Local search is a powerful tool for home builders to get in front of home buyers. People search for products or services where they are every day. In fact, 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information. That means if your home builder website isn’t optimized for local search, you’re potentially missing out on a substantial amount of your audience.
What’s Local SEO?
Local SEO is an effective way to market your business online. It helps businesses to promote their services and products to local customers by appearing in relevant local searches.
Why Local SEO Matters to New Home Builders
While any business that has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area can benefit from local SEO, new home construction is inherently local. Homebuyers search for their dream homes based on a specific location and use very specific search terms to find what they want. It only makes sense for home builders to optimize their website for specific locations.
Optimizing for Local SEO
There’s more to do than simply ranking for “new homes in location.” Because the home buying cycle is long and complex, it’s important to create a solid strategy that offers different types of content that answers questions at each stage of the buying cycle. Here are some ways you can optimize your website and online presence to increase your appearance in local searches:
Optimize for Google My Business
There are several benefits of using Google My Business. First, it allows home builders to be found in the 3-Pack on the Google Search results, the section of a search result that shows the top three local businesses in the area. It also lets customers leave reviews that serve as social proof for the builder.
Complete your Google My Business profile and verify the community. Verification usually happens through the mail so make sure your community is able to receive mail. Make sure you fill out our profile with photos, videos, and virtual tours. Businesses with photos receive between 35 to 42% more interactions than businesses without photos.
Continue to actively manage your listing by sharing news and updates, and managing and responding to reviews. Ignoring them won’t make the issue go away. While we only want to see positive reviews, customers like to see how a business handles negative reviews as well.
Create local content
Most builders are used to publishing creative, inspiring, and informative content for home buyers. But it’s important to also create content that speaks to the local area you build homes. Create blogs or social media posts promoting local events, news, and more. For example, if you build homes in Austin, Texas, create helpful resources that allow buyers to learn more about the city.
Be active on social media
Search engines continue to put more weight on social media posts in their ranking algorithms. Social media gives your website the links needed to increase your search ranking. Continue to create and share information on your social profiles. Posts on Google My Business expire after seven days so create a posting schedule of at least once a week to keep something on your profile at all times.
Our Home Builder SEO Process
Having a solid local SEO strategy is important for home builders to master if they want to be found by potential home buyers. Graphic Language has worked with new home builders to create effective SEO strategies that improve search rankings and increase website visits, leads, and homes sold. Contact us to find out how we can help you.