Getting your real estate web site to the top of Google search results isn't rocket science - it just takes a little work
by Chuck Cutler
Publisher, The Commercial Broker A high ranking in Google will do wonders for your web site traffic. But how do you get there?
If you search Google for "commercial broker", this web site ( TheCommercialBroker.com ) is ranked #2 in the world out of 556,000 sites about commercial real estate brokers (as of Apr 2008). I'm not a web genius, I didn't pay anyone to help me get there, and I didn't have to pay Google for advertising. Getting to the top is simply a matter of using a few common sense techniques that attract the attention of the world's best search engine.
Step #1: SEO - Search Engine Optimization
There are companies that make a living helping people optimize their sites so that they are attractive to Google. I have never used one, but I have used many of their techniques. The purpose of SEO is simply to make sure that the words and phrases people are searching for appear in the appropriate areas of your site. There are a few steps to doing this effectively:
• Think about what your clients are searching for.
If you are a commercial real estate broker in Boston, make sure the content of your site includes the phrases that clients will be searching for when trying to find a broker.
“Boston Commercial Real Estate”
“Boston Commercial Property”
“Leasing Office Space in Boston” and
“How to Choose a Commercial Real Estate Broker in Boston”
are phrases that should ALL appear on your site, preferably on the main home page. The “how to” would probably be a link to a separate page that described the process of choosing a real estate broker. All of these phrases are likely to be used to search Google, and if that exact phrase appears on your site, you will rank higher in the search results.
• Separate links for separate related phrases
To use the same example, if you work in the Boston area, make sure you have separate links to the listings you have in different submarkets around Boston. While it is certainly a good idea to have a main link to “Our Listings” in a prominent area, be sure to include 10-20 text links at the bottom of the page for:
“Boston Office Space Listings”
“Cambridge Office Space Listings”
“Brookline Office Space Listings”
"Newton Office Space Listings" ...etc.
While those towns are part of the metro Boston area, clients will certainly search for those phrases, and you will miss those people if you only mention Boston. Take a look at the bottom of the Loopnet web site to see a good example of what I mean. • Watch your titles
This is one area that most web sites miss. The actual title of your page (which appears on the very top color-shaded line of your browser) is extremely important. Most companies use their name, which doesn’t help much unless someone is searching for your company name. The title of your home page shouldn’t be “The Smith Company” – it should be “The Smith Company – Boston Commercial Real Estate Brokers – Office, Industrial, Retail, Multifamily and Land”.
The title of your home page shouldn’t be “The Smith Company” – it should be “The Smith Company – Boston Commercial Real Estate Brokers – Office, Industrial, Retail, Multifamily and Land”. 
Your page titles can tell Google much more than your page text alone. If the actual title includes the words “Boston Commercial Real Estate Brokers” then that page MUST really be about commercial real estate in Boston, right? When someone searches for that phrase, you will appear much higher on the list than a web site which doesn’t include those words in the title, even if the rest of the page says basically the same thing.Look at the top of your screen right now - the title of this page you are reading is " The Commercial Broker - Commercial Real Estate's Online Community - How Brokers Get To The Top on Google". That gives Google a whole lot more to work with than if it just said "TheCommercialBroker.com" • Consider your choice of domain name carefully
While most companies use their company name as their domain (i.e. SmithCompany.com), a domain name of BostonCommercialRealEstate.com will instantly launch you much higher in the search results. You can still register SmithCompany.com and use that for email addresses.
Step #2: Get Links
One of the ways that Google determines which sites are the most relevant is examining how many quality links they have from other sites, referred to as backlinks or incoming links. The more backlinks you have from related sites, the higher you rank on searches. The assumption is that you are considered an authority if many related sites link to you. Links from a stamp collecting web site won’t help you any, but links from CCIM, SIOR, BOMA, Realtor.com, Loopnet and the local commercial board web site certainly will.
Since most real estate firms already have links from industry associations, you need to use a little ingenuity to increase your links. Here are a couple often overlooked ways to increase your links as well as your name recognition:
• Write articles
There are dozens of free article submission web sites, where you submit your articles and other people can use them free of charge on their web sites. Typically, your article will include a brief bio at the bottom with a link to your site. Every time someone uses your article, you gain a backlink.
Relevant backlinks are more important than irrelevant ones, but most people who will use a real estate article have sites that relate to real estate. The fact that all the words on the page (your words!) relate to real estate will help make the link more relevant. Be sure to write informative articles that are not an obvious advertisement, and people will use them.
Here’s a Google search showing just some of the free article directories:
http://tinyurl.com/6b3hwr
• Discussion Groups
There are discussion groups (or forums) all over the Internet for nearly every conceivable subject. Getting involved in the discussions by posting helpful information, including your signature block with a link to your site, will help build both backlinks and personal relationships.
An additional benefit of forums is that most of them are highly ranked in Google (known as PageRank), and links from highly ranked sites count more than links from smaller unknown sites. Search Google for “forum” or “discussion group” along with your area of interest and you will find tons of good sites.
Don't forget to try hanging out where your potential clients do. Investing forums, legal forums, local hometown newspaper or business journal forums - they all attract people who buy or lease commercial property. 
• Blog comments
Many people maintain an Internet blog, which is essentially a self-published commentary on their subject of choice. Most blogs include an area where people can submit comments on the article. On most, but not all, blogs you can include your name and web site link with your comment. This works the same way as the forums, and since most decent blogs have a good PageRank, these posts are great for helping build your own PageRank.
Try Google BlogSearch ( http://blogsearch.google.com ) to find blogs that relate to your industry.
• Social web sites
Don’t forget to include your web site link on your FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles. Just be sure that there is nothing unprofessional on your profile – save the discussion about last night’s keg party for a separate personal profile. Your clients really don’t need to see that.
Step #3: Consider Google AdWords
OK, this one costs money. But it’s well worth it if you are careful about your search phrases and how much you bid. Google offers the ability to bid for search phrases, and when someone searches for your phrases, you appear in the right-hand column on Google search results (where it says “Sponsored Results”). You pay only when someone clicks your ad and visits your web site. Bids can range from 10 cents per click up to the reported high bid of $100 for “mesothelioma attorney” (asbestos lawsuits).
You set your own bids, and Google determines who appears at the top of the list based on a combination of bid price and how often the ad is chosen. In other words, you could bid 10 cents and someone else could bid 15 cents, but you would wind up higher on the list of you ads get clicked twice as often as the other guy’s.
I don’t use this for advertising TheCommercialBroker, but I own several other sites that sell products, and Google Adwords has been very effective bringing in customers. The key is to keep your bids reasonable, and target narrow search phrases. Don’t bid on “real estate”, bid on “office space in Boston” or “Boston Commercial Real Estate broker”. Then track the results, and adjust your phrases and bids accordingly. You can also choose to have your Google ads appear on relevant third-party web sites - the "sponsored links" you see on the right hand side of most pages on this site are an example. You can find out more at http://www.google.com/adwords Step #4: Content!
Don't worry, I didn't forget this one - make sure you don't either!
All the tips listed above won't do you much good if your site doesn't contain relevent content. You should have plenty of text that talks about commercial real estate. You don't need to scatter your keywords around over and over where they don't belong, but make sure your search terms are used on the page where they would fit in normal conversation. Don't be stingy with your words.
It amazes me how many web sites use all their best search engine "bait" in beautiful graphical text overlaid on a photo. Google can't read those words - it's a graphic file!
I was looking at a brokerage site the other day that had almost all the content in paragraphs nicely laid out on top of professional photos of Class A office buildings. Everything was contained in .jpg graphic files and flash content. The pages had almost no text that a search engine can read. It is a truly stunning site - perfect for a graphic designer's web site, and absolutely horrible for a commercial real estate firm. This company is a major player in their city, and they were surprised that they rank on the 20th page of Google search results for the market they dominate. In conclusion... A high ranking on Google will help you draw in more clients. While your web site certainly will not make up for lousy listing presentations and lack of cold calling, it is important as one piece of your marketing campaign. Don't lose clients to your competition because you haven't spent a little time on your e-Marketing! ------------ Chuck Cutler, publisher of The Commercial Broker, is the President of Cutler Technology , a consulting firm specializing in technology consulting and training for the commercial real estate industry for over 14 years. He is also the Director of the Technology Consulting Group at The Lipsey Company , the International Leader in Training and Consulting for the Commercial Real Estate Industry.
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Very useful and timely information. I wish you Great Success in this venture!
