As a real estate agent, your website is one of your vital tools. It’s where potential clients will go to learn more about you and your services.
If you’re not doing everything you can to make sure as many people as possible see your website, you’re missing out on a lot of business. One of the best ways to improve your ranking and visibility is through backlinks.
In this article, I will teach you what backlinks are, backlink importance, and how to get more of them for your real estate business.
What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks are inbound links that lead from one website to another. They act as a reference point and an anchor to a page or post, allowing users to navigate between the two websites when they click on the external links.
Backlinks can help improve the search engine ranking of your website. They also increase website credibility by showing other sites linking back to it. You can use backlinks to build relationships with website owners and influencers that may create content related to yours.
You can think of backlinks as a vote of confidence in the eyes of Google. The search engine uses its search engine optimization algorithm to determine rankings. The more backlinks you have from reputable websites, the higher your page will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Another area of backlink importance is organic traffic. As we mentioned above, attracting relevant backlinks equates to better organic rankings. Those higher rankings result directly in more traffic to your website.
How Are Backlinks Earned?
You can build different types of backlinks. Here are the three main ways you can earn backlinks for your real estate agent website.
Naturally-earned
If you understand the basics of SEO and how the Google ranking algorithm works, you can naturally get high-quality backlinks from other websites. Links are one of many ranking factors that increase your rankings in search engine results.
The first step to earning natural backlinks is to create engaging and valuable content for your website readers. It could include blog posts, articles, guides, tutorials, infographics, videos, or other content that site visitors find interesting and helpful. When website owners find this content useful, they may link to it.
Another way to earn high-quality links naturally is by providing commentary on popular topics within the real estate industry. You can start conversations with other professionals in your field and establish yourself as an expert. It not only helps you engage with potential customers. It also increases the chances of website owners linking to your website as a source.
Finally, you can build relationships with industry-related website owners. You can develop partnerships and offer them value in exchange for incoming links to your website. Make sure these links come from authoritative websites so they don’t harm your brand reputation.
Link-building Efforts
You can actively build backlinks in the following ways.
Guest Posting
Guest posting is a way to build links actively. It involves creating high-quality content and publishing it on websites related to your industry. In exchange for the content, you can ask for a link back to your website. The link will help boost your rankings in search engine results.
Here is how to land quality guest post opportunities.
Research your niche: Research your niche thoroughly before looking for opportunities to land guest posts.
Understanding the current landscape and trends within the niche will ensure you target websites or publications pertinent to what you want to write about. Stay informed about any changes or developments in the industry as you identify which websites are most beneficial for submitting your posts.
Identify partners: Start identifying potential hosts for your posts. Target websites or publications with a large enough audience size so that you can get maximum search visibility. Ensure they have an established reputation and clear editorial guidelines before submitting a post proposal.
Contact potential hosts: Make contact and introduce yourself. Tell them why they should consider publishing a post from you on their platform. Send over any relevant samples of previous work. Do everything possible to help them understand the type of content you can produce as well as its quality level.
Negotiate terms: Once accepted, negotiate payment (yes, there is often a payment request “for their time”) and deadlines before agreeing to write for them. Backlinks have a monetary value. High rankings for certain keywords relate directly to high income when selling products and services. Don’t underestimate the power of “charging” a well-placed backlink in exchange for your content expertise.
Submit the final pitch: When both parties agree on all aspects related to content and compensation, submit your content pitch. Detail the focus keyword and the number of words to include in the article. Don’t start your work until both sides firmly agree on the type of content you will deliver.
Write and publish the post: Begin the writing process. Perfect the content according to editor guidelines before submitting the first draft. Make any necessary adjustments based on editor feedback. Don’t do the most crucial part: include a well-placed link to your website inside the article’s content.
Broken Link Building
Include broken link building in your link building campaigns. In this case, you will find broken links on authoritative websites. Contact the website owner about it. Suggest one of your pages as a possible replacement. The link building strategy helps not only improve the user experience but also provides you with a valuable type of backlink from a reputable source.
Here is a tutorial to walk you through the steps necessary to make the most of a broken link campaign.
Research and identify target pages: Use a backlink checker to locate quality sites that have relevant content but now contain dead or broken links. For maximum impact, you should focus on websites that have high domain authority.
Locate dead links: Find dead links contained within your researched pages by using a specialized backlink tool like Moz’s Link Explorer. These tools scan webpages of interest to isolate dead links. They can rank your targets according to relevance. Prioritize based on metrics such as domain authority.
Create and submit replacement content: After identifying dead links, create content that replaces the old page. Or, you might already have suitable content on your blog. As part of the initial contact, explain why you believe your proposed content would benefit their website.
Monitor and maintain content: After submitting replacement content for approval, monitor progress by tracking responses from hosts. Note if the webmaster approved the link and placed it on their website. Use SEO tools to keep track of whether you lose the backlink in the future.
Track results: Use analytics software such as Google Analytics to measure the results of your new backlink campaigns.
Build relationships: Beyond generating quality backlinks using this strategy, securing long-term partnerships is a quality goal. Maintaining active communication between both parties could lead to obtaining guest post opportunities.
Infographic Submission
Infographics are a powerful tool when it comes to capturing attention online and creating visibility for your real estate business. Submitting high-quality infographics to blogs can earn you valuable backlinks and improve SEO performance. Use the following tutorial to generate quality backlinks by submitting infographics to other website owners.
Create a high-quality infographic: The first step is to create an infographic that other people will want to share. Use online tools such as Canva or Piktochart. It’s vital that the infographic looks professional and contains accurate information. You should also add your website URL at the bottom of the infographic so readers know where they can find more information.
Research potential website partners: Carefully research each possibility carefully before submitting your infographic. Make sure the website is relevant to the topic of your infographic and offers high-quality content for its audience.
Look for contact information: Once you have narrowed down some potential websites, look for contact information or guidelines on submitting content. Many websites will have submission guidelines listed on their site.
Guidelines typically include who to contact and what type of content they allow you to submit. If a website does not list any contact information or submission guidelines, you may want to try finding them on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
Write a compelling pitch: Before submitting your infographic, write a pitch email that introduces yourself, explains why they should accept your infographic, and includes links directly to the image file.
Your pitch should explain why publishing your infographic would benefit their readers. Talk about providing new knowledge or insights into a topic that will interest their readers. If available, include metrics such as views, downloads, or shares of previous infographics to help your partner decide faster.
No-follow Links
Websites can choose to tag certain links as “nofollow.” The tag signals to search engines that they should not consider the link when calculating rankings.
A nofollow backlink doesn’t directly add to your SEO value but can help with link diversification. They can still bring in lucrative referral traffic from websites that may have otherwise been unaware of your business.
Here are three ways to generate no-follow links.
Forum Participation
Participating in discussions on forums allows you to share valuable insights while also earning backlinks from your posts. When making posts, include a link to your website. Many forums allow this practice. Bear in mind that it’s crucial to contribute genuine value. Do not spam the forums with blatant self-promotion.
Blog Comments
You can generate no-follow links through blog comments. Many blogs allow readers to leave comments after reading an article. Connecting with other readers by leaving genuine, relevant comments can help drive referral traffic.
Online Directories
Use online directories to get no-follow links without risking search engine penalties. Submitting your business or website listings on reputable online directories will give you one more beneficial backlink. It can also provide exposure from potential visitors who may stumble upon your page through the directory listing itself.
Are Backlinks Important for Real Estate SEO?
Backlinks are one of the most vital factors for real estate SEO. They are one of the first trust signals used by Google and act as a strong indicator of authority.
Generating backlinks from industry-relevant sites can greatly impact on your overall rankings. Search engines assign more weight to websites that have credible backlinks pointing to them. Additionally, you can boost your domain and page-level authority by getting quality links from authoritative sources.
Keep in mind that earning backlinks is not a numbers game. The quality of the link is more important than the quantity. Having a few high-quality, authoritative links will benefit your real estate SEO efforts more than having hundreds of low-quality links.
Search engines use complex algorithms to measure the trustworthiness of each link. They also look at each link’s relevance to your business and its overall authority. In other words, it’s better to focus on getting quality, relevant links from trusted websites than trying to get as many backlinks as possible.
These high-quality backlinks can help you attract the right leads. If you can successfully place backlinks on relevant websites, those links can draw potential customers who express interest in your services.
For instance, getting backlinks from a local real estate blog or news publication will increase the probability of attracting potential customers who want to buy or sell property in the area.
Below, you will find additional reasons that explain backlink importance to your real estate SEO plan.
They Can Improve Your Organic Search Engine Ranking
Quality backlinks demonstrate to search engines that you produce valuable, relevant, and authoritative content. Search engines use these “votes” as an indication of your website’s trustworthiness. The information relates directly to determining your search engine ranking.
For example, try secure links from trusted sources such as universities or government websites. These links can signify the value and credibility of your content in the eyes of search engines. While conflicting content exists online about content vs. links, realize that Google consistently looks at your backlink profile.
If you and a competitor have written similar content that answers the questions your visitors have about buying and selling a home, what else can Google look at to decide on ranking positions? You win a prize if you guess that the number of links becomes the deciding factor.
Google will give your website a better ranking on the search engine results page for the keywords related to your blog post only if you have more links than your competitor’s page. The bottom line is this: You have an increased chance of getting a web page ranked by increasing the number of backlinks to it.
More Authoritative in the Eyes of Google
Generally speaking, getting a website to link to you means that the owner of the linking website thinks that their readers will find your content interesting. Otherwise, they wouldn’t link back to you.
In the eyes of Google, backlinks are a sign of trust and authority. They also indicate that other people, brands, and websites think highly of your content. As a result, when backlinks come from authoritative sources, they offer more weight in terms of SEO than backlinks from non-authoritative sources.
Search engines assume your page must include useful information when a reputable website links to it. In turn, all the reputable websites linking to you pass on that authoritativeness. If your goal is to build a more reputable website, it’s imperative to focus on attracting these authority links.
As your website’s authority increases, you will find that you can outrank websites you previously couldn’t get past in the search engine results pages.
They Can Increase Organic Website Traffic
The more quality backlinks a page has, the more visible it is to search engines and human visitors. The higher the website’s domain authority linking to yours, the more “link juice” you get from that link. The link juice helps strengthen your website’s reputation.
In turn, it is more likely for potential buyers to click through and visit your site when searching for relevant topics or products.
Backlinks can also increase traffic to your website by providing a direct path for people who may not have otherwise found out about your real estate business.
When a new visitor clicks on a link from a third-party page to your page, you will see an uptick in referral traffic when you look at analytics reports. The traffic wouldn’t have otherwise occurred had it not been for the backlink directing them to your site.
Furthermore, having a large number of quality backlinks can also result in increased visibility on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. It is an invaluable way to reach larger audiences and spread awareness about your realtor services.
Many webmasters use backlinks as indicators of trustworthiness and credibility. If other reputable websites think your content is worth linking to, then people will likely trust you. Conversely, low-quality backlinks from unreliable sources can cause a drop in rankings or even get you penalized by Google.
This means that you need to consider the content value of the pages that link to your website. Not only does the link matter, but the quality of the content on that link page plays a role in your website’s ranking ability.
Web spiders crawl websites with solid content and plenty of backlinks more often than pages without these vital factors. If you build a site with a reputable combination of content and links, you will find that your organic website traffic trends upward.
You can think of the process as a popularity contest. Search engine spiders like to visit popular pages more often than they visit unpopular pages struggling to generate backlinks. Are you struggling to get found quickly by Google and other search engines? Focus on gaining more links from popular pages to fix the problem.
Increase Brand Exposure
Generating backlinks from popular and reputable websites is essential to increasing brand exposure. The more credible the source linking to your website, the more likely visitors will hit your website and stay there.
In short: solid backlinks provide social proof for your brand. When other websites link back to your website, it shows that they recognize the value of the content you have produced. Generating this type of social proof can help build trust with potential customers. It will make them more likely to click through from backlinks over to your website.
Additionally, search engines find new web pages by checking old ones for new backlink opportunities. Look for older, more established websites to create backlinking relationships with.
As search engines keep crawling these mature pages, they will pick up on the fact that the older website’s owner recently added a link to your website. Google knows that well-established website owners don’t want to hurt their brand by adding websites to spammy websites. You will receive a nice boost in brand exposure by landing one of these coveted backlinks.
Consider the Anchor Text
Branding via your backlink efforts requires thought around the issues of hyperlink text. Hyperlink, or anchor text, is the clickable phrase that leads a viewer to your desired content. Create clear and compelling anchor text when engaging in backlink campaigns. It helps visitors understand what they’ll find when they click on the link.
Hyperlinked phrases should include targeted words relevant to your brand. For example, if you’re trying to drive first-time homebuyers to your site, try keywords like “how to buy your first home” or “buying a home for the first time.” Accurately describe the services available on your page.
You can also brand your name during backlinking campaigns. It will increase brand recognition and awareness of your services. Make sure to backlink to helpful pages such as a Contact page, Homepage, or Services page.
Also, Google pays attention to how often third-party websites link to you using your name. The Google search engine gives backlinks more weight when the backlinked text includes keywords with your brand name. It builds your knowledge graph with Google.
Google’s Knowledge Graph consists of data about entities, such as people, places, and things. The data ranges from basic facts like addresses to complex relationships between entities. To form this data, Google draws from a variety of sources, including websites, databases, and physical objects such as books or images.
Google uses algorithms to extract and analyze the data to create the Knowledge Graph. By connecting different pieces of information and forming relationships between them, Google can provide more comprehensive search results.
Be careful how often you get other websites to link to you using specific keywords and your name. Too much backlinking with the same hyperlinked text can lead to a Google Penalty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you still have questions about backlink importance? Use the following answers to commonly asked questions to help further your backlinking education.
How valuable are backlinks in SEO?
For SEO purposes, backlinks are extremely valuable. Search engines like Google use backlinks to determine a website’s relevance and trustworthiness. If your website generates quality backlinks from reputable sources, it tells search engine algorithms that the content is credible. Your pages will come up more frequently during online searches.
It explains why companies invest heavily in creating strategic relationships with influencers who link back to their sites. It helps them increase their organic reach and expand their brand presence.
The quality of a backlink is as important as the number. Low-quality or spammy backlinks not only have a limited impact on SEO success, but they can actively damage your SERP ranking.
Building relationships with high-authority websites can help you create valuable backlinks from trusted sources. It will boost credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of search engine algorithms and improve SEO ranking significantly over time.
Are backlinks still important in 2023?
Backlinks remain an important part of any successful digital marketing strategy. The importance of backlinks in 2023 will not diminish but rather grow. In the digitized age, having a strong online presence is key to success. Good SEO practices are the most crucial tool to optimize traffic from search engine results. Backlinks are an integral part of this process.
Outreach strategies will continue to be key when building links organically in 2023. You need to invest time and money in identifying influencers who can link to your website. It will help establish your realtor business as an authority and help you overcome competitors.
What are the three main features of a quality backlink?
When looking for quality backlinks, there are three key features to consider.
- Relevancy
- Trustworthiness
- Anchor text relevance
Relevant links from reliable sources are more valuable than irrelevant links from unreliable sources. When you choose websites to link to yours, look at content related to the topic. It will tell Google and other search engines that your site has authority on the subject matter.
Websites with good reputations will help boost your site’s authority in the eyes of search engines.
Look for links on sites known for their reliability and accuracy. These options might include those run by universities, respected businesses, or industry experts. Such websites hold more value than those created by unknown individuals with no track record or little experience in their field.
Your choice of anchor text should remain relevant to both your page and the page linking to you.
Should you buy backlinks?
The short answer is no. While buying backlinks may seem like an easy solution to boosting your website’s search engine ranking, it can have the exact opposite effect.
There is no guarantee that the links you buy will be of high quality or even relevant. Many shady operators put together packages of low-quality, outdated links from questionable sources. These are the last links you want to associate with your brand. Not only could this put your website’s reputation at risk, but it could also land you in hot water with Google’s algorithms.
What should you look at when analyzing a backlink profile?
When analyzing a backlink profile, you should consider several factors. First and foremost, you should ensure that the backlinks come from high-quality websites with good domain authority scores.
Analyze anchor text to make sure the links are relevant and use appropriate keyword phrases. Pay attention to the relevancy of the sites linking back to your content. Are they from similar industries? Finally, monitor link velocity, the rate at which new links appear on a website.
Who is king in digital marketing: content or backlinks?
It’s often said that “content is king” when it comes to digital marketing. However, the answer may not be so straightforward. While a good piece of content is certainly important, you should support it with other tactics, such as quality backlinks.
The truth is that both a piece of content and backlinks are equally important for a successful digital marketing strategy. Content is necessary for drawing visitors to your website and providing them with value. Backlinks are essential for SEO and helping potential customers find you in the first place.
Where can I find a website developer or SEO to help me with my website?
On our website, you will find a resource that helps you find the best SEO specialists or website developers. We invite you to use this resource to locate quality service providers for your website look and feel and your search engine optimization campaigns.
Where can I find examples of great real estate websites?
We have compiled a collection of real estate websites. You will discover high-quality examples powered by Showcase IDX. Use these real estate website examples for inspiration and ideas as you create the home for your realtor business.
Wrapping Up
Backlinks are an essential part of SEO. They are a way to drive more traffic back to your website. With the right backlink strategy, you can increase your search engine rankings and get in front of potential clients faster.
For backlinks to work effectively, they must come from reputable sources with high domain authority. Whether it’s through guest blogging or link exchanges, there are many ways that real estate agents can start building backlinks today. Backlinking is one of the most crucial strategies to master when you want to overtake your competitors in search engines.
If you’re looking for suggestions on agencies or freelancers to help with your link building, check out this article with specific suggestions or leave a comment if you have a question.
