Search Engine Optimization

[Honeycomb Properties]

I have been a Realtor and Real Estate Broker for several years and recently started my own Real Estate company and am also part owner in a marketing firm that specializes in web site design and SEO.

To get an idea of what is possible- do a google, yahoo, or MSN search for "Indiana's coolest guy" "Indianas coolest dad" or "Indianas Awesome dude". I've had the site for years and have ranked it #1 for these and other terms. (a little qualifier here- each search engine uses different algorithms and therefore the site ranks differently for each search engine- and don't forget it's a personal goof-off site) The funny thing is, the url is actually a sub-domain of my home ISP. I get storage space on their servers since I pay for my phone/internet thru them.

The site is just a personal website for me and my family and is a joke with friends and family, but it shows what is possible. It amazes me to see business Websites that aren't designed to be search engine friendly.

[twalters84]

Hey there,

I do not think they are very competitive keywords ;)

Well, at least they are not compared to the real estate industry.

You know something I was reading the other day that was very funny.

I was searching for ways to avoid google penalizations for link building that seems unnatural. I read something about a "google bomb" so I did a search for that.

I was reading the history of this and it said that people used the anchor text "more evil than Satan himself" and microsoft's website was rank #1 :)

I have nothing against microsoft, but it was funny because I had an instructor that always said this. I had no clue why until I read that. I think it was on WIKI.

Sincerely,
Travis Walters

[VegasRealEstate]

If your real estate website was in the top 10 for Indianapolis Real Estate, that would be impressive :) Good luck with the new real estate company!

[sellinggalveston]

he is right though... you see many real estate websites with no titles, and no internal text links... no SEO at all... or some sites are all flash... LOL and they never get ranked... I once read a book that said a bunch of people got together and linked the word "idiot" or something like that to clinton's website... LOL and it came up #1 for that search term... ;)

[Thesa]

Keywords in your titles can be tricky too - being number one in one area is good if that area is producing but if another area is where the sales are and your site is optimized totally for the wrong neighborhood it could be devastating to your business.

Sometimes broader search term on your site and more specific on a blog behind your site is more impressive and will give you the google juice you need and crave.

[Honeycomb Properties]

If your real estate website was in the top 10 for Indianapolis Real Estate, that would be impressive :) Good luck with the new real estate company!

If I could get any site to rank for any competitive term like that in 30-60 days from creation- it would be extremely impressive. SEO takes time, you don't want it to take forever, but there are issues outside your control. I am already ranking naturally for some of the 1st stage keywords that have been picked and am moving up on stage 2 keywords. Thanks, and keep the luck coming. I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

[VegasRealEstate]

I'd rather be lucky than good any day.


I couldn't agree more :)

[maxclif]

This is very :D how people use anchor texts.

[RJacobsen]

I have to agree with the comment about the competitiveness of your
#1 ranked terms.

Anything RE related is extremely difficult to rank for, but if you continuously add content and relate your website to Indianapolis real estate you should begin to improve your SERPs (or your clients).

Best of luck!

[maxclif]

I don't think its very difficult to rank in top ten for your keyword phrase. All you have to do is work hard. Link your site to high PR websites etc etc... It costs time & money but its worth it in the end.

[DMike]

As I see it, you can split SEO in two major parts. "on site" optimization and "off site" optimization. The "on site" optimization refers to anything you can improve on your site for SEO side - titles, headers, description, content, links, images, ... . "off site" optimization would be the rest of SEO - get good sites to link to you, submit your site to good web directories over the web, link exchange. Both of those take time because you can see how good some changes are for your site only after a time, usually it takes around two weeks for the search engines to "re-spider" your site and to reflect those changes in searches. It's usually good not to use "black hat tricks", meaning to "fool" the search engines as that usually don't last too long and makes search engines to drop your rankings

[adamwealth]

Great tips DMike. It can be hard to get to the top, especially in real estate with so many competitors.

[riverviewrichie]

What does made in china have to do with Real Estate?

[Techno]

It's usually good not to use "black hat tricks", meaning to "fool" the search engines as that usually don't last too long and makes search engines to drop your rankings

This could not be more true!! Avoid any service or company that tells you that they know how to "fool" Google or "trick" Yahoo. You will ussually end up paying in the end when Google or Yahoo remove your site from their directories for using these tactics.

Michael :)

[flatfeemls]

Yes I think this is the wrong place to advertise for SEO since everyone appears to be a webmaster in this forum.

[rainier]

it depends on how you optimized your site...

[wchua24]

it really takes allot of hard work if you wanna rank on the top 10 always but its possible...

[rainier]

yes it is possible patient is need i taking much effort...

it really takes allot of hard work if you wanna rank on the top 10 always but its possible...