Real Estate Websites VS. The Directories

Can real estate websites compete against the directories for key search terms in search engine result pages (SERPs)? David Vs. Goliath you think, huh? Well it doesn't have to be that way.

As per my previous post, I'm constantly reading and commenting on search engine optimization and search engine marketing websites. Today, I came across an intresting article at SEO Roundtable titled: Can The Average Site Compete with Directories? RustyBrick writes:

Its a question that was brought up at HighRankings Forum, "If most of the sites competing to be in the top 20 google listings for my keyword are directories, do I need bigger guns than if they were not directories?"

I question the search term this individual is trying to rank well for. If the first 20 results are all directories, maybe he is trying to rank well for the wrong keyword phrase. Just a hunch, without knowing the specific keyword or site in question.

My response to good'ole RustyBrick (don't you just love that name) was:

Let's say we're not using even a simple 3 word phrase, but using a multiple keywords use as "Xcity Xstate XCounty Real Estate". You are competing against many directories.

But it's real estate, there are few other target terms that don't include the city and/or state as well as the defining term such as "real estate", "realtor", yadda, yadda. And these are the terms that the directories are also targeting.

That's not to say that there aren't additional key phases and you'll probably get a better return for a less used key phrase as that user using that phrase knows precisely what he/she is looking for.

Designing a search engine marketing and optimization framework for a business management software company which has built thousands of real estate websites , I've spent a lot of time doing real estate keyword research. And believe me, if you are targeting a keyword for real estate marketing so are the directories. In the real estate market not only is that real estate website competing against other real estate websites, it is also competing against, Search Engine properties like Yahoo's! Real Estate, "Lead Generation" websites, newspapers AND directories.

Just check out the results for DC Real Estate and you'll see what I mean:

• Google 10 Results for DC Real Estate
  
• Yahoo 10 Results for DC Real Estate
  

This is not to say that a real estate website cannot break the top twenty on a given search engine or that they are targeting the wrong keywords . What I am saying is that it will take a lot of search engine optimizition work to compete. As well as keyword evaluation, testing and research.

And it can be done. Matter of fact, in an upcoming post, I'll be showing the results of some SEO I've complete for a real estate broker who now ranks in the top 10 of Google, MSN and Yahoo for key search terms.

Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing, real estate news, real estate website, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, seo


BTW: If blogs could be rock stars, I'd definetly be a groupie of SEO Roundtable. It is by far my favorite search engine optimization blog.