It's all about SEO - Google 1st Page after 3 days

Marketing Your Property
14yFollow

It's all about SEO - Google 1st Page after 3 days

Shane Woods
Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes

Wow, am I excited! I'm not here to toot my own horn. I'm here to toot Jerry Puckett's and his SEO genius. After 3 days fully functional, I'm already on page 1 of Google for "We Buy Houses Granbury". Page 2 for "We Buy Houses Weatherford" and within the top 15 pages for "Sell House Weatherford" and "Sell House Granbury". Stopped looking after page 20 for Fort Worth, but that will take some time.

This goes to show, even with a site that's not 100% complete (is it ever?, that's another SEO discussion), and only up for 3 days, the right SEO will get you ranked, if you have something to offer that's not spammy.

Thanks Jerry.

And thank everyone here for all your support as I take the plunge.

2Reply
181 views

Most Popular Reply

Ned CareyPro Member
Moderator
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
14y

Shane,

What is the site URL and what is the exact search term you are using to come up on the 1st page? Nothing comes up for me with the search "We buy houses Granbury" that looks like it could be your page.

One problem with Google today is they will often show search results customized for your location. This means your site might show up higher for you than it does for someone searching from another part of the country.

2Reply
See this reply in the discussion

62 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Sean H.Pro Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2010 · 224 posts · 75 votes
    14y

    How many searches per month are there for those keywords?

    0Reply
  • Ned CareyPro Member
    Moderator
    Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    14y

    Shane,

    What is the site URL and what is the exact search term you are using to come up on the 1st page? Nothing comes up for me with the search "We buy houses Granbury" that looks like it could be your page.

    One problem with Google today is they will often show search results customized for your location. This means your site might show up higher for you than it does for someone searching from another part of the country.

    2Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Hey Sean H., I have no idea. Haven't figured out how to track all that yet. Let me know how & I'll check. They are both fairly small towns close to Fort Worth TX. Number of searches for those terms are probably nowhere close to what they are for Fort Worth, but my goal is to do as many deals as possible in my close by towns. I'll go into Fort Worth/Dallas if there's not enough where I am. I want to be THE HOUSE GUY in Weatherford and Granbury, and this is my starting point.

    Ned Carey, the site URL is in my signature. (If I put it here It would get deleted anyway ;) ). And yes, searches are localized by Google, so it makes sense that it didn't come up from where you are. Not sure if Bing and Yahoo localize theirs or not.

    The exact searches were as follows yesterday right before I wrote this post:

    We Buy Houses Weatherford Page 2 #5
    We Buy Houses Granbury Page 1 #9
    Sell House Weatherford Page 13
    Sell House Granbury Page 15

    1Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Update for tonight 9pm, 4 days up:

    Sell House Weatherford Bing: Page 1 #2 Yahoo: Page 1 #2 Google: P8 #10
    Sell House Granbury Bing: Page 1 #8 Yahoo: P1 #9 Google: P13 #2
    We Buy Houses Weatherford Bing: Page 1 #6 Yahoo: P1 #7 Google: P2 #4
    We Buy Houses Granbury Bing: Page 1 #2 Yahoo: P1 #2 Google: P1 #9

    Slowly climbing in Google, and now indexed with Yahoo Search and Bing Search. It's cool to watch it work.

    0Reply
  • Ned CareyPro Member
    Moderator
    Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    14y

    Shane

    Check out the Google Adwords keyword tool. You can enter a keyword or phrase and it tells you about how many searches there are for it.

    Congratulations you come up page 1 #9 for me too

    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Hey Ned Carey, that's cool that it came up for you too. :)

    I'll look at the adwords tool, thank YOU!

    It doesn't mean anything yet because I haven't got a lead from it yet (not done much to drive traffic yet), but I must say, my poker face really sucks right now. I'm giddy like a school girl.

    0Reply
  • Sean H.Pro Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2010 · 224 posts · 75 votes
    14y

    I use the tool within Hubspot to check, but the adwords tool is essentially the same.

    It does no good to be ranked high for those keywords if no one is searching for them. If you were trying to sell your house quickly, what would you search for? Maybe I am off, but I would not search for "We buy houses (my location)". I could easily be wrong, that's why you have to see what people in your niche are searching for before you spend money on SEO.

    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Hey Sean H., thanks again for your input. I'm not spending any "extra" on SEO at the moment, we just worked together to build it into the initial site designs & copy. To be completely honest, we're not even SEO'ing for "We Buy Houses". All we did is include it a few key places in the copy because people are used to hearing it. I didn't expect that particular phrase with my towns to rank that highly...because like you said...it's not the usually searched one.

    But... some people do search for that (91 avg local monthly for 1 of my towns, around 200 for the other, according to AdWords tool) ... Most people these days know all about the We Buy Houses people that have been on billboards, radio, and tv ads for years. If they don't want to list with a realtor, or need to sell super fast, chances are, they've been exposed to "we buy houses" advertising, and will remember that and use it as a search query option.

    On the other hand, some of the things we are SEO'ing for, are climbing the rankings of the big 3, so I'm happy. ESPECIALLY with the Yahoo/Bing searches. Wasn't expecting that at all on the 1st day we're indexed there (yesterday was the 1st day I saw our site on Y & B).

    0Reply
  • Brandon L.
    Homeowner · Camarillo, CA · Member since 2012 · 65 posts · 20 votes
    14y

    Good to hear Shane. Don't worry as you begin to get ranked for more keywords the leads will come in. I like going for a lot of little, less competitive keywords, because they are easy to get ranked for and people will still search for them from time to time. A lot of little keywords add up.

    I agree with Sean H. I probably wouldn't search for those keywords when looking to sell my house. I had the same problem figuring out what keywords to rank Jon's video for in the video marketing test. But, after looking up the keywords in Google adwords tool I did see some people would actually search for those keywords.

    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Brandon L. most of my (limited) SEO knowledge comes from your posts, and a link that Joshua Dorkin sent me on the dashboard. I'm like a sponge and really appreciate the time you're putting into the video marketing thing, as alot of the ranking stuff carries over to non-video search. Also Jerry Puckett's advice on ways to word certain things in my copy to make sure we're using "Level 1" keywords not the similar "Level 2", which is one reason we're ranked so highly already.

    Jerry knew all this and did his thing, but thanks to Brandon, I understand it and can even talk about it :)

    0Reply
  • Brandon L.
    Homeowner · Camarillo, CA · Member since 2012 · 65 posts · 20 votes
    14y

    That's really awesome Shane Woods! I'm glad to hear that. All of the methods I use can carry over to website SEO too. Just be careful when you get into link building, building too many links too fast and not using enough keyword variation can hurt your rankings. That's the reason I love video seo, since YouTube host the videos you do not need to worry about all the rules like you do with website seo (since YouTube is so big). Sounds like you are in good hands with Jerry.

    Side note - I'm going to try and get another post up this week on the video thread. I think you will find it pretty interesting and informational.

    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Looking forward to it Brandon.

    0Reply
  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    14y

    Shane,

    Google remembers kind of like cookies with the SEO for a search term when you type it in.

    So you could think you are on page 1 but it only shows that when you search on your computer.

    If the search result from multiple computers has you on page 1 then that is much more powerful.

    Also do not get overexcited about hitting the first page. When a fresh website or blog hits new with targeted keywords and content spiders pick it up and it has a high rank.

    It will start going down after a few days and be off the first page.80% of searches do not click past page 1 for a search term so If you are further back you are getting minimal clicks per month.

    Constant FRESH daily to a few times a week content helps you stay on the first page for a search term.

    I happen to know one of the best marketers and SEO people in the world.He can get and maintain page 1 for any search term he goes after.

    Podcast Guest on Show #47
    NNN Invest53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Joel Owens, I appreciate that little tidbit :)

    We plan to keep it fresh. I'm a "tweaker" anyway so it fits. I don't let things stay the same very long. We'll keep looking at it, make little changes here and there, keep what works and change what doesn't. Plans are already in the works to add some pages & content options that I can change and move on my own without having to bother my designer every time.

    It's fun to watch it evolve.

    1Reply
  • Ned CareyPro Member
    Moderator
    Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    14y

    Shane,

    You may already understand this. There is "On Page" SEO and "Off Page" SEO. Both are important. From the tone of the thread is sounds like most of what you have done is "on page." In other words what you have written and how you have structured you site itself.

    Some time should also be spent of "off Page." In other words things you do to promote your site around the net but not on your site itself. Examples would be tweets, facebook mentions, links form other sites, article marketing etc.

    As I said you may already understand this but for others reading along this may be helpful.

    1Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Already in motion Ned Carey, but I appreciate you mentioning it. It's good for everyone else to see & learn.

    Update, got my first website lead a 2am. Already did a drive by, and will follow up with seller this afternoon. More thoughts on this Here:

    http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/2845/blog_posts/22919-lots-going-on-part-2---got-my-1st-lead

    0Reply
  • Bob C.
    Investor · Littleton, CO · Member since 2012 · 20 posts · 0 votes
    14y

    You need to learn about Google Personalization.
    You will eventually rank on page one for every keyword you try from your computer. However, other searchers will see entirely different results.
    Get the keyword tool from Trellian to see where the traffic is. Then get third party rankings reporting from Raven Reports.

    0Reply
  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    14y

    Shane Woods - Here's one of the best primers about SEO -- on SEOMoz:
    Beginner's Guide to SEO

    That should prove to be helpful to you and anyone else reading.

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
    2Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    Joshua Dorkin, thanks for posting that link here. I think it's the same one you sent me in the dashboard. Great read, I read a little more every day. Helps me soak it all in.

    Thanks Bob C., I'll look into those tools, sounds pretty helpful. I understand the Google personalization thing. I use different computers & have my friends check too to try and avoid some of that. Last thing I want is fake rankings :)

    This has been a crash course in SEO, and it's fun. I think the key is, don't let it get stagnant. Once you get the on-page stuff the best you can, work on the off-page stuff. And...the way I look at it, if you're not doing anything off-page, just sitting around "waiting for leads to come in", you don't understand the process. It takes work to drive traffic. And I'm working :)

    0Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    UPDATE: talked to the seller, he's motivated. details in blog link above. What I eant to share here is...

    He found my 1 Craigslist ad I made yesterday afternoon. He searched for...wait for it..."I BUY HOUSES", saw my ad, and clicked my link. Will start a new thread about what to do with this guy...interesting already...land contract and underlying mortgage.

    1Reply
  • Shane Woods
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    14y

    UPDATE, finally cracked the top 20 pages for Fort Worth

    Now on page 12 of Google for Sell House Fort Worth. Gonna put another ad on Craigslist. It worked last time. drive traffic drive traffic drive traffic :)

    1Reply
  • Dave M.
    Residential Landlord · Chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 356 posts · 81 votes
    14y

    Shane Woods that is great! Glad to hear of your progress, which hopefully will connect directly to more business. Curious if you have made any progress with backlinks, and if so if you have been able to see a noticeable difference in your SERP?

    Also, what about a blog/article writing? Is that in your plan or something you are already doing (didn't see a specific blog link on your site)? The reason I ask is I read a lot of experts' posts that talk about the value of becoming an "authority" which benefits your page rank, and I'd like to get some validation on that.

    0Reply
  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    14y

    Here's the validation, Dave Meyer. Blogging is absolutely an essential activity for building up traffic to your site, improving your rankings, and improving authority. I've been doing it for 7 years now and I know many of the smartest bloggers around . . . if you're not blogging, you're definitely missing an opportunity.

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
    1Reply
  • Dave M.
    Residential Landlord · Chicago, IL · Member since 2012 · 356 posts · 81 votes
    14y

    Thanks Joshua Dorkin! We all see your activity and the SEO results you pull - fantastic!

    I also want to know how much of an immediate benefit those of us just getting started can expect...

    0Reply
  • Joshua D.Pro Member
    BiggerPockets Founder · HI · Member since 2008 · 16k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    14y

    There's no telling how immediate the results might be. The questions is really on what the goals are. If your goals for a website are for generating leads, then your site is only successful once you've generated that first lead. Being #1 on Google for any number of terms is meaningless if you don't meet the goals.

    That said, by blogging (not arbitrarily - but with a goal and purpose), you can attract an audience, you can build your network, you can grow your site rankings, and ultimately, if done correctly, you can acquire leads.

    There is an art to it. There is a skill to it. Like anything else you do, being a good and effective blogger is not easy. BUT, if you take the time to learn the skill, I do believe without a shadow of doubt, that your presence will grow.

    Podcast Guest on Show #100
    1Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free