If you can make it to the first page of Google, real estate lead generating is a goldmine. However, as you may have guessed, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on its own does not guarantee you a position above the fold. If you can’t wait indefinitely for organic leads, at some point you’ll need to utilize Google Ads
Do you want to use pay-per-click advertising to generate highly profitable leads?
As a digital marketer, I’ve helped optimize Google Ads accounts for several home and apartment builders and sellers. Experience builds knowledge, and wisdom is gained through learning. Today, I’m going to share some of that knowledge with you so you can run highly effective Google Ads campaigns without making the same mistakes that lead to failure.
Problems with Real Estate PPC Advertising
Every other sector has its own set of problems, and real estate PPC is no exception. Overcome them, and you’ll be able to produce a constant stream of leads that you can develop into purchasers. Fail to do so, and you risk losing faith in Google Ads’ ability to convert prospects into customers, not to mention potential consumers.
All PPC Advertisers Face the Same Problems with Google Ads
Let me remind you that Google Ads is a keyword-driven medium, so your success as a real estate PPC practitioner will be determined by how effectively you target relevant keywords with your audience.
Relevant Keywords
You can try lowering prices while also increasing leads by advertising to people who are really interested in buying or renting a home. If your ad is shown to someone who is not likely to buy or rent a home through you, then you will just be wasting money and leads.
High-Converting Landing Pages
The second most important issue for all PPC marketers is to create high-converting landing pages. It’s like putting the cart before the horse if you advertise without first optimizing the page that visitors will see after they click on your ad.
Google Ads Account Structure
After you’ve chosen your keywords, group them together into logical AdGroups. For each ad or Ad Group, have a separate conversion-optimized landing page.
Google Ads Challenges for Real Estate PPC
The following challenges are particular to real estate PPC and must be addressed before you can run profitable lead-generation efforts.
You’re selling a local product (but not an audience) by your demographic.
Because you have a rather local product, your campaign must be designed to reach individuals who either physically reside in that city or are interested in doing so.
Homeowners Do Not Rent Apartments
If you’re advertising apartment complexes, homeowners are unlikely to rent them since they’re not looking for a place to live.
Renters are interested, but they may be ineligible.
Renters are excellent potential home buyers, but they might be unable to purchase a home on any given day because they’re usually engaged in 11-month leases.
Poor credit score are common among many applicants.
Finally, potential customers must be able to afford the product. Even if you follow all of the appropriate procedures, credit Score checks may eliminate a number of promising individuals from consideration for a new house or apartment.
Fortunately, if you “know the ropes,” Google Ads can target people at a granular level. The following tactics provide real estate sellers and agents with the greatest ROI possible when using Google Ads PPC advertising to generate qualified leads.
Real Estate PPC Strategies
1. To capture hot leads, place bids on brand keywords.
“Why?” you may be thinking. You can’t afford to ignore your company or brand name in your keyword research for the following reasons:
Understand the Discovery Process in Real Estate
Real estate agents face a constant barrage of marketing opportunities, some of which they may pursue and others that they can readily ignore. They may come across your brand in a variety of unexpected methods, such as from 99acer or an outdoor sign you erected outside your workplace. They might obtain your name from a friend or an apartment guide and Google you to learn more
Capture high-quality leads at rock-bottom CPC rates.
If prospects looking for your brand click through to your landing page and see you right at the top of the search results, they’re more likely to convert into high-quality leads. Your brand keywords’ CPC (Cost per Click) bid is most likely to be minimal in order to attract high-quality leads at a low price.
Defend Yourself from Competitors Who Attempt to Steal Your Leads
They can even steal your most promising leads if you’re not bidding on branded searches and your rivals are. Furthermore, real estate aggregators may also take the top spot and redirect visitors to a page with all of your local competitors listed.
Pro Tip: High-Bid on Brand Keywords to Ensure Your Company Shows Up at the Top of the Results Page When Someone Searches for Your Brand.
2. Mastering geotargeting will help you avoid locations that are irrelevant for your product.
Google Ads’ geo-targeting feature effectively solves the localization issue and eliminates ad displays in irrelevant locations. Here’s how to make the most of Google Ads Geotargeting for real estate PPC marketing:
1. To turn on Google Ads’ location targeting, log into your account and go to the Campaigns page. Select People in or who are interested in your targeted locations from the Target column of Location options. Your ad will now be visible to individuals who are visiting the areas you’ve selected or looking for homes there.
2. Under the Exclude heading, choose People in, or who are interested in, your targeted areas. Yup, these are also the best settings to use. They’re designed for individuals who want to move within or around your target cities. However, once your campaigns are live and your account has data, I recommend revisiting geo-targeting.
3. The third most essential thing to do is to adjust the bid depending on where your ads are seen. The aim is for bids to rise as searches approach your targeted location and fall as they move farther away. You may target more searchers near the property’s geo-location by using incremental bid adjustment. You can reduce bids to minimize the number of dud clicks as searches move away and the quality of leads degrades (theoretically).
3. Negative Keywords Can Help You Avoid Unwanted Exposures
Negative keywords are search terms that you don’t want your ad to appear for.
For example, if you’re marketing to homebuyers in a rural location and don’t want to advertise to apartment purchasers, put “apartment” as a negative keyword. Your ad will not be shown when someone searches for an apartment in your targeted region.
Negative keywords for real estate PPC advertising fall into two categories: locations and other characteristics.
4. For real estate PPC, aim for the best ad positions.
According to Google, ad position is where your ad appears on the results page. If you have a 1st position ad, no other ads were before it. But even if you have a 1st position, your ad might not be shown on top of the page.
Ad Rank is a number that Google uses to decide where your ad will be shown. It includes five things, including how much you are willing to pay for the ad.
Many native advertising companies use the same numbering system that Google Ads uses, with ad positions ranging from 1 to 7. However, averages for ad positions may be given in decimals. Being on top of the page (Ad position 1) means your ad has a high CTR (Click-through Rate) and CPC (Cost per Click).
You’ll have a lot more clicks on your ad if it’s at the top. The difference in CTR between ad position 1.0-1.4 and 1.8-2.2 can be as much as 50%. It’s possible that driving 50% more visitors at a very high CPC costs so much money that you won’t be able
So, what are the highest ad positions for real estate PPC?
Research shows that the most profitable positions for ads are on the second, third, or fourth positions. Your ad will not be at the top position all of the time. Lower your bid until you find a good balance between cost per click and clicks to your landing page.
The only exception is for keywords that contain your company’s name. They’re probably low-cost, so you may bid high and appear at position “1” to claim ownership of your brand since they’re most likely to have a low CPC.
5. Best Keyword Match Type for Real Estate PPC
Each target keyword may have one of three possible match types assigned to it by Google Ads.
In other words, if a user searches for a term that contains your keyword and has a broad match modifier after it, your ad will appear.
For example, if your target phrase is “buy flat in Delhi” and you choose Broad Match, your ad may appear for search queries including “buy furniture for Flat in Delhi,” “best Delhi Flat developments,” or “buy house in Delhi.”
As you can see, Broad Match delivers the greatest exposure while also receiving low-quality traffic. It’s unlikely to be the greatest match type for real estate lead generation.
So, which sort of keyword match should you use for real estate PPC?
Phrase Match and Exact Match are the most effective sort of keyword match for producing high-quality real estate leads.
When your ad is triggered by a match of phrase, it is called Phrase Match. The search terms may include additional keywords before or after the target phrase’s beginning or end.
Before your ad can be activated, Google’s Exact Match requires that the search terms be a perfect match for your target phrase. However, in response to user demand, Google has changed the exact match type to include similar variants of target keywords such as misspellings, singular or plural forms, words, abbreviations, and even same search intent.
If you want to produce good leads at the lowest possible cost, stick to exact match and phrase match. Make sure your target key-phrase contains the location, property type, and price, then lock them in with exact and phrase match.
Negative keywords are treated the same as positive keywords in terms of four match types. They may be used to eliminate low-quality clicks effectively.
6. Real estate PPC extensions for Google Ads
The Google Ads Extensions are short bits of information that make your ad more relatable and clickable to visitors. There are at least 18 different kinds of ad extensions available. The following six are the most useful for real estate PPC advertisers.
Location Extension
You may use the Market Extension to include your street address in advertisements. Apart from encouraging individuals around you to get in touch with you, the location extension aids them in finding your business. Furthermore, displaying your address implies integrity, transparency, and trustworthiness.
Sitelink Extension
This extension provides a platform (and space) for you to connect your service products and other information that visitors may require.
People can simply click on the extension to be taken to the most appropriate webpage. You may connect to floor plans, condominiums, studio apartments, or single-story houses as an example.
The sitelink extension allows users to find what they’re looking for and go straight to that page, resulting in a higher CTR.
Price Extension
Consumers are first concerned about the cost. Real estate advertisers can now offer pricing information right on the search engine results page (SERP) and address consumers’ most pressing issues before they ask with this extension.
Using this extension can reduce low-quality leads while increasing the number of quality leads delivered by your company.
The price extension allows you to include up to eight price cards in your adverts. Users can click on the most appealing price and go directly to that property’s page.
Call Extension
The majority of people now use their phones to search the internet. Instead of going to your website and taking the longer route, customers may now call your salespeople using the call extension.
Callout Extension
With the Call Now extension, you can add 25 more characters to your post. You may utilize the callout extension to emphasize particular strengths, advantages, and features that your audience would find appealing or useful.
PPC advertising can be an effective way to generate high-quality leads for your business. However, you need to ensure that the keywords you are targeting are appropriate and relevant. For example, if you’re selling luxury homes in New York City then Phrase Match or Exact Match would work well because they allow for additional keywords before or after the target phrase’s beginning or end. On the other hand, a keyword like “apartment” might only trigger with the exact match because it is a very common word that doesn’t necessarily describe anything specific about what people want when searching for real estate on Google Ads. If this sounds overwhelming and you don’t know where to start? Reach out to our team of experts today! Our SEO consultants will partner with you to create a campaign that will drive traffic and increase your revenue.
