With so many buyers and sellers using the Internet these days, it's no wonder why search engine optimization has become a hot topic among real estate agents. About 85% of Website visitors will come from search engines. A more important fact is that over 90% of these users rarely browse past the first 20 results from search engines. Statistical studies have revealed that users will generally look through another search engine before even giving a chance to look beyond the first two pages of a search result. Thus, a higher search ranking is the dream of every Website operator. A Website by itself is like a needle in a haystack—certainly difficult to find. But a Website with strong search engine visibility becomes more like a radiating beacon that effectively catches the attention of people. Through their natural search behavior, a high-ranking Website is guaranteed to be picked for browsing. The more people who can see your Website, then the higher the potential for increased sales would be. This is what Internet marketing is all about, and this is essentially the importance of search engine optimization for real estate companies.

Real estate is beyond doubt a high profit business. Many real estate agencies, however, fail to utilize the Internet to their advantage. Real estate, being the billion dollar industry it is, can make for difficult search engine optimization. The real importance of search engine optimization for real estate companies lies in the boosting of a company’s Website ranking among the top 20 for actual keywords in search engines. Failure of achieving such, one can only start to imagine the lost revenue and exposure that your real estate company is suffering. Search engine optimization is very much similar to a well-marketed TV advertisement. You have to look at Internet advertisement like this. A tough competition indeed, with the plethora of Websites floating aimlessly, thousands or hundreds of in direct competition with your real estate business all fighting for the front two pages of a search engine. Facing a lot of competition from other real estate companies, the importance of search engine optimization lies in allowing you to gain that extra advantage to guarantee that your real estate business Website can maintain a consistent high top-20 ranking.

A real estate company has a considerable chance of increasing search traffic to its Website if it concentrates its search engine optimization efforts on a specific geographical area. This tactic helps in establishing Website visibility while eradicating the necessity to compete based on standard industry termed content that will not differentiate a real estate company in Chicago from another in Tampa.

Recently, the major search engines have started putting more weight on original content and quality incoming links. Many real estate Websites use standard content provided by Website vendors. Thus, in order to rank well you must be able to replace standard content with original content that is attractive to the search engines, and to the site's visitors. In addition, you will be adding value to your Website visitors.

The important point is to stand out from competitors—be original! Real estate companies employing search engine optimization should shift importance to the goal of becoming the most valuable resource for information pertaining to a particular real estate market. Whether buying or renting, people need a place to turn to for beneficial information. If a real estate Website can provide it, high search traffic volume and volume of clients will naturally follow.