Search-engine optimization, or SEO, should be considered one of the fundamental building blocks for any online enterprise. In short, SEO is critical in getting online buyers to your business.
All segments of land buyers—from individuals looking for second homes and recreational property to large institutional investors—primarily use search engines (like Google) to look for land for sale on the internet. Without SEO traffic, it may be expensive or difficult to market and sell land online.
Here are our four most important tips:
1. Choose regional keywords and use them frequently
- Land buyers are more likely to find your website if you are using keywords that are most relevant to your properties.
- For example: “Land for sale” may attract customers but “Grayson County ranches” are more likely to attract customers who are qualified.
- Search engines group and show pages based on the content they contain. Frequently using your keywords will help search engines understand the purpose of your page.
- For example: Aim to use a keyword 3+ times on a page. Page elements where you should look to incorporate your keyword focus include:
- Meta description
- Page title tag
- Alt tag on photos
- File name on photos
- Page body, specifically within your listing description
- For a definition of the above terms, please visit this glossary at SEOBook.com
- For example: Aim to use a keyword 3+ times on a page. Page elements where you should look to incorporate your keyword focus include:
- Including contextual information regarding your offering will also help search engines to rank the page.
- For example: Include information about the average price of Grayson County ranches or specifics about area businesses, schools, resources, etc.
2. Content quality matters
- Just like buyers, search engines respond best to high quality content on a listing. Elements of a good listing include:
- Synopsis of critical information
- Unique description for each property
- It is important this description is not used on other websites.
- High quality and quantity of images and videos
- Low quality or quantity of images will often cause users to move to another site.
Read more: Seven Hallmarks of a Great Property Listing
3. Yes, link juice is a thing—and it counts
- Search engines still find new webpages through links to your website from any resource. In addition, search engines still use links to help decide which websites should appear first in search results. Lots of high quality links (links coming from relevant and reputable web pages) will help to ensure your website appears. Do not buy links, this distinctly forbidden by all search engines. Examples of high quality links:
- Social accounts
- Blogs
- Partners/resource websites
- Also ensure your website’s internal links point to your most valuable pages.
- Consider a menu/footer that points to your largest categories.
4. Be mobile-friendly
- Many websites see at least 50 percent of their visitor traffic coming from mobile and tablet devices. Ensure you have a mobile friendly website and that it passes Google’s mobile compliance tests.
- Visit Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see if your website meets requirements.
- Also ensure that your mobile website is fast. Slow mobile websites mean users drop off quickly. Generally 5 percent of users abandon for every second of delay.
Read more: How Loading Time Affects Your Bottom Line (Kissmetrics)
