When it comes to real estate websites, UX (user experience) is more than just a nice-to-have – it can be the deciding factor in whether or not customers choose your business and equally important, whether Google gives your site the thumbs up for good rankings.
A real estate website with excellent UX is like a well-oiled machine. It's effortless for your customers to maneuver and pleasing on the eyes, providing customers and potential customers with an enjoyable yet efficient experience that can be navigated without any hitches.
It's also critically important to Google. Think about it, Google users could be visiting your real estate website after searching for:
"negotiating the terms of a real estate transaction"
"property valuation and market analysis"
"handling the paperwork and legal aspects of a real estate transaction"
"finding rental properties and managing rental properties"
"identifying properties with potential for renovation and flipping"
"finding a new home to purchase or rent"
"investing in real estate properties"
"real estate [city]"
"realtor [city]"
"realtors [zip code]"
"selling a current home [zip code]"
And if Google users don't have a good user experience, then Google will not be happy. And we all know what happens if Google isn't happy with your realtor website- yep, down the rankings drain it shall go.
What do we mean by a happy Google? Let's say a user starts on Google's servers and types in a search term like property valuation and market analysis, handling the paperwork and legal aspects of a real estate transaction, finding rental properties and managing rental properties, home staging and preparation for sale or another related service. Next, the user views the top real estate websites on page 1 and clicks over to the site that most appealed to them.
Realtors can maximize the potential of their website by making it responsive. A well-designed, adaptive site allows real estate visitors to view content no matter what device they are using - be it a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone!
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Mobile compatibility: With the majority of real estate searches like negotiating the terms of a real estate transaction, home staging and preparation for sale, finding rental properties and managing rental properties, identifying properties with potential for renovation and flipping, property valuation and market analysis, relocation services, etc., now being done on mobile devices, it's important for realtors to have a website that is easily accessible and usable on a variety of mobile phones, including the latest iPhone, Androids and tablets.
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Convenience: A responsive website allows customers to easily find and contact the realtor, schedule real estate appointments, and make payments, regardless of the device they're using.
PRO TIP: Additionally, Google uses the mobile version of your real estate website for ranking. In fact, Google has been using mobile-first indexing for several years, which means that it uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking, rather than the desktop version.
This is because the majority of real estate related searches, like finding rental properties and managing rental properties, handling the paperwork and legal aspects of a real estate transaction, negotiating the terms of a real estate transaction, property valuation and market analysis, etc., are now done on mobile devices. By using mobile-first indexing, Google aims to improve the search experience for users by providing them with relevant and user-friendly content, regardless of the device they're using.
The best real estate websites will be optimized for mobile devices and have a responsive design, giving them a better opportunity to rank higher in search results, as they provide a better user experience.
It's worth noting that if a realtor's website doesn't have a mobile version, Google will still index and rank it, but it may not perform as well as a mobile-optimized website.
Well Placed Call-to-Actions (CTA)
Real Estate websites should be designed to inspire action from your visitors - and the key to that are carefully crafted call-to-actions (CTAs). By strategically placing CTAs throughout the site, you can encourage people to take desired actions and ultimately increase conversions.
Having well-placed CTAs on your website will help it:
Without a effective CTAs, your real estate website may be missing out on a huge opportunity to engage and convert visitors. Ensure that yours is strategically placed - it could make all the difference!
Navigation Built for the Real Estate Customer's Journey
Your realtor's website must have a navigation that built to provide a fluid customer journey. Navigation is the way visitors find their way around your website and it's crucial to make it easy for them to reach the information they are looking for.
A well-organized and intuitive navigation structure can improve the overall user experience and help your customers (and potential customers) quickly and easily find the content they are interested in.
Key Real Estate Pages to Have on Your Website
There are several important pages that should be included on a real estate website in order to provide potential customers with the information they need and to help establish the business as a reputable and professional one. Some key pages to include are:
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Homepage: A clear and well-designed homepage that gives an overview of the real estate business and its services.
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About Your Real Estate Team: A page that provides information about the realtor's team, the business and its history, along with the qualifications and certifications.
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Real Estate Services Provided: A page that lists the real estate services offered by the business, along with detailed information about each service.
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Portfolio: A page that showcases the realtor's past work, including before-and-after photos of completed projects.
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Real Estate Testimonials: A page that features customer reviews and testimonials from past real estate projects, which can help to build trust and credibility with potential customers.
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Contact Us: A page that provides the contact information for the real estate business, including phone number, email, and physical address, as well as a contact form to allow customers to easily get in touch.
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FAQs: A page that answers common realtor questions customers may have about the business and its services.
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Blog: Blog: A page that provides helpful tips and advice on real estate-related issues and can help the website to rank higher on search engines.
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Emergency Real Estate Services: A page that provides information about emergency services that the realtor offers and how to contact them in case of emergency.
PRO TIP: Stand out from the competition even more by covering the latest real estate trends. Below are a few trends in the real estate industry that your website should go over.
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Remote Work and the Impact on Real Estate: With the rise of remote work, many people are moving away from densely populated cities to find more affordable housing and a better quality of life in suburban and rural areas. This has led to changes in the real estate market, with increased demand for single-family homes and a shift away from the traditional office market.
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The Growth of Proptech: The use of technology in real estate, such as virtual home tours, online mortgage applications, and AI-powered property search engines, is growing rapidly. This is making the real estate process more efficient, accessible, and convenient for consumers.
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The Emergence of Co-Living: This trend involves the creation of shared living spaces, such as co-living apartments and dorm-style micro-apartments, aimed at young professionals and urban dwellers looking for affordable and convenient housing options.
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The Greening of Real Estate: As concerns about environmental sustainability grow, there is increasing demand for green buildings and homes that are energy-efficient, have low carbon footprints, and use sustainable materials.
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The Rise of Suburban Living: With remote work becoming more common, many people are leaving the cities and moving to the suburbs in search of more space, a better quality of life, and lower costs of living. This is leading to changes in the real estate market, with increased demand for single-family homes and other suburban properties.
On-Page Real Estate SEO
On-page real estate SEO plays a crucial role when it comes to creating a website for your real estate company; not only does it make sure that search engines can index your content, but also allows them to instantly identify how relevant your real estate website is for a particular search term.
After disecting the top websites for realtors, we correlated the top areas to focus on when it comes to on-page realtor SEO:
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Use keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions: The title tag and meta description are among the most important on-page real estate SEO elements. Make sure they accurately reflect the content of the webpage and include the target keywords.
Example: If you're wanting to be found for "real estate services" you'll want to include this phrase in the areas mentioned above.
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Use header tags appropriately: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize the content of the page and make it easy for search engines to understand the structure of the page.
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Optimize images and videos: Use descriptive file names and alt tags for images and videos to make them more easily discoverable by search engines.
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Optimize internal linking structure: Use internal linking to help search engines understand the hierarchy of your website and the relative importance of different pages.
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Use schema markup: Schema markup is a type of structured data that can help search engines understand the content of a webpage more effectively.
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Keep it fresh: Regularly updating your real estate website with fresh, relevant content can help boost your rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
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Use tools: Use SEO tools to track your on-page SEO progress and find areas that need improvement.
PRO TIP: The best real estate websites don't over-do-it. You want to stay away from going overboard with adding unessecary keywords to avoid an overoptimization penalty.
Overoptimization, also known as "keyword stuffing," refers to the practice of including too many keywords on a webpage in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings. This can include using the same keyword multiple times in the same sentence or paragraph, using hidden text or links, or creating fake pages with irrelevant content.
Example: At ACME Real Estate Services, we offer real estate services for those wanting real estate services in areas that I offer real estate services.
Error on the side of caution and follow the 'less is more' strategy.
Examples of the Best Real Estate Websites
Ok, let's get into it! Below, we listed the top realtor websites for this coming year!