Aiva
Qualifying Leads
What is LPMAMA in Real Estate?
Are you a realtor wanting to get the best out of your Google Adwords for real estate ads? If yes, continue reading this post.
The importance of real estate leads can be ascertained by the fact that most agents spend more than $2000 every month to generate them to run their businesses. And with that much spent, they better convert to a sale.
While portals still enjoy the lion’s share of the real estate lead generation market, the ever improving relevance of search results of Google has got many agents enticed. The potential of generating high quality leads that are cheaper than portal leads, with more or less the same conversion timeline is definitely interesting.
Google allows agents to create hyperlocal ads based on zipcodes and geo targeting to bring in leads that are interested in a specific neighborhood and know how much of home can they afford.
Combined with the right Google Ads extensions, Keyword Targeting, and overall campaign strategy, one can really generate high quality leads.
In this post, we will learn the fundamentals of running successful Google search ad campaigns starting from understanding the nature of search queries, keyword length, do’s and don’t, and ways to monitor the ROI on these ads.
If you have been recently planning to get started with Adword campaigns, this post is going to be insightful for you. So without further ado, let’s begin.
How do Buyers Search for Homes?
Buyers may search for a home with respect to multiple factors. For example, a buyer might search “4 bedrooms single family home in ft. Lauderdale”. However, there are 89 different neighborhoods in Ft. Lauderdale alone.
Hence, you can have 89 variations to the above keyword only when the location is changed (a total of 90). Of course, a single agent is unlikely to be selling that many homes at once. But that is not the point.
What is noteworthy here is the possibility to create multiple location based ads that are served to customers specifically looking for homes in that area. However, it does not end with the neighborhood alone.
Visitors who are sure about the location are likely to search with zipcodes as well. This gives you the opportunity to create variations of the same ad with the zip code.
The image below illustrates the way search queries in Google ads for real estate work. Here, buyers could also search keeping in mind their aspired lifestyle such as “4 bedroom sea facing house in ” they want out of their new home.
If you are dealing with commercial properties then the search terms will differ further.
It is advised that you create as many variations as you would with property size+property type+location in order to be hyper relevant and show up for the exact search terms. Use lifestyle as a factor whenever applicable.
Always remember that the length of the Keyword is always directly proportional to the relevance of the Keyword.
In other words, longer keywords are more specific and likely to draw more qualified leads that are likely to convert at a higher and quicker rate.
While generic keywords such as “buy property in Ft. Lauderdale” may have more volume and will get more clicks, it is not wise for individual agents to bid on those keywords. On top of that, these keywords will have higher CPCs that will quickly exhaust your clicks and budget very quickly without being able to capture a substantial number of qualified leads.
We are not saying that you should leave keywords with high volume. However, prioritizing keyword relevance is more important than volume.
The generic keywords, however, are good for large companies. It is very likely that you see generic Google search ads by big companies such as Remax, Compass, and others. This is because their strategy mostly revolves around capturing many leads who are just looking around and make them stick to their website.
It is profitable for the company when their agents have many semi qualified leads to work with. This increases the chances of conversion and the agent fees that they collect from all the agents. But that won’t work for an individual agent.
How to go about making Google ads for Real Estate?
There are a few things you must remember while you make and publish your Google CPC ads on Adwords. These are:
Optimize for Leads
Google gives you 5 different goals to choose from and optimizes your ad showings according to that. This is why when you start setting up the ads, the first thing you should do is to tell Google to optimize your campaign for lead generation.
Make a custom Landing Page
If you created a listing for the property you are advertising, then use that as the landing page. Or else, it is always best to create a custom landing page. Google recommends that the content of the ad and the landing page should resonate for the best results.
Remember that users always trust organic search results better than ads. This is why when you are pulling them to a webpage from an ad, it better delivers what it promised. In short, avoid false advertising.
Setting up the Budget
According to Wordstream, the average CPC on Google for Real Estate is around $2.37. From our experience, we found Google leads to cost anywhere between $8-$30. Many solo agents running CPC Ads keep it around $50-$100 a day. So you can expect anywhere between 4-9 leads every day from Google Ads.
Setting up the Ad Title
The majority of the clicks on your ad will be attracted by the ad title and should have all the terms a buyer is looking for. It should not be ambiguous, and must be supported by a relevant ad copy and webpage.
The most common ad title format that works for many real estate agents is
Home Size + Home Type + Location + Zipcode.
Example: 4Bedroom Single Family home in Ft. Lauderdale - 333xx
You can also create ads based on the county instead of the location. Buyers who have knowledge of the county could be more qualified than the ones who search by neighborhood. The format could be:
Home Size + Home Type + County Name + Zipcode.
Example: 4Bedroom Single Family home in Broward County - 333xx
Include the Brand Name in the Title
It is also advisable to create a few ad variations with your brand name in the title or in the description. If your personal brand name is more famous than your company name, use that. Seeing real people backed up by social proof increases trust and the chances for conversion. Test out variations with and without your brand name and find out the difference for yourself.
And as far as social proof is concerned, we suggest that you surely make a Google my Business account. It serves as the biggest social proof on the web and augments your business greatly.
Bid on your, and your Competitor’s Brand
Google ads are a competitive space and any opportunity to get leads for a low CPC keyword will be utilized by your competitor sooner or later. So, before they bid on your brand name, it is better you do bid on theirs.
It is also recommended that you bid on your brand name too and refrain any competitor take advantage of it.
Go for the Top Spot
Always bid for the top spot. If the keyword is too expensive for you to secure a first page topmost position, go for the second page instead. The best strategy is to bid for keywords that are longtail (relevant) with CPCs you can afford to put on top.
Stick to Phrase Match and Exact Match terms
Google Adwords shows your ad for additional keywords that can fall into three categories. These are board match, phrase match, and exact match. Broad match keywords often have different intent than that of your target keyword.
For example, a board match keyword for “4 bedroom house in Fort Lauderdale” could be “4 bedroom house for rent in Fort Lauderdale”. You do not want renters, you want buyers. Hence, the best idea is to tell Adwords to avoid broad match keyword options.
Instead, stick to phrase match and exact match keywords that allow relevant modifiers or exact match phrases to go with your target keywords. This helps you remain consistent with the context and attract the relevant audience.
Look for Negative Keywords
Once you start running your ads, keep an eye on the list of negative keywords. Negative keywords drain your ad budget faster. These are keywords that you do not want to trigger your ads. Declare these negative keywords in Adwords to optimally spend your dollars.
For example, if you deal with budget homes, you should decare terms such as luxury, penthouse, and so on. Many times your competitor’s brand that is similar to yours might take a bite out of your budget. Keep an eye and use the negative keywords option to streamline the ads.
Calculating ROI on Real Estate Leads
There are 3 parameters to calculating the success rate of your Google Adword campaigns. These are:
Cost Per Lead or CPL
Look how much you are spending on generating each lead from Google. A CPL of $8-$30 should be considered normal for real estate leads. For more competitive markets it might go beyond $40 as well.
Clicks to Lead Ratio
Clicks to lead ratio reflect, if your ads and landing page are in sync or not. If leads captured are too few compared to the clicks, there is probably something wrong with your landing page. Google says that the landing page content should resonate with the ad content for a better conversion rate. A click to conversion rate of 4% can be seen as normal. Anything above 5% is good.
Calculate Lead Conversion Rate
How many leads actually sign the deal out of the total number of leads acquired is the final metric that matters. The real estate conversion rate remains around 3% on average. However, if your ads are hyper targeted and you follow up with the leads in less than 5 mins using a lead conversion platform, you can register a conversion rate of 5% or more.
Google CPC leads from Adword campaigns are preferred by many agents due to the fact that they are marginally cheaper than portal leads, with a conversion timeline that is 30%-40% longer than portal leads. However, unlike Facebook leads, that many agents avoid, Google CPC leads do convert and prove much cost effective for real estate agents.