Real estate is one of the hardest markets to rank in. National portals dominate the big searches, local brokers have been building their sites for years, and IDX listing pages look much the same from one agent to the next. But agents and brokerages still win in search every day. They just start in the right places.
Where real estate sites can win first
Buyer questions. People research for months before they call an agent. Searches about closing costs, financing, taxes, how foreigners can buy, or what HOA fees cover are often answered by thin pages or old forum threads. A solid guide with a few good links can rank within a few months.
Communities and neighborhoods. “Homes for sale in [neighborhood]” is far easier than “[city] real estate”. Many neighborhood searches are held by small brokers and single-page sites. If your site already has community pages with live listings, those are strong pages to send links to.
Property types. Condos, beachfront homes, golf course homes, land and new developments each have their own searches. These work best when you have a dedicated page for each type.
Then the big searches. “[City] real estate” and “homes for sale in [city]” come last. Once your community and guide pages have authority, your whole site is stronger for them.
Where the links should come from
The best links for a real estate site come from places your buyers already read:
- Travel and lifestyle sites covering your area, especially for second-home and resort markets.
- Luxury and design titles for high-end property and architect-designed homes.
- Real estate news and advice sites for buyer guides and market updates.
- Sites read by your buyers’ home markets. If many of your buyers are from another country or region, publications read there are worth more than local ones.
What to avoid
- Generic “write for us” blogs that publish anything from casino tips to plumbing. They rarely help and can look spammy.
- Pointing every link at your home page. Spread links across the community and guide pages you want to rank.
- Exact-match anchors everywhere. A natural mix of your brand name, page names and descriptive phrases looks far better than repeating “homes for sale” twenty times.
A worked example
We built a sample 3-month plan for a Los Cabos real estate site with thousands of MLS listings. It maps 21 searches to pages the site already has, starts with buyer-guide searches where the competition is thin, and schedules 11 placements on luxury, travel and real estate sites read by US and Canadian buyers. See the full sample plan.
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