If you’re a real estate agent looking for new leads, Google Ads can be a great way to reach potential customers.
Agents who focus on potential customers who are likely to buy or sell a home can save time and money, while still reaching more clients than ever.
However, successfully creating and managing a Google Ads campaign takes careful planning and execution.
At Realtorfuel, we have a lot of experience with real estate marketing and we know how to run Google Ads well. Even if you have never used PPC advertising before, we can help you.
What is Google Ads for Real Estate?
PPC advertising is an online marketing technique in which businesses can pay to have their ads displayed on search engines and other websites. Advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ad, making it a very effective way to drive traffic to your website.
PPC advertising through Google Ads is an effective way for real estate agents to market their properties and services to potential buyers and sellers.
Google Ads Terminology
- Keywords: These are the words or phrases that people type into Google Search, which trigger your ad to appear. When setting up an ad campaign, you’ll pick a list of keywords that you think people might search for when they want what you have to offer (and don’t worry: we can help).
- Bid: This is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad. (Since, with Google Ads, you don’t pay to show up — only when someone clicks on your ad to visit your site or call you.)
- Quality Score: This metric tells you how relevant your keywords are to your ad — and to your landing page (i.e. the webpage where people will be taken when they click your ad). A good Quality Score can lower your bid costs and improve your ad rank in the search results.
- Ad Rank: This metric helps determine where your ad will show up, relative to other ads, when it’s triggered to appear on Google. Your rank is determined using your bid, your Quality Score, and other factors.
- CPC (cost-per-click): The actual amount you pay when someone clicks on your ad. (You don’t necessarily pay your entire bid price for every click — that just sets up a range of possible costs-per-click you might pay.)
- Conversion: A conversion takes place when someone who has clicked your ad goes on to take another action you’ve designated as important — like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or calling you.
How Does Google Ads Work?
Ads on Google work by you paying per click. This means that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. You bid on keywords related to your business, and then your ad will appear in Google search results when someone searches for those keywords.
You can also create display ads, which will appear on websites that are a part of the Google Display Network. These can be effective in building brand awareness and driving traffic to your website.
Google Ads provides extensive targeting options, including location, demographics, interests, and device type.
Google Ads can help you reach potential buyers and sellers for your real estate business.
You should consider using Google Ads as either a new lead generation strategy or a supplement to your existing marketing efforts.
AdRank and Quality Score
AdRank is a number that Google uses to decide where to place your ad on a page, or whether to show it at all.
This is how Google explains the Ad Rank calculus: your bid, the quality of your ad (including factors like expected click-through rate and landing page experience), and the competitiveness of the auction all play into the calculation, as well as the particular context of the searcher’s query (including their location, device, the time of day they’re searching, and what other ads and results are on the page).
Quality Score is a diagnostic tool that allows you to compare your ad quality to that of other advertisers.
This score is a measure of quality from 1-10, keyword-specific, and provided by Google. A high score means that your ad and landing page are more relevant and valuable to the searcher than other advertisers. The score is determined by the percentage of people who click on your ad when it is displayed; this is called your click-through rate (CTR).
The Quality Score is a number that Google gives your ad, keyword, and landing page. It’s a measure of how relevant and useful your ad, keyword, and landing page are to the customer who sees your ad.
Geo Targeting Your Real Estate Google Ads
We talked about keyword targeting.
Now let’s talk about how to show ads to people in your target market based on their location, which is called “geo targeting.”
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Good news: Real estate companies can still target their Google Ads by city, state, and country. While real estate companies can no longer target their Google Ads by zip code, they can still target them by city, state, and country.
You can still target a specific area by radius. You will need to choose a certain point on the map (an address) and then decide on the radius out from that point that you want to target — 1, 5, 10, or 20 miles. For example, this is a map targeting two, one-mile, radiuses.
Keywords Match Types and Research
Setting up a Google Ads campaign is one thing.
Actually being successful with is quite another.
You want to generate leads that are high quality and not too expensive.
What is the process for selecting which keywords to target?
Different match types give you more options when it comes to choosing your keywords. There are three match types to choose from:
- broad
- phrase
- exact
Broad match allows your ad to show on related searches, even if the keyword is not included. This attracts more visitors to your website and saves you time spent building keyword lists. Broad match is the default match type for all keywords, so you don’t have to specify another match type.
Does Google Ads Work for Real Estate Business?
As the real estate industry grows more competitive, it becomes increasingly difficult for agents to find buyers and sellers. Google Ads can help you reach potential buyers and sellers in a specific area by showing appropriate listings to the right people at the right time.
If you’re looking to generate high-converting leads through online advertising, Google Ads PPC is a great platform to consider. However, if you’re not properly optimized for Google PPC, it can become a financial nightmare.
To give you an idea of how powerful the Google Search engine is in targeting the right potential buyers, consider the following scenario:
A potential buyer looking for a house for sale in Los Angeles:
The most relevant and helpful information will appear on the Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP), including both organic and paid results that are based on the user’s search intent.
Understanding Local SEO vs. Google Advertising for Real Estate Business
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google Ads are two different marketing channels that both appear in Google search results, drive more traffic, and attract more Google Local Services leads.
If two things are nearly identical, which is more appropriate for a Real Estate niche?
- SEO does not produce instant results. It is an ongoing process that aims for long-term success by improving your website content, user experience, and relevancy to get higher organic search results when a person searches for a topic related to your content. It usually takes 4-6 months to start seeing significant results.
- Google Ads PPC may be ideal for you if you want instant results and the freedom to select particular keywords to a specified geographic region and niche buyers to show up as a paid search result when a person searches for a query online.
1. Getting Started with Google Advertising PPC for Real Estate
The Google Ads page has buttons labeled “Get Started” and “Sign in.” Clicking either of these buttons will take you to a page where you can sign in to your Gmail account if you already have one, or create a new Google Ads account if you don’t.
2. Steps on How to Create Google Ads PPC for Real Estate Business
2.1. Selecting Google Advertising Goal and Creating Campaign Type
Smart-Assisted mode is the default setting for all new Google Ads accounts. Google will ask you about your advertising goals and suggest the best techniques and campaign types for achieving them. However, if you want full control over Google Ads functionality and campaign types, you can switch to Expert mode following the steps in this tutorial.
Choose an advertising goal that will help you achieve your advertising objective.
- If you are unsure about which goal to prioritize and want to have total control over your advertising campaign, click in the lower-left corner – Create a campaign without goal guidance.
- If you plan to start a google ad campaign right away, you may do so by selecting the type of campaign goal you want to achieve. If you have chosen which advertising goal to focus on: click – “Continue” button on the lower-right side.
Choose “Search” to show your products and services as text ads on Google. If you want to create an ad to increase website visits and leads, select “Website visits.”
Pro Tip:
- Selecting “Search” and “Website visits” will help you reach out to your potential leads when they are searching on Google for a product or service that you offer. It will be helpful for you to generate leads and increase brand presence on your website by displaying your advertisement to people who are actively looking for your products and services.
- There are other campaign types you can choose from aside from Google search ads:
- Google Display Network Ads – that runs different types of ads across the web
- Google Video Ads – that aims to reach and engage with viewers in YouTube and across the web.
- Google App Campaign/Ads – that drives app promotions across Google’s network.
- Google Smart Campaign/Ads – that reach your business goals through the automated campaign and google ads across the web.
- Google Shopping Ads – that promote products with shopping ads
- Google Local Service Ads – that drive more customers to a physical location
- Google Discovery – that runs ads on Youtube, Gmail, Discover, and more
When naming your campaign, it is important to be specific about the type of campaign you are launching, such as “House for Sale in LA”, “Apartment for Sale in LA”, “Condominium for Sale in LA”, etc. It is also a good idea to include a date or version number in the name to make it easier to monitor changes during the campaign.
When choosing Networks. It’s best to uncheck the Display Network and Select Search Network as a beginner if:
- You want to appear on the Google Search results page for the real estate keywords you are targeting only.
- You are looking to capture the attention of potential leads that has the same “search intent” as your real estate keywords or products and services you are offering.
- You want to focus on the leads who have the “intent to buy” or people who are actively searching for your keywords. It means they are in the market for realtor services you are offering, rather than remarket your products and services to a user who “might buy” based on the site and apps they are visiting.
2.3 Optimizing Geotargeting in Google AdWords for Real Estate Business
If you want to generate a lot of leads that are likely to convert, it’s important to target your ads to specific geographic locations. Start by creating a Local Services ad for each location you want to target.
Pro Tip:
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- When selecting a Targeted Locations, Real Estate Agents and Owners should consider the reach for a particular segment. e.g. You are in the business of buying and selling properties in Los Angeles only – select “Los Angeles,” but if you are looking forward to focusing on broader reach outside Los Angeles, select “United States.”
- To target potential Leads: Focus on selecting the behaviour or presence of your “potential leads.” To target potential Leads who might be living inside or outside Los Angeles but might be interested in a property in LA – select recommended presence. But if you want to target only potential leads within LA that may be interested in a property in LA – select the second bullet.
- To optimize Geotargeting, exclude people outside the selected location – select the recommended one.
In order to select your Geographic Targeting, you must also select the language of the Target Audience you wish to reach. In this case, the language is “English.”
Pro Tip:
- If you want to select a language be sure to add just 1, even if you are trying to reach an audience with multiple languages. Create a new Google Ad Campaign for a different language. Be sure to create a specific, clear, and relevant campaign for your potential leads.
2.4 Audience Segmentation and Setting your Ad and Bidding Budget
You should segment your audience based on what they are actively searching for, such as “Residential Properties (For Sale)” or “Houses (For Rent).”
Pro Tip:
- To set up Ad Budget and Bidding Strategy, start by selecting the Currency you wish to pay google with your Ad. An example is when you want to allot $900 in a month for a specific ad with a $30 average daily budget.
- There are instances when Google will spend more than the average daily budget, but it will not be more than your S900 monthly budget.
- If the campaign is going well, you can always increase your average daily budget based.
After you set up your budget, you can choose to set a maximum cost-per-click bid limit.
2.6 Setting-up Ad Extension to Get Higher CTR on Google Ads
According to Google, if Ad Extension is properly optimized, there is a 10-15% CTR increase.
Ad Extensions can improve your ad’s visibility and click-through rate.
- Maximized Ad Text details – before a user clicks on your ad, they might want to know details such as; Phone Number, Location, Your Services, and so on.
- Attract more Qualified Leads by providing them up-front information to convince them to click your ad.
- Bigger SERP Space – using Ad Extensions means bigger ad size. It helps you increase ad visibility and presence to users.
Why Invest in Google Ads Services for Real Estate Business?
There are many reasons why you should consider using Google Ads for your real estate business in 2022. Google Ads is a powerful marketing platform that can help you reach your target audience and generate leads. Additionally, Google Ads is continually evolving and improving, which means that you can always expect new features and benefits.
As of June 2021, 92.47 percent of the search engine market was dominated by Google.
- Google Ads tops all other digital marketing platforms as the world’s largest and most popular PPC marketing platform.
- Google has Dynamic Geo-Targeting that is perfect for Realtors who is seeking to dominate the Local Market through local services ad.
- Great Tool for Lead Generation – Google offers many tools and extensions you can use to easily track conversion rates.
