There are 3 distinct areas in Google when you search any term. (also see the graphic at the end of this article)
1. Pay Per Click ads
a. Show up on the top and on the right side and say “AD” next to them
b. You ever click on the ads?
c. PPC ads are expensive. People don’t like being marketed to
2. Local Citations
a. Defined as listings of your business name, address and phone number
b. Show up in the middle and sometimes upper right hand part of the screen
c. Local citations are online yellow page ads and displayed primarily on Google searches and mobile devices.
3. Organic search results
a. Show up “below the line” and are limited to 10 per page.
b. Organic leads are what we refer to as the “money pot” for real estate professionals
c. How often do you look at the 2nd page? It is critical to be on the first page
Like building your reputation as an agent, building visibility with Google takes time. It usually takes about 90-120 days to start gaining traction. For this reason, and intelligent PPC strategy can help to fill the pipeline while waiting for a steady stream of organic leads.
The IDEAL Strategy is to show up numerous times on all 3 sections to maximize hits and leads to your website. Pardon the pun, but when you can take up lots of “real estate” on the Google search page, you will quite simply get more leads!
