5 Reasons Why Real Estate and Property Management Companies Should Embrace Local SEO

There are about 11 million companies, organizations, and business all over the world with Facebook pages and about 9 million who have claimed their Google Places Pages. These were the figures given by Facebook and Google as of June 2012. The reason for this boom is clearly due to the massive movement of Google to go local on its algorithm. What this means is that Google will now take the locale of a business when ranking its website, blog, or any relevant content about the business on searches.

This is the new trend. Unfortunately, not all real estate and property management companies see it. That being said if you are a real estate agent or property manager still on the fence on whether to claim your Google Places Page or set up a Facebook Business Page, here are 5 logical reasons to get you over that fence and into the realm of Google Search Domination.

More Visibility
The number one reason for getting into the Local SEO picture is because you want your business, your name, and your services to be seen by your target market online, particularly on Google. With a well-placed and optimized Google Places listing or page, you can be sure that your business will show up in the top 7 ranks for the keywords relevant to your business and locale. Facebook pages may not be put you in the top 7, but it will help you dominate searches on page 1 or page 2 of the results.

More Credibility
Let's face it, with a Google+ page, a Google Places listing, or a Facebook page in a search result, you are actually giving your business, name, and brand a big boost in the credibility scheme of things. This is due to the fact that these pages will contain crucial information such as your address, contact numbers, your website link, videos, and images.

Go Mobile
Having a smartphone and using it to hook up to the Internet is the trend these days. And in a year or two, you may soon find that a larger number of people have shifted to mobile devices rather than the traditional notebooks and desktop computers when searching for stuff on the net. Well, you can ride that trend to the bank if you have a Google Places Page and a Facebook page.

More Conversions
You are seen more, your business is more credible, and you have gone mobile - what does that mean? Yes, you guessed it right - more leads, more listings, more closed deals, and definitely more money for you.

Not Much Effort in It
Local SEO isn't something that will cost you a lot of money to do. Nor will it deprive you of the quality time you need with your family. It is relatively easy to get things going. Simply set up a Google Places page by signing up for Google+. Give Google the info it needs from you and verify that the page is owned by you. Once you are done, it is all about building your presence online to strengthen that new listing you just claimed. This will entail setting up a Facebook page, getting people to submit reviews for your business or service, and having people blog about you.

Local SEO is where the whole Internet is moving into with regards to searches. In the real estate game, being seen locally (in the areas you cover) is extremely important and right up your alley, so to speak. Now is the time to grab this trend by the balls and yank hard.

Dave G. Caufield is a video SEO Guru and owns a Property Management company. He has used his expertise to help other real estate and property management companies like this property management company in Melbourne and this Palmerston North Property Management outfit in New Zealand in optimizing their operations by using online video.