In response to feedback from search engine users, Google took a major step in improving the quality of sites listed on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) with its Panda/Farmer Update. Since then, I’ve heard from many real estate professionals who feel that this algorithmic change actually made it increasingly difficult to rank well for competitive terms. With that in mind, here are a few actionable steps for those looking to stay ahead of the pack:

* In an industry on which webmasters rely so heavily on IDX data for the majority of their content, it is even more critical to provide unique content that others with the exact same IDX feed do not have. The key emphasis being on UNIQUE, which can translate into providing local area/neighborhood information from YOUR perspective, YOUR analysis of statistics and market trends, real estate advice from YOUR view point (this could be easily achieved with Q&A section, driven by questions from visitors). There is a plethora of methods by which to generate unique content, the only limit would be lack of creativity.

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Most people think about social media in terms of socializing and don’t realize that Twitter can be a powerful tool for SEO. Your Twitter account can be optimized for search engines so that you get the best possible value out of your profile. There are a few very simple tricks and a few not so simple tricks that can help you to get the most out of your Twitter account in Google searches.

Here are 10 ways to turn your Twitter account into an Internet searchable masterpiece:

1. Choose an Actual Name and a Relevant Username

Use a Twitter username that includes the keyword you want to rank high for. If you want people to find your Twitter profile when they search for Real Estate, make sure that ‘Real Estate’ is in your name. For example: @EGrealestate.

Do not use dashes, and make it short and easy to remember. You can use your actual name for this or include the keyword again (this does not help with personalizing your account, though).

For current users, you can fix this in your Twitter account by going into “Settings”.

2. Shorten Your Website URL

To accommodate Twitter using only the first 20 characters of your URL, shorten it with bit.ly and get rid of the www. This will allow people to see the link before they click on it. For example: http://bit.ly/BETArealestate.

To change this, go into your Twitter account, click “Settings”, then go to the “Account” page, and then scroll halfway down the page.

3. Write a Short Bio

Create a bio that is short and to the point, but also shows your personality. With only 160 characters to make your personality shine, you can’t waste your time with words that have no search value. Your bio should represent who you are and how you want others to perceive you. This will affect peoples’ decisions for whether to follow you or not. Include your location because sometimes Google will include this. Continue reading this post

I’m not sure if it’s the real estate downturn, but my phone has been blowing up with online advertising vendors lately.  I monitor my advertising revenue very closely, so I ask a lot of questions when talking with their salespeople.

Salespeople like to throw around big numbers to entice you to buy, so it’s important to ask for the proper metrics when analyzing different potential advertising sources.

Here’s a breakdown of what you should measure, and what to ask:

1) ROI (Return on Investment) is the bottom line number that you need to use after you have given an advertising source long enough to perform.

ROI is simply how much you’ve earned on an advertising source divided by how much you’ve spent.  So, if you’ve earned one $6000 commission from Website A, and spent $2000 advertising there, your ROI is 3:1.  You’ve earned $3 for every $1 you spent.  Most advertising sources won’t track their customers’ ROI because there are so many “real world” variables that can create different results for different buyers – predominantly how well each customer can convert.

2) Conversion Rate is the number of leads you get per click.

If you have different types of leads (contact requests, registrations, property info requests) then it’s best to track the bottom line conversion rate, and then crunch it down to conversion rate for each lead type.  So, if you get 100 visitors in one month from a traffic source, and you get 5 registrations, 2 contact requests, and 3 property info requests, then your conversion rates are as follows: Continue reading this post

One of the questions that I get from REALTORS all of the time while consulting is something like this…

“Do I need to worry about ranking in Yahoo and MSN as well as Google?”

“How much attention should I pay to Yahoo and  MSN?”

While the questions vary slightly, the meaning is exactly the same. Each search engine is different. It is one thing to rank really well on one search engine. It is another thing entirely to rank on two (or more). In the past (before Bing and Yahoo announced that Bing would be powering Yahoo), the answer was splendidly easy. Just worry about Google. The rest do not matter. They simply do not have enough market share to matter.

But what about after Microsoft has spent over $100 million advertising Bing as the “decision engine”? What about once Yahoo is powered by Bing? Will they have enough market share to matter then?

A couple of insights are helpful. The first of them is to know how to get a monthly snapshot of the search engine market share. Continue reading this post

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is becoming more important to Realtors® each year. These lesson snippets, provided by Eric Blackwell, Director of Technology with RE/MAX Properties East, will help you understand the importance and how to leverage SEO to your advantage.

Let’s start with the TOPICAL INFORMATION. In the SEO business, this is what is known as On Page Optimization. Search Engines index your pages and the only thing that they can see is text so it is important to write/build web pages so that the text is visible to the search engines.

1. Provide QUALITY content.

2. Write search friendly titles for your posts, pages and articles that will attract readers and be something that they will search for. The title will show up on the search engine as a headline and that is what you need to keep in mind.

3. Avoid duplicate content. Why should Google, as the librarians of the internet, keep hundreds of copies of the same book or post or article on the front page? (Hint: They don’t.) When you write on your blogs, be original and unique. It will not only rank better, it will attract more readers.

To get the full lesson and receive the monthly SEO newsletter, sign up for AgentView.

Mr. Blackwell will be hosting a session titled “SEO Is A Team Sport” at HomeGain Live Nation in San Francisco on August 3rd at 2pm. Twitter @homegainnation

Here are some Google Search secrets to help you better find what you’re looking for: (wait, since I’m telling you, they’re no longer secret).

1. Use quotation marks to search for the exact phrase “co-op board rejection”

2. Use the pipe (|) (it’s above the backslash \) for an either/or search (or use the word “or”): fsbo|by owner.

3. Use two periods (..) to find information within a number range, including years: worst housing markets 1980..2006.

4. Use a minus sign (-) to exclude search results: worst housing markets 1980..2006 -best. (since the search without the minus sign usually includes best and worst, use the minus sign if you only want the bad news)

5. Find similar keywords with the tilde (~): ~cheap homes. You get auctions, foreclosures, investors, etc. The tilde is an under-appreciated stroke (which makes it good for passwords)

6. Use the wildcard star (*) if you don’t know the missing word: a man’s home is his *.

7. Get a definitions by typing “define:” before the word: define:foreclosure.

8. Math calculations (hey Realtors, it’s good for figuring a commission): 548,000 x6%.

9. To search a term in a particular blog or website use “site:” before the URL. Useful if a website or blog doesn’t have a search box: site:blog.sellsiusrealestate.com zillow.

10. Type in the area code or zip code to find out the city name: 646. Continue reading this post