Google Ads for Real Estate: 5 Ways You Can Drive More Traffic to Your Website

As a realtor, your job isn't an easy one. You're charged with marketing yourself like any other business while establishing a relationship between home buyers and sellers quickly.

You're also in competition with numerous real estate agents in your local real estate market, who are also looking to get found by potential clients going online to Google search for a home near them. The good news is that there are also a plethora of content marketing strategies you can adopt to stand out from your competitors, and Google Ads are one of the most effective ways to do it.

Google Ads are effective as they’ll bring you quality leads in the short term but it’s also vital to think of a long-term strategy that’ll help you grow your business in the long run without a massive advertising budget. Real Estate SEO really shines in this regard. 

In this article, we'll look into Google ads for real estate and several strategies that can fetch you more real estate leads and make you a more successful real estate agent. And for a detailed comparison between SEO and Google Ads in the real estate industry, you can read our article on SEO vs Google Ads: Which Is Better for Real Estate?

What Are Google Ads?

Formerly called Google AdWords, Google Ads is the company's online ad program that you can use to create online ads that target people who are specifically interested in the products and services you offer. 

For a real estate agent like yourself, Google Ads is an online product that can channel loads of traffic to you through housing-related ads you create.

With this advertising service by Google, you can reach more potential clients fast and effectively. You also get to choose where your ad appears, set a budget that works for you, and track how effective your ad is to ensure you take measures to improve its efficacy. 

Google Ads are probably the most popular method of PPC advertising for real estate professionals.

What Is PPC Advertising?

PPC is a type of digital marketing ad campaign that stands for pay-per-click and entails the ad owner paying each time a website visitor clicks on their link. As a real estate agent looking to obtain high-quality leads, consider using a PPC real estate campaign because when it comes to real estate advertising in search engines, a PPC ad is the most effective.

These ads work in a way that when a user searches for a term on any search engine, the search engine provides a list of sponsored links on top. For every sponsored link the user clicks, the advertiser pays a small fee to the search engine.

This method is favorable and cost-effective for advertising real estate agents because they pay only when a lead clicks an ad. Whether it's commercial real estate, a real estate agency, or a real estate investor, you can utilize PPC ads for any real estate business type.

Why Do Real Estate Agents Use PPC Campaigns?

If reaching potential buyers in your area is your goal, you'll need a marketing strategy that focuses on getting the right message to the right people at the right time.

If you're already running a real estate business online, it’s likely you're already using Zillow, SEO, or realtor.com to rank on the first page of search engines. But since you're reading this article, you're probably not using Google search ads to interact with your clients that are ready to buy or sell their homes. Rest assured, this article has got you covered.

Google Ads are an investment for your real estate business because, with the right Google Ads strategy, you will have so many leads pouring into your real estate website after just a few ad campaigns.

How Does Google AdWords Work?

Through Google ads, Google has made a huge impact on the real estate industry, creating an avenue for buyers and sellers to access listings and real estate agents.

Google Ads works similarly to an auction, with real estate agents bidding to have their ads appear on Google SERPs for specific search terms called keywords.

Google AdWords is a solid platform where you can create a compelling message and optimize how and when your ads appear, ensuring you target buyers in a specific market for specific keywords.

5 Ways to Improve Google Ads Lead Generation

It's critical that you review your real estate marketing strategy before looking to use Google AdWords for real estate. Don't forget to think of ways to optimize your ads to ensure they generate leads.

Below are several ways you can improve your ad's rank and bring in leads while setting yourself apart from other google business realtors:

Use Google's Geo-targeting Feature to Reach Out to the Right Clients

As a real estate professional, you’re looking to create Google AdWords campaigns for each location you wish to target. Thus, when coming up with keywords and writing ad copy for each real estate ad campaign, ensure the keywords and ad copy are tailored to that location. When an ad cites an area where your prospects live, they’re more likely to click on it. 

You can utilize the Google Ads platform's geo-targeting functionality to tackle the localization problem and keep your real estate ads from showing up in irrelevant places. For example, let’s say you offer your services in Chicago. Why advertise in Manhattan when your goal is to reach residents in Chicago?

Incorporate Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are specific keywords that ensure certain search terms or phrases that are unrelated to your company or services don't trigger your ads. A negative keyword list is essential for maximizing a Google Ads campaign's return on investment (ROI).

Without negative keywords, users will click on your real estate ads while thinking they’re searching for something else. Especially if your ad doesn't clearly state what you do and offer. Thus, leading to clicks without sales and wasted ad spending because you also pay for each click.

When negative keywords are added at the account level, such as real estate keywords, they will be applied to all Google AdWords campaigns. Go to the Tools tab above and look under the ‘shared library’ category for the ‘negative keywords list’. 

Make a list of the keywords you don't want to appear in your ad, bearing in mind that the more negative keywords you find and add to your list, the more opportunities you'll have to get relevant clicks from potential buyers and sellers. This strategy is effective if you want to minimize advertising costs substantially.

Utilize Ad Extensions

If you’re looking to reach out to your target audience and increase your chances of bagging sweet real estate deals for your business while using Google AdWords for real estate, you might want to consider using an ad extension.

Ad extensions are vital for the following reasons:

1. They make your adverts stand out in the SERPs.
2. Help your viewers click on your Google ads, providing them with more information and value.
3. Provide you with more options for expressing the qualities and benefits of your real estate agency’s brand.

Some of the ad extensions you can use for your Google advertising campaign include:

1. Sitelink Extensions

With sitelink extensions, you can direct customers to specific landing pages based on their needs.

2. Call Extensions

Call extensions are useful when you want potential consumers to contact you without having to browse through your contact page since your PPC advertising will display a phone number for them to call.

3. Message Extensions

This extension only appears on mobile sites. Potential clients can message you straight from their mobile devices with a message extension

4. Location Extensions

Location extensions help drive more foot traffic because, with this extension, customers can see your office address.

You can use extensions to boost your online presence, helping you reap the benefits of Google Ads for real estate.

Create Distinct Ad Groups Based on the Theme or Issue.

For effective ad optimization, create themes for your ad groups. There are ad groups inside campaigns, and each ad group is divided into distinct topics. 

Keywords and ads with similar themes can be found inside those ad groups. This way, you'll find it easier to manage and improve every AdWords campaign.

Monitor Your Ad’s Performance.

When you're using Google AdWords for real estate, sometimes it’s necessary to apply a few strategies to increase your conversion rate. The only way you can know what changes to make is if you keep an eye on your ad performance. 

Take note of places where your ads have appeared and consider omitting sites and apps if you discover that your advertisements aren't generating any clicks. If you're receiving lots of clicks try raising your bid. Taking these measures can effectively score you tons of real estate leads.

Monitor Your Ad’s Performance.

While Google Ads is an effective strategy to bring in new real estate leads, focus on improving SEO for your real estate website so that you can bring in consistent leads on autopilot without a major ad spend. Reach out to us for digital marketing for your real estate business.

Conclusion

Lead generation takes a substantial amount of time and usually involves tedious tasks. Google AdWords has made it easier to publicize your real estate agency.

Now you’ve learned several strategies to optimize your Google AdWords campaigns and drive traffic to your landing pages.

One grave mistake most people make with Google ads for real estate is not having enough patience to let the adverts run, and they end up pulling down the ads before they become effective.

We, at Ardor SEO, are here to help you to build a real estate marketing strategy and grow your business with Google ads and SEO. Reach out to us for more info!