Real estate SEO: a basic guide for teams and brokerages

If you run a team or brokerage, you already know the awkward truth about online lead gen: the channels that scale (such as portals and paid ads) get more expensive and more competitive over time.

That’s why real estate SEO is still one of the best “build it once, benefit for years” plays in the industry. It’s not flashy, and it’s not instant. But when done right, it creates a compounding pipeline of clients who are actively looking for answers.

And the data backs up the premise: according to the NAR, the internet is the number one place buyers say they found the home they purchased (51%), ahead of real estate agents (29%).

So let’s turn that reality into a practical, brokerage-ready SEO plan you can actually execute.

Real estate SEO fundamentals for teams and brokerages

At a high level, SEO is simple: you publish and optimize pages so Google and other search engines can understand them, trust them, and show them to the right people.

In brokerage terms, SEO for brokerages usually comes down to three outcomes:

• You show up when someone searches “buy in [city]” or “best neighborhoods in [area]”
• You earn trust before the first conversation through helpful content, reviews, and authority signals
• You convert that traffic into leads with clear next steps

Real estate SEO typically has three big levers:

• Local visibility: maps results, “near me” searches, branded searches
• Content: neighborhoods, guides, FAQs, market updates
• Technical foundation: site speed, indexation, duplicates, structured data

Google’s own guidance is a good north star here: create helpful, reliable, people-first content and make sure your site meets the core eligibility and quality requirements in Search Essentials.

What to prioritize first (quick wins vs. compounding work)

The mistake most teams make is trying to do everything at once. Instead, split your plan into:

Quick wins (weeks)

These are changes that can improve visibility fast:

• Clean up your Google Business Profile categories, services, photos, and Q&A
• Fix broken pages, redirect chains, and obvious indexation issues
• Rewrite page titles for your top money pages (locations, agent pages, key services)
• Add internal links from high-traffic blogs to high-intent conversion pages

Compounding work (months)

This is where real estate SEO becomes a weapon:

• Build neighborhood hubs and local guides that only a local expert can write
• Create a repeatable on-page SEO framework for realtors and agents across your site
• Improve site architecture so search engines (and humans!) can find everything quickly
• Earn local authority links through real partnerships and PR

Big portals dominate broad keywords, so smaller sites win by targeting gaps and local intent where they can be the best answer. In other words, if you can’t be the sword, be the scalpel.

Your first 30 days: ownership plan

If you want this to stick, assign owners. Here’s a simple starting point.

Owner decisions:

• Pick your primary service areas and the exact naming conventions you’ll use
• Decide which pages are “money pages” (the ones that should convert)
• Commit to a content cadence you can sustain for 6 months

Marketing execution:

• Audit indexing and crawlability in Google Search Console
• Refresh titles, meta descriptions, headers, and internal links on top pages
• Build or clean up your Google Business Profile, citations, and review requests
• Publish the first neighborhood hub and 2 supporting articles

Agent habits:

• Collect reviews consistently and respond to them
• Share the neighborhood content in email and social to earn early engagement
• Send real questions they hear from clients to marketing for FAQ content ideas

Remember: consistency and iteration win, especially when you’re using Search Console to learn what’s working and improve over time.

Local visibility with Google Business Profile

This will be your foundation for real estate local SEO.

Google Business Profile: your map rankings starter kit

Google’s guidelines are blunt for a reason: represent your business accurately and consistently, or you risk edits, suspensions, or visibility loss.

Focus on:

• Correct primary category (don’t get creative here)
• Consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) across the web
• Real photos and regular updates
• A filled-out services section that matches your actual offerings
• Active Q&A (seed common questions, answer them clearly)

Citations: boring, but effective

Citations are just consistent mentions of your NAP across directories and platforms. They help Google feel confident that your business is real and located where you say it is.

A practical rule is not to chase 200 directories – get the top ones right, then clean inconsistencies.

Reviews: build an engine, not a one-off ask

Reviews are both a conversion lever and a local proof signal. The key is creating a system that feels natural:

• Ask at the moment of peak happiness (closing, offer accepted, great showing feedback)
• Use a short template agents can personalize in seconds, not minutes
• Respond to every review with a human voice and local details

Bonus: don’t play games with fake reviews. Google has increased enforcement against fake engagement in Maps and profiles, and it’s not worth the risk.

Content that beats portals

Portals can publish thousands of pages. What they struggle to publish is local expertise that sounds like a local.

That’s your edge.

Focus on hyper-local, high-intent topics and content gaps where big sites aren’t the best answer.

The four content types that win for brokerages

• Neighborhood hubs: your flagship local SEO assets
• School and lifestyle guides: written like a local, not a brochure
• Market updates: monthly or quarterly, consistent format
• FAQs: the questions people actually ask agents, answered clearly

If you want to turn all of this into an actual publishing plan, our list of real estate SEO keywords is a handy starting point

Neighborhood hub template

If you’re building a “Downtown [City]” page, don’t just make it a thin intro and an IDX feed. Make it the best page on the internet for that neighborhood.

Include:

• Who it’s for and who it’s not for (ex. “Great for commuters, not ideal if you need a big yard”)
• Micro-areas locals actually use and enjoy
• Housing stock and typical home styles
• Walkability, parking reality, transit notes
• What people do on weekends there (restaurants, parks, rock climbing gyms, etc.)
• A short FAQ section
• A clear CTA (ex. book a tour, get a neighborhood list, talk to an agent)

FAQs that win clicks (and trust)

Google’s “people-first” guidance matters a lot here. Don’t write for algorithms – write like you’re answering a real client who’s deciding whether to trust you.

Good FAQ topics:

• “How much do I need for a down payment in [city]?”
• “What are closing costs in [state]?”
• “Best neighborhoods for [commute, schools, lifestyle]”
• “Condo fees in [building type] – what’s normal?”

Site architecture for scale

If your site’s structure is messy, you’ll feel it every time you interact with it. Here’s a scalable approach to use SEO for brokerages:

Location pages

Create a clean structure like:

• /locations/
• /locations/city/
• /locations/city/neighborhood/

Make sure each location page has unique content, not just swapped names.

Agent pages

Agent pages can rank so long as they’re more than a headshot and a phone number:

• A real bio that includes specific service areas and specialties
• A list of neighborhoods the agent focuses on (with internal links)
• Testimonials and reviews
• A short “how I work” section
• FAQ or “resources” links

IDX and duplicate content (the reality check)

IDX is useful for users, but it can create duplicate pages and thin content if you’re not careful. The goal isn’t to index every listing page, it’s making sure the pages you want ranking are high quality and discoverable.

This is where a technical audit pays off.

On-page basics that move rankings

This is the heart of on-page SEO for realtors.

Titles and headers

Your title tag should match intent, not internal naming.

• Bad: “Home Page | ABC Realty”
• Better: “Homes for sale in [city] – listings and local guides”

Your H1 should match the page topic clearly, and H2s should break down subtopics people care about.

Schema that’s worth it

Structured data helps search engines understand your business and content. For local businesses, LocalBusiness schema is a solid baseline, especially if you have multiple offices or departments.

Don’t overcomplicate it – start with what you can maintain.

Image optimization

In real estate, images matter for conversion, but they can crush performance if you’re not careful:

• Compress uploads
• Use descriptive file names
• Add helpful alt text where it makes sense (not spammy)
• Try to avoid uploading 30 huge photos to every blog post

Technical checklist

Technical SEO isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between “we tried SEO” and “SEO works for us.”

Indexation and crawlability

Start in Google Search Console:

• Are your key pages indexed?
• Are there unexpected “noindex” tags?
• Are you generating lots of low-value URLs (filters, parameters, duplicate IDX pages)?

‘Core Web Vitals’ and speed

Speed is part of page experience, and it affects both rankings and conversions. Even small improvements help, especially on mobile.

Duplicates, redirects, and sitemaps

Make sure you have:

• Clean redirects for old pages
• A sitemap that reflects what you want indexed
• Canonical tags on pages where duplicates are unavoidable

Google’s Search Essentials are a good reference point for what technically eligible content looks like in practice.

Authority building

Links still matter, but the old playbook of buying directories and blasting guest posts is a great way to waste money. The better approach is to earn authority the way brokerages already build relationships.

Some ideas that work:

• Sponsor local events and make sure you’re listed on the event site
• Partner with neighborhood associations, schools, and nonprofits
• Publish local data reports and pitch them to local news outlets
• Create a scholarship or community grant with a real page and local outreach

You’re already competing with massive marketplaces, so learning what they do well (and where they’re weak) helps you build a smarter plan for your business.

Measurement for brokerages

If you can’t measure it, you’ll abandon it the moment the market shifts.

The KPIs that really matter

Keep it simple:

• Non-branded organic clicks (are you earning new discovery traffic?)
• Local pack visibility and actions (calls, direction requests, website clicks)
• Rankings for a small set of priority terms (locations and services)
• Organic leads (forms, calls, chats) tied to landing pages

Quarterly SEO sprint plan (lightweight but real)

Run SEO like a cadence, not a project. For each quarter:

• 1 technical sprint (fix bottlenecks, speed, duplicates)
• 1 content sprint (publish 4 to 8 high-intent pieces)
• 1 authority sprint (2 to 4 partnership or PR pushes)
• 1 conversion sprint (improve CTAs, forms, chat entry points, internal linking)

Wrap-up: build the engine, then let it compound

The best part about real estate SEO is that it stacks. A cleaned-up Google Business Profile improves local visibility, a neighborhood hub earns links and rankings, those pages keep bringing in traffic. And then that traffic becomes leads – and unlike most channels, you don’t pay for every click.

If you want to start today, do the simple version:

• Nail your real estate local SEO basics (GBP, citations, reviews)
• Build one incredible neighborhood hub
• Apply on-page SEO for realtors to your top 10 pages
• Fix the technical issues blocking indexation and speed
• Measure it in Search Console, then iterate every month

And just like that, you’ve got a playbook for success.