PPC for Real Estate: A Proven Way to Generate Leads
Do you want to boost your online presence and generate leads? With most buyers going online to search for homes, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is one of the most effective ways to get your services and listings in front of motivated leads. In this post, we'll explore some of the benefits of PPC for real estate, and how it helps agents generate lead generate leads.
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A sample Google PPC ad performance report.
Table of Contents
How PPC Advertising Works
PPC is an online advertising model wherein users pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. PPC is commonly used on platforms like Google, and many agents use PPC to promote their listings and generate qualified leads.
As a leading real estate PPC management provider, Real Estate Webmasters has brought leads and sales to many of its clients, like Andre Perez of DC Modern Homes:
"PPC with Real estate Webmaster has boosted my lead generation strategy, empowering me to scale and forecast results while avoiding costly missteps. By freeing up time and resources, I can now prioritize more lucrative activities and confidently grow my business."
Why You Should Use PPC Advertising
According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2024 survey of home buyers:
“...the home buying process for many started online, with 43% of buyers indicating that their first step was to look for properties on the internet.”
With so many people going online to look for real estate services, PPC advertising is an effective way to get visibility, traffic, and leads. Here are the clear and specific benefits of PPC for real estate businesses:
- Place your ads at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), which gives your properties or services greater visibility to potential clients.
- Incoming traffic is directed to highly-relevant, conversion-focused pages.
- Get a wide variety of targeting options relevant to the real estate industry. This ensures that ad spend is utilized in the most efficient and effective way possible.
- Reach a highly motivated and focused audience. Users who click on your ads have shown a genuine interest in what you are offering, making them more likely to convert into leads or customers.
- Only pay for clicks, so you are not wasting money on ads that do not generate any interest or leads.
- Provides metrics and information that can be used to make data-driven decisions and optimize campaigns.
Waterfront Properties' PPC ad on Google.
Real Estate PPC vs SEO
You've probably already heard about search engine optimization or SEO, but how is it different from PPC? While PPC is a paid type of advertising, SEO pulls leads organically by bumping your website's ranking on search engines. PPC provides more immediate results, control over your budget, allows for more precise audience targeting, and provides key metrics.
On the other hand, SEO is a long-haul game. It takes more time before you can see results, but when done carefully and correctly, it is cost-effective, giving you organic traffic and boosting your site's credibility and authority. When used together, the benefits of PPC and SEO on your website’s visibility is incredible.
A website's SEO performance overview: total clicks, total impressions, and average CTR.
Google Ads For Real Estate
Google is the world's largest search engine, with billions of searches happening every day. As such, it is the most important platform to consider for PPC advertising.
Google Ads has a number of benefits over other online advertising platforms:
- Potential to reach a massive audience
- Wide range of targeting options
- High-degree of control (including budget)
- Advanced reporting and analysis
- Benefit from Google’s machine learning capabilities
Google Ads allows advertisers to create and place ads on Google search result pages (SERPs) and its partner websites. Advertisers bid on specific keywords related to their product or service, and their ads are displayed to users who search for those keywords or visit websites related to those keywords.
Advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad, and the cost per click varies depending on a number of factors, including the competition for the chosen keywords.
A keyword's performance report.
Ad Rank is a metric used by Google Ads to determine the position of an advertiser's ad on the SERP. It is calculated based on the advertiser's maximum bid for a given keyword, the quality of the ad and landing page, and the expected impact of certain ad features.
Note that higher bids don’t guarantee a higher position as there is an SEO-like component to crafting an ad campaign. Like SEO, you have to take into account user intent, ad relevance, effective and well-written copy, and user experience. Handling these factors well will not only get your ads to rank higher, bringing in more traffic and leads, but they will also save you money as you will be able to pay less on average per click.
If you’re new to PPC, check out our Decoding PPC Jargons blog post to learn more about the most popular terms related to PPC ads.
Real Estate PPC vs Regular PPC
Real estate PPC is different from paid advertising or PPC in other industries in a number of ways:
- Long sales cycle: Real estate PPC campaigns need to be designed to nurture leads over a longer period of time.
- Local targeting: Real estate is a local business, and real estate PPC campaigns need to be targeted to specific geographic areas.
- Visual content: Real estate PPC campaigns often rely heavily on visual content, such as photos and videos of properties.
- Seasonal: Activity for real estate PPC campaigns can be highly seasonal, with dips during the winter months and higher competition in the spring and summer.
It is crucial to tailor your PPC campaigns for real estate to ensure the best possible results and ROI. Explore our Writing a Great PPC Ad Copy for Real Estate blog post and PPC Audience Targeting article to level up your PPC campaigns. Don’t hesitate to also reach out to our PPC team for professional support.
An example of a Google PPC performance summary.
The Real Value of Real Estate PPC Leads
One of the most important PPC metrics is the conversion rate, which is the percentage of clicks (users that visit your site from an ad) that become leads. Conversion could vary depending on the campaign, but it is anything that allows you to follow up and potentially turn a site visitor into a client. This could mean filling out a contact form, calling a specific agent, signing up for property search updates, and more.
Your conversion rate determines your cost-per-lead (CPL), which is a metric that most agents overly fixate on. While CPL is an important metric to check, it is return on investment (ROI), not CPL, that is the most important metric to track. Here’s an example–if you spent $1,000 on a PPC campaign and generated 10 leads, that gives you a CPL of $100. Even if just one lead is converted to a client, and you get a commission and ROI of $5,000, it’s safe to say that the $100 CPL is more than worth it. ROI shows you a more accurate picture of your campaign performance.
Of course, other metrics should still be regularly reviewed to help with your strategy, but remember that ROI is the best measure for success. Check out our The Real Value of Your PPC Leads blog to learn more about this, and how to utilize REW CRM’s Sources feature to track your ROI and other key metrics. Also, feel free to use our PPC Income Calculator to estimate your PPC ROI.
Ultimately, for many in the real estate business, PPC advertising represents an excellent return on investment, since a highly-qualified click can cost as little as a few cents, and the commission from a single deal can potentially cover your marketing budget.
Real Estate Webmasters' PPC Income Calculator.
Learn More
Do you want to learn more about PPC? Head over to the new Resources page to access articles and guides on how to optimize your PPC campaigns. You can also visit the updated REW Academy to watch tutorials and webinars. We’re continuously uploading new content on these platforms to ensure you have the resources you need to upgrade your skills and grow your business.
REW Academy and the Resources Page's PPC section.
Real Estate PPC FAQ
How does PPC help agents get more leads?
PPC places your listings on top of searh results page, giving it more visibility. Plus it allows you to target a specific audience, increasing your chances of conversion.
Is PPC more effective than SEO for real estate?
PPC delivers more immediate results than SEO, but we recommend using them both for optimal visibility and lead conversion. Each strategy had their unique attributes, and implementing both will boost your results.
Can I manage my own PPC campaign, or should I hire an expert?
You can definitely learn how to manage your own PPC campaigns, but we recommend seeking expert advice if you still lack experience. Working with a professional PPC team ensures your campiagns are optimize, your time and money are not wasted, and your get the best possible results.