Basic SEO Tools for Real Estate

I've seen the same questions come up over and over again in the forums-how can I find out who's linking to me?  Are those links followed? How do I know what I'm looking at in the search engines is the same thing my clients or potential clients are looking at? 

I'm very happy these questions kept popping up because I had no clue what people were talking about when I first saw some of the terms.  Whether you hire out to do your SEO or do it yourself, it is important that you have some idea of how search engine optimization works to help you get the most out of your website.  It is not very likely that your site will start seeing excellent results without some work from someone.

Here are three tools that will help answer the basic questions.. 

1.  If your computer is a PC use Firefox.  The majority of SEO extensions only work in firefox.  Use IE for MLS or your normal web surfing if you would like, but be sure to switch to firefox when you are checking rankings or doing SEO.

2. Download the SEO Toolbar this one tool has most everything on it that you will need to check page rank, back links, do keyword research, etc.  It has tools like rank checker, compete, semrush all built into the toolbar.  There is also a one-click button to highlight no-follow links and much more - take the time to read about all the features when you download the tool.  There is also a rss reader that links to a lot of SEO feeds so you can quickly find recent articles about different SEO topics.  I think the one thing we as real estate agents (who are also webmasters) need to remember is that issues relating to getting our websites found in the search engine are universal and while there are some specific issues related to real estate we shouldn't ignore general trends going on in the search world.

3. Another useful tool is the SEO It! Bookmarklet.  Drag the bookmarklet onto your browser and use it before doing a search on google and it will strip out personalization, searchwiki and some localized results.  This is very useful when you want to see what your visitors see in the standard search results - although more and more users will be getting personalized results, it is still a good way to see how an "average" user sees the search engine results.

These tools only help identify either how your site is doing or what you need to work on.  Used properly it can help keep you on track and focused on where your site could be improved.  The real work comes in implementing a strategy to either maintain your current positions or to improve your placement in the search engines.  Whether you chose to work with  professionals like Real Estate Webmasters  to help create well optimized content or if you do it yourself, results do not come overnight and I know from personal experience it can be disappointing especially after hard work to see your site move in the opposite direction but the search engines are continually evolving and what works tomorrow is likely to be different than what is working today. 

There are many other SEO tools you can add onto your browser, but learning how to use just these combined with tracking results in google webmaster tools and google analytics is pretty much all you need.

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