Title
The title is an extremely important part of your site optimization, especially the title on your home page. Decide on your top two or three keyword phrases and use them. Since real estate is geo-specific, you need to use the main area you cover in the title tag. For example, Los Angeles, Orange County, or So-Cal - use whichever is the best keyword for your geographic area.
Only use each word or twice in the title – no more than that. Google will only read up to a certain number of characters in a title, so use that as your guideline. (Do a Google search and take a look at the titles that rank high.)
META keywords and description tags
Search engines like Google don't give the META tags much weight when determining search engine results pages. However, some do consider them, and since the search engines use your description tag in search results, you do need to not only include it but put some thought into it.
META-Description tag: Search engines use the information in the META Description tag as well as the Title to describe your site in the short description that goes along with the link in search engine results. Make sure it contains your top 2 or 3 keywords, and write compelling copy so searchers will be interested enough in your site to click on the link.
META-Keywords tag: The META keywords help some search engines classify what your site is about. The keywords you use should be relevant and appear in the body text. Use lower case letters for all keywords, with a comma and space between each one. Limit the number of keywords to about 20.
Sitemap.xml You should create and upload an .xml sitemap to your root folder. Get a free .xml sitemap here, download it to your desktop, then ftp it to your host, in the same folder in which your web site pages are stored.
Google Analytics
If you don’t have a Google Analytics account, set one up, then go into the account and add your website. Code will be generated that should be copied and pasted on every page of your site in the source code, right before the tag. You will learn some fascinating information about the visitors to your site once you’ve verified the code.
Google Webmaster Tools
Set up your site in Google Webmaster Tools, following the instructions to verify your site. Once it’s verified, go through all the tabs and learn even more about your site and its visitors.
If you really want to delve into SEO, and are prepared to put in the work, get the SEO Book. It will give you all this information and more, in easy to understand terms. You can also check out my blog, SEO Diva.
Next: What NOT to Put on Your Site
Kay Frenzer ~ Real Estate SEO
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Good post! I love all the tips! Hope to use them;)