Having trouble finding real estate keywords that actually drive qualified leads to your blog posts and YouTube videos? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Choosing keywords for your website is hard if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why we decided to put together this guide with 77 real estate keywords that buyers and sellers commonly search for. After the list, we’ll show you how to customize and use these keywords in your blog posts and YouTube videos, and more importantly, tools to find more keywords to reach buyers and sellers in your farm area.
What Are Real Estate Keywords?
Real estate keywords are words or short phrases that Google and other search engines use to categorize content. Generally speaking, the real estate keywords used in an article will represent the main subject of a blog post or webpage.
Before you dive in, you should understand that keywords are only one element of an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. If you’re brand-new to SEO, check out our in-depth guide here:
Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide (9 Steps to Better Ranking)
The 77 Best Real Estate Keywords of 2023
Here is our list of the best real estate keywords for 2022. You can use these keywords to plan which articles to write for your blog.
We included both short-tail keywords (single words) and long-tail keywords (short sentences or questions) in this list. Generally speaking, long-tail keywords will have fewer people searching for them, but will be more relevant to your audience. Most of the content you create using keywords should use long-tail keywords. We’ll show you how in the next section.
| 1. Realtor | 21. Best neighborhoods | 41. How accurate are Zillow estimates? | 61. Buying vs building a house |
| 2. How to find a Realtor | 22. Closing costs | 42. How to buy a house with no money | 62. Do open houses work? |
| 3. Best Realtor | 23. Who pays closing costs? | 43. Best time to sell a house | 63. What to look for when buying a house |
| 4. Should I hire a Realtor? | 24. Closing costs for seller | 44. Best time to buy a house | 64. FHA loans |
| 5. How to choose a Realtor | 25. How to sell your house without a Realtor? | 45. Staging a house | 65. FHA vs conventional loans |
| 6. Is it a good time to buy a house? | 26. How much does it cost to sell a house? | 46. Curb appeal | 66. How to get preapproved for a home loan |
| 7. How much is my house worth? | 27. How long does it take to sell a house? | 47. Curb appeal ideas | 67. How to add a room to a house cheap |
| 8. Renting vs buying a house | 28. First-time homebuyer programs | 48. Curb appeal landscaping | 68. What do appraisers look for? |
| 9. Homeselling tips | 29. Sell my house | 49. Buying a foreclosed home | 69. Best home improvements to increase value |
| 10. Homebuying tips | 30. Sell my house fast | 50. What makes buying a foreclosed property risky? | 70. Buying a duplex |
| 11. How to sell a house by owner | 31. Best neighborhoods | 51. What not to fix when selling a house | 71. Buying a vacation home |
| 12. For sale by owner | 32. Home inspection checklist | 52. How much do you lose selling a house as is? | 72. 1031 exchange real estate |
| 13. How to buy a house | 33. Home inspection checklist for sellers | 53. Home inspection checklist | 73. Housing bubble |
| 14. Condos for sale | 34. Home inspection checklist for buyers | 54. What is the best way to prepare for an inspection? | 74. Will home prices ever go down? |
| 15. Duplexes for sale | 35. Homebuying process checklist | 55. What do home inspectors look for? | 75. How to rent your house |
| 16. Townhomes for sale | 36. Homeselling checklist | 56. How to win a bidding war on a house | 76. Short sale process |
| 17. Cheap houses for sale | 37. Final walk-through checklist | 57. How to make an offer on a house | 77. Who pays Realtor fees |
| 18. Waterfront homes for sale | 38. Home estimate | 58. How much over asking price should I offer on a home? | |
| 19. New constructions homes | 39. Home valuation | 59. Buying a house in a seller's market | |
| 20. Multi-family homes for sale | 40. What credit score is needed to buy a house? | 60. How often do contingent offers fall through? |
How to Use Keywords to Generate Traffic & Leads
There are two basic steps to using keywords effectively to generate traffic and leads. First, you need to tailor your real estate keywords to target local buyers and sellers. After all, ranking number one for “luxury homes” will be useless for your business if you can’t target people actually buying luxury homes in your farm area. Second, you need to write blog posts or create videos to provide the best answer to the questions local buyers and sellers are searching Google to answer.
Here’s a quick breakdown of this process:
1. Tailor Your Keywords to Target Local Buyers & Sellers
Over the last few years, Google’s algorithm has gotten smarter. MUCH smarter. Today Google uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver hyper-specific answers to the questions people search for. Increasingly, those answers are targeted to the searcher’s geographic location. This is why tailoring your keywords to specific local audiences is crucial.
It is also much easier to rank your content for local real estate keywords since there is much less competition. For example, tens of thousands of people might search for “closing costs,” but only a few hundred might search for “closing costs in Phoenix.”
So whenever you are planning an article or video, make sure you are coming up with local long-tail keywords to answer questions for a specific audience in a specific location. Here are a few examples of how a Realtor in Phoenix might come up with local long-tail keywords to target with their content:
| Generic Keyword | Audience | Location | Local Long-tail Keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homebuying Tips | First-time homebuyers | Phoenix | Homebuying tips for Phoenix |
| Curb Appeal Ideas | Homeowners | Phoenix | Curb appeal ideas for Phoenix |
| Closing Costs | First-time homebuyers | Phoenix | Closing costs in Phoenix |
2. Determine Search Intent for Long-tail Keywords
Once you have a list of local long-tail keywords, the next step is to figure out which questions your local buyers and sellers want answered when they search Google for them. This is known as search intent and should be the driving force behind all content you create for your website that you want to rank on Google.
Whether you are writing a blog post or creating a YouTube video, the process is the same: Take your specific local keywords and try to figure out what questions people are trying to get answered by searching those keywords.
Think of it like Jeopardy: if your keyword is “home buying tips for Phoenix,” the question being asked is pretty straightforward: “What are the best home buying tips for Phoenix?” However, if your keyword is something like “closing costs in Phoenix,” your local buyers and sellers will likely have more than one question.
| Specific Local Keyword | Search Intent: Questions Buyers & Sellers Want Answered in Your Content |
|---|---|
| Closing costs in Phoenix | How much are closing costs in Phoenix? |
| Who pays closing costs in Phoenix? | |
| How can I save money on closing costs in Phoenix? |
3. Write Blog Posts or Create YouTube Videos to Answer Questions Local Buyers & Sellers Are Asking
OK, now you should have a list of local long-tail keywords and understand the search intent behind those keywords. The next step is to write blog posts or create videos to provide the best answers to those questions. Here is a quick formula for creating content that provides the best answers to your audience’s questions:
Using Keywords in Blog Posts
Write a Snappy Title
Your title should include your keyword (ideally as close to the beginning as possible), and should be written in a natural style that will make people want to click on your article. Here are some title ideas to target “closing costs in Phoenix”:
Closing Costs in Phoenix: Myths vs Facts
Closing Costs in Phoenix: The Ultimate Guide
What Every New Buyer Needs to Know About Closing Costs in Phoenix
Write an Introduction That Draws People In
Your introduction has two purposes: to draw people in and make them curious about your article, and to explain what they will get by reading your article. Using real estate keywords in your introduction is crucial. Just make sure you use them in a natural way. Here is an example of an introduction for an article about closing costs in Phoenix:
One of the most common questions I get asked by new buyers is how much closing costs in Phoenix will add to the price they pay for a home. There are a lot of myths out there about closing costs. That’s why in this article, I will explain how closing costs…
Create an Outline for Your Content
When you have search intent figured out, writing your content is easy. All you need to do is create an outline for your article or video and use the questions people want answered as your primary headings and subheadings. If you’re making a video, use the questions as chapters.
Don’t worry about using keywords in your content. If you are focusing on answering buyers’ and sellers’ questions, they will come up naturally as you write.
How much are closing costs in Phoenix?
- Loan origination fees?
- Credit report fees?
- Appraisal and home inspection fees?
And so on…
Who pays closing costs in Phoenix?
How can I save money on closing costs in Phoenix?
Using Keywords in YouTube Videos
For YouTube videos, you can use the same basic formula when you write your video’s title, description, and tags. You can also use keywords in your video’s chapters, but only if they are relevant to what you are talking about.
Now that you have the basic idea of how to create content using real estate keywords, here are seven more advanced tips to make it great:
1. Write for Your Audience First, Search Engines Second
Always remember that your main goal here is to educate your reader first, and show up on Google second. In fact, if your article is spammy, it won’t rank on Google for long as Google regularly tests how many people click on articles on the front page and even how long they stay on the page. If everyone bounces from your article right away, Google will rank other articles above it.
2. Pay Specific Attention to Titles, Meta Descriptions & H2s
There are three key places you want to add keywords to your blog posts. In order of importance: The title, the meta description, and the H2s of your article. Try to use the keywords naturally in all three places. Don’t jam them into sentences or articles that don’t match the search intent of the reader you spent so much time researching in step 3!
3. Don’t Use the Same Keyword for More Than One Blog Post or Video
If you download the Yoast plugin for WordPress, this is one of the first warnings you’re likely to get. Generally speaking, it’s a bad idea to write more than one article targeting the same keyword. Even worse, NEVER try to rank subtle variations of the same keyword in different articles thinking you’ll trick Google. You won’t.
4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing
The idea here is to use keywords naturally in your articles, which should give you something like a 1% keyword density. In other words, if your article is 100 words long, you should use the keyword one time in the body copy. As long as you have the keyword in the title, meta, and H2s, then you don’t need to worry about how many times you use the keyword in the body copy. Just use it whenever it’s natural to use it in a sentence or paragraph.
5. Remember to Include EAT Signals in Your Content
Since you want your articles to signal EAT (Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness) to Google, you should always include EAT signals in your articles. At a minimum, your WordPress author bio should have your credentials, including designations, and you should quote and link to other real estate experts in your articles.
6. Link to Your New Blog Post From Older Blog Posts
Linking to your new blog post from other blog posts can help you rank better as it helps Google “read” and categorize the content on your site. This is another thing the Yoast plugin will recommend.
7. Review Keywords & Update Your Blog Posts Once per Year
Finally, if you want to rank on Google long term, you’re going to want to update your blog posts at least once a year. Go back and change the date, add relevant new information or news, and try to make your article more readable and useful for your readers.
If you need more ideas for blogs or want some expert writing tips, check out our guide to real estate blog ideas below:
101 Real Estate Blog Ideas (+ Examples & Expert Tips)
How to Find More Real Estate Keywords
While our list of real estate keywords is a great starting point for your content, you will likely need to pinpoint more specific keywords to reach buyers and sellers in your farm area. In order to make your life easier, here are three ways to determine important keywords for your content.
1. Use SEO Tools to Find More Keywords
The best and most accurate way to find new keywords is to use dedicated search engine optimization (SEO) tools. These tools analyze millions of search engine results pages (SERP) to estimate important data like how many people search for a keyword per month (search volume), and crucially, how hard it is to rank for that keyword (difficulty). They also help analyze your competitor’s websites to see which keywords they’re ranking for. Here are three of our favorite SEO tools:
Ahrefs
Best for: Finding search volume and difficulty for keywords
Cost: Starting at $99 per month
Ease of use: Medium
Our first go-to tool for keyword research is Ahrefs. Ahrefs has very similar tools that competitors like Moz offer, but its data is a bit more accurate (according to our own research, that is). It also gives you questions people ask along with keywords.
Moz
Best for: Competitor research and keyword research
Cost: Starting at $99 per month ($79 per month paid annually)
Ease of use: Medium
One of the earliest SEO tools, Moz actually invented its own domain authority metric, which is widely used in the industry. You can also use Moz to find what other sites are ranking for, as well as who is linking to them.
Semrush
Best for: Competitive research
Cost: Starting at $99 per month
Ease of use: Medium
Semrush is the go-to tool in the SEO industry for analyzing your competitors’ websites to see and track what keywords they rank for as well as getting lists of other sites that link to your competitor’s site. You can even set alerts, audit websites, and more.
2. Hire a Freelance Keyword Researcher on Fiverr
Best for: Hiring a freelancer to research keywords
Cost for keyword research: $5 to $150
By hiring someone on Fiverr to do your keyword research for you, you can get a simple spreadsheet of keywords and article ideas that will give you a road map for the year for less than the price of a month of SEO software. More to the point, the person you hire will probably find the good stuff much faster than you can.
Click below to head over to Fiverr and find someone to do your keyword research starting at just five bucks.
3. Research SERPs for Your Keywords
Another great (and free!) way to find keywords for your content is to research search engine results pages (SERPs). Try searching for common real estate terms in your area and see what results you get.
Google’s “People Also Ask” sections can be a goldmine of article or video ideas. For example, here is the “People Also Ask” section on the SERP for “How to buy a NYC condo”:
Over to You
What did you think of our guide to researching and using real estate keywords? Let us know in the comments.
