Let’s talk authority - because it’s the thing EVERYONE sucks at (and it’s the reason every single person who has failed at SEO has failed at SEO)
When I sell someone SEO services, I always tell them:
“Listen, if you don’t already have a strong authority engine going and/or you’re not willing to put in the time to develop true authority, then don’t bother hiring us (or anyone) for SEO. BECAUSE IT WILL NOT WORK!”
Here’s the straight goods on real estate SEO in 2026.
You can have PEFECT on-page SEO (we can do that for you)
You can have PERFECT technical SEO (we can do that for you, too!)
And you still won’t rank. (You’ll be set up much better to rank, but you still won’t rank)
Why not? Because there are several factors in SEO that require YOU to be a trusted authority.
Let’s start with the basics of E-E-A-T
According to Google:
" Google’s automated systems are designed to use many different factors to rank great content. After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.
Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares." ~ Source Google.com on creating helpful content
Great content that is well produced, helpful and accurate (which is what we do) does help build trust, however users need to hear from YOU (you are the true expert) - we can’t fake your expertise, nor should we try. You have to get out there!
E-E-A-T is far more than what we teach you to do on your website (but that’s part of it)
It’s also doing “all the things” away from you website.
Think of things that reference your content such as:
- Social media posts
- Blog posts on other sites
- Reddit threads
- News Articles, citations
- Shares, likes, comments
The list of trust signals is massive and each one of them either directly or indirectly leads to the development of your overall authority.
So if you’re not willing to dedicate time (and I mean personal time) to develop your brand as a trusted local resource (and showcase yourself as a local expert) - then don’t hire us for SEO (or anyone else) you’re wasting your money, it won’t work.
Instead, spend that money on things like Real Estate PPC - since your time is not required in order to generate leads from that form of advertising and it still has fantastic ROI.
Do you have questions about authority development as we head into 2026? Post them below - happy to dig in!