Quick and Easy Tips to Understanding your SEO Results: Part 1

Online marketing initiatives can be confusing, but they do not have to be. The key is understanding the results. Since most buyers start their search for a home at one of the major search engines, where you rank on search engines results is critical. Most buyers start their search through a main search engine, such as Google. If you are not showing up as a result for those searches, you are missing out on business opportunities.

While pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine marketing (SEM) can get buyers to your site, they cost you money. Search engine optimization (SEO), or in other words, increasing where you rank in search engine results, doesn’t cost you anything. In a previous editorial, we explained what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is and how to utilize tactics for implementing it on your site (Click here to read that article). Your next step is comprehending the results of your SEO tactics, mainly, what people are searching for, what search engines you are showing up on and how many people are coming to your website from those keyword searches. This month, we will explore how to determine what people are searching for and how it applies to you.

Keywords are king in the game of SEO. Keywords are terms buyers put in the search box of a search engine to get the results they want. (For example, homes for sale in IL, homes for sale in FL, Chicago Real Estate, Atlanta homes, etc.). Typically, there are hundreds and even thousands of ways to search for homes in certain cities. We found 200 ways someone could search for a home in Mt Prospect (See List Here). Wouldn’t it be beneficial to know how people are searching for homes in your area? Well, Google has a tool, Google Adwords Keyword Tool, which can help you do just that.

How to use Google AdWords Keyword Tool:

1. 1. Simply enter a word(s) or phrase(s) that applies to your specific message (Example: Homes, Houses, Chicago homes, Chicago Real Estate)
   2. The finder lists the various keywords people are using to search that are similar to what you entered. The keywords are sorted by the frequency in which people searched for each specific word/phrase.
   3. Try to be as specific as you can, depending on your niche in the market. If you are the go-to for luxury homes in your area, try including the word ‘Luxury” in your search and see how the keywords generated differ. Geographic area is probably the most important item to add when investigating keywords i.e.’ Naperville Real Estate’, because just using ‘Real Estate’ will provide results for every area in the country, which doesn’t help you.

Once you know how people are searching, you can better understand the results of your SEO. Now that you know what people are searching for, you can make sure to add any pertinent keywords you are missing to your website. By adding these keywords, you are increasing your chances of the search engines recognizing your content if someone searches for those words. In our next issue, we will discuss how to track your rankings in Google for the terms people are searching, by using Google Webmaster Tools. So, until next month, have fun keyword hunting.