate are currently dominated by the behemoth of Realtor.com; Trulia, Zillow, etc… and agents and Brokers are having a hard time competing on a level playing field – I know of a Brokerage who confessed that they pay $20 a Pay-per-Click in their Market – Ouch… We need to do better; Internet Marketing should return to the dominion of Local Real Estate Agencies but no one is going to give it to you – You MUST claim it.

Happy Blogging – Key Yessaad, Real Estate SEO Trainer