Phil Staff
05-02-2006, 03:38 PM
This thread should be used for Realtors that want to discuss the difference between focusing their reciprocal link campaign on national links vs. local links.
In the past many real estate webmasters have swapped links with any other real estate site no matter what their location. Users have added the 50 states as individual categories and swapped links with other Realtors from those states.
This was a good strategy as they are all relevant links; however, after the Pubcon event, we've confirmed that this strategy, real estate agents who link to agents across the country, doesn't work real well. Yes they are relevant links but when you look at it from the eyes of your users and visitors they are probably visiting your site because they are looking for property in their neighborhood and thousands of links to other states and countries wouldn't be very interesting to them. Your users and visitors would be more interested in local area links about real estate or their neighborhood itself.
We are now suggesting to real estate agents/webmasters that narrowing their categories down to local resources would be more beneficial. Those local resources usually have the same keywords in both the user's own site and the links he or she is publishing (ie local city name). It would be a better strategy and Google would be more inclined to count those backlinks then to count all of the ones which are spread all over the country.
Please allow me to offer some advice on how to refine the categories down to your local area. Those agents that are already narrowing their focus are doing better in terms of rankings and also the relevant traffic they are receiving from local area businesses who share the same demographics.
Here is a good starting list of categories that you could use to focus your linking on a more specific local area:
Brokers, Insurance Agents, Inspectors, Closing Attorneys, Real Estate Agents, Moving Companies, Relocation Services, Technical Specialists (such as Electricians or Security Companies), other Local Area Publications, etc!
If you are a real estate agent and a webmaster and have feedback about your reciprocal link campaign's focus we would like to hear it. What has worked for you? What hasn't worked for you? What would you do differently?
Real estate agents that are new to link management may find these and your notes helpful in deciding which strategy to use in their reciprocal link campaign.
New members please feel free to post your Real Estate Linking Strategy questions here.
In the past many real estate webmasters have swapped links with any other real estate site no matter what their location. Users have added the 50 states as individual categories and swapped links with other Realtors from those states.
This was a good strategy as they are all relevant links; however, after the Pubcon event, we've confirmed that this strategy, real estate agents who link to agents across the country, doesn't work real well. Yes they are relevant links but when you look at it from the eyes of your users and visitors they are probably visiting your site because they are looking for property in their neighborhood and thousands of links to other states and countries wouldn't be very interesting to them. Your users and visitors would be more interested in local area links about real estate or their neighborhood itself.
We are now suggesting to real estate agents/webmasters that narrowing their categories down to local resources would be more beneficial. Those local resources usually have the same keywords in both the user's own site and the links he or she is publishing (ie local city name). It would be a better strategy and Google would be more inclined to count those backlinks then to count all of the ones which are spread all over the country.
Please allow me to offer some advice on how to refine the categories down to your local area. Those agents that are already narrowing their focus are doing better in terms of rankings and also the relevant traffic they are receiving from local area businesses who share the same demographics.
Here is a good starting list of categories that you could use to focus your linking on a more specific local area:
Brokers, Insurance Agents, Inspectors, Closing Attorneys, Real Estate Agents, Moving Companies, Relocation Services, Technical Specialists (such as Electricians or Security Companies), other Local Area Publications, etc!
If you are a real estate agent and a webmaster and have feedback about your reciprocal link campaign's focus we would like to hear it. What has worked for you? What hasn't worked for you? What would you do differently?
Real estate agents that are new to link management may find these and your notes helpful in deciding which strategy to use in their reciprocal link campaign.
New members please feel free to post your Real Estate Linking Strategy questions here.