Area specific content

[Northern_IL]

I would like to first off say thank you to the people that make this forum possible. I've learned more about SEO in the last 30 days that I've been here than I have in my lifetime. I'm on this forum at LEAST 3 to 4 times a day just reading, and reading, and reading. Thanks again.


My question deals with content...well...actually it's two questions.

I've been adding more and more content to my site in the last 30 days but I've noticed that most of my content is not specific to my market area. I guess what I'm asking is this: Is general real estate content OK or do I need to pay special attention to my market area. Should every page have some sort of connection to my market area?
That said, I do have different keywords throughout the site but to all my pages keywords need to be area specific as well?

Does anything that I'm saying even make any sense?

[Ryan Ward]

Trickier question than you might think.

The truth is that the vast majority of people will not read anything that you write and they will look for the button that takes them to the page were they search homes. That's just the reality of a real estate website.

As far as real content is concerned, ask yourself what you would want if you were looking for real estate in another town. Write for people being careful to subsititute your keywords (sort of like using the thesaurus in Word, but backwards) where you might be able to use general terms and remember that you are writing for people. You just need to give the computers (search engines) an idea of what are your important terms so they can give you the results in search queries thay you are looking for.

Write for people - what would you want to know from a real estate website?

[David Abernathy]

I agree with Ryan - remember to write for your prospects - then remember that you are promoting the real estate market locally so include information that brings your content to the local level!

Dave

[Northern_IL]

Thank you for the replies guys. I understand what you're saying but I wasn't clear on my question. I realize most consumers wont ever read the content, which is why I'm more worried about SEO as it related to content. Will having local content over general content be better for the rankings or will general real estate content suffice?

[erogers]

I've heard about thematic content being applicable to SEO. Meaning common keywords found not just on a single page but throughout site content.

[Mack Perry]

You should be writing the content so that the search engine will get the visitor to you site and then having the home search link easily accessable for them.

[Bigtoe]

If you want your site to show up in the search engines for your local area real estate then the site has to be about your local area real estate. Not every page but more than just the home page. Relevancy is what the se look for so make sure your site is relevant to your area real estate.

Leave the more generic search terms like "real estate" for the big dogs like REW.