The Power of Google Ads for Real Estate:
Why Social Media is Not Enough.
An active and engaging social media presence is great for sharing valuable content and connecting with your audience but on its own, it's just not enough for growing your business. With the ever-changing algorithms, advertising features that come and go, and fierce competition on social media platforms, it's more important than ever for real estate professionals to have a robust local presence online that catches the attention of potential clients and an effective advertising strategy that generates quality leads. The truth is, more than 90% of online experiences start with a search engine and almost half of all website traffic (including the traffic on social media sites) is driven by search results. That means you need strong digital marketing strategies to ensure your name is showing up and driving that traffic to your website. In 2024's real estate market, Google must be a top priority.
When it comes to your website, creating high-quality, helpful content is essential for attracting visitors from Google. But, here's the catch – organic search engine optimization (SEO), which is all about getting your site to show up high in the search results, takes time. Usually several months. This is where pay-per-click advertising makes a huge difference. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a form of online advertising in which advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on their ad. It’s widespread and commonly used due to the highly targeted nature of its campaigns. A well-executed PPC campaign can essentially fast-track you a route to the top of search listings and attract a substantial flow of visitors.
Now, you might be thinking that this basically just sounds like paid advertising on social media, and you would be right. So if that's the case, why is social media not enough?
Consumers are using search engines 20% more year-over-year.
Where Google and social media campaigns differ is primarily in their targeting methods. Social media ads are programmed to be able to target specific audiences based on their network, professions, and interests, among other factors. As a result, the default algorithm on most social media targets people who are similar to your current followers and audience. Unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee results because not everyone on your follower list is interested in your real estate ads. The ads will mostly target your existing friends and won't have much reach beyond that. They'll also have an increased cost-per-click, meaning that before you know it, your entire advertising budget is down the drain!
On the other hand, Google’s PPC ads targets users based on their search queries, like “sell my house in [location].” This is particularly useful for real estate marketing because they allow your ads to reach a targeted audience at the precise moment they are looking for your services. Google shows your ads only to potential customers who are already showing intent, and motivated leads are much more likely to express their intentions through a search rather than aimlessly scrolling through their social feeds. This is what makes PPC a very effective way to capture high-quality leads.
75% of home sellers will work with the first agent they speak with.
The most powerful way to generate real estate leads is by directing them to your website, and this is where PPC lead generation really shines. You can guide individuals directly to your real estate website, where you own the medium and are in control of how you present yourself. This means you're not reliant on third parties who dictate your interactions with customers. Consequently, your listings won't be buried among a sea of competitors and you can showcase your entire portfolio without viewers being distracted by others’ listings. When you combine your SEO and PPC efforts, you position yourself as a trusted authority in the real estate industry, providing valuable insights, market updates, and helpful resources. This dual approach ensures steady online growth with rapid results and greatly increases your chances of capturing prospective clients.
Additionally, you can positively impact how high your website appears in Google’s organic search results by optimizing your site's technical elements, such as improving site speed, ensuring proper site architecture, and improving the user experience. According to Google Research, the amount of time it takes for users to form an opinion about a website is astonishingly brief— just 0.05 seconds, so your website must make an immediate and powerful first impression. Ensuring your website is mobile-responsive is also vital since many users access websites on mobile devices. Google even rewards mobile-friendly websites with better rankings in mobile search results.
Optimizing a website for Google requires a combination of on-page and off-page strategies and is another way to increase your chances of appearing prominently near the top of the results, whether they're paid or organic. Since you’re selling something that is location-specific, optimizing for local search is crucial. This means ensuring your business information is accurate, actively managing online reviews, and strategically targeting your area with Local Services Ads to help nearby customers find you. These diverse efforts can greatly benefit your advertising campaigns, as your website is more likely to attract and retain visitors who convert into leads.
Pay-per-click and social advertising can represent two paths to one goal: more quality leads for your business.
While trends in the online world may change, the need for a great website never changes—and neither does the need to bring traffic to your website. One of the difficulties with this is competition from the huge online real estate databases that dominate search engine results. If you’re going to take back clicks from giants like Zillow and Realtor.com, you’ve got to find alternative ways of getting traffic to your website. PPC is an excellent way to do this, bringing numerous targeted and highly interested visitors to your website. Combining both paid search and paid social advertising is a remarkably effective advertising strategy. Doing so requires a dual approach that aligns with the strengths of each platform, so you’ll need to keep up at all times. Your choice of advertising should match your business goals and who you're trying to reach, which is why picking the right platform can make a huge difference in how effective your real estate marketing is.
Keeping up with trends in a dynamic industry like paid advertising is a challenge of its own. While social media should not be your sole source of digital marketing, it can complement SEO and PPC advertising, and is most effective when all are integrated. Both search and social platforms present incredibly powerful advertising opportunities that cater to virtually every type of business. Evaluate each solution’s strengths and potential applications to understand how best to use each platform to get the ROI and business growth you’re seeking.
Online marketing is not about waiting for clients to come to you, it's about actively marketing to them. Most real estate professionals are not short on motivation and drive. Most are short on are things like time, energy, and the confidence of knowing who to work with when they need marketing help. Rather than throwing your hands up and losing out on the opportunities that exist online, simplify your life and maximize your presence by working with Pine & Birch, LLC.