The digital landscape has revolutionized numerous industries, and real estate is no exception.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in the online real estate market. A commanding website is a realtor's most potent asset.

By understanding and implementing SEO strategies, realtors can ensure that their websites rank higher on search engine results pages, making them more visible to potential clients.

But it's not just about being seen; it's about being seen by the right people.

This is where Rich Brooks' expertise in crafting a customer journey comes into play.

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SEO is an Information Booth

To make a general statement: realtors are not putting enough effort into their digital presence and their visibility online.

We can think about it as the customer journey.

What are the roadside attractions and what are the information booths we can put along there so we can direct people to do business with us (assuming that we're the right realtor for them and they're the right type of client for us)?

The 10 Big Blue Links

There's two main components the organic search results what used to be called back in the old days, the 10 big blue links.

The local search results or the local pack are the three listings, sometimes four if there's an ad in there, that go side by side with a map so you can kind of see where the locations are.

Then the sponsored links or the paid search results.

Both of those will require different strategies, but are critically important if I'm a real estate agent and I want to get new business, new clients.

So as we're thinking about that, I would say probably the low hanging fruit and the thing that I would first attack if I was just starting out or if I hadn't paid attention to this until right now, would be the local search side of things, because in some ways it's maybe not the easiest to optimize but it's the simplest to optimize for.

Reviews Stand Out

Another thing you can do that will impact your visibility is get reviews.

So when you're working with people they've had a good experience with you, either through an automated follow-up, or maybe you just reach out to them, ask them to go and leave a review on their favorite platform, be it Google, facebook, what have you.

Those reviews are also signals to Google about what you're doing and whether it's good.

If somebody says to "Rich, I really enjoyed the whole process of finding a house or selling the house and how you helped me with this, that and the other thing," I have them mention that in the reviews, because if those are keywords that people might be searching for, that actually will help you.

So if you help them buy a condo compared to a house or land, get them to work that into the review, if you have that kind of input into it.

And then on your website, just make sure that you're listing all those things. Talk about the towns that you serve.

Those are basic things, but all of that helps you come up more likely for the searches in that local pack.

That's going to be the fastest acting kind of thing. Or maybe paid search is the fastest acting, but that can be expensive.

Consistently Add Content to the Website

If you start thinking about creating content on your website that answers some of the biggest questions your audience m can help for some of those types of searches.

If you create original content and maybe do some first person research, and I know this is a little advanced.

Putting it on your website can encourage other people to put links to your site and that can also help search engine visibility.

That's a little bit extra, maybe not day one sort of stuff, but it's those kinds of steps over time, building up that trust at Google, building up that trust with your users, that's going to help you with your overall search engine visibility.

Very often we're selling the location as well as just an individual property, so we want to get a lot of that in there.

You're taking videos as you're doing walkthroughs of houses that are your featured listings: upload those as much information as you can to really create this robust area.

In Google Business Profile there's a question and answer section that can go. There in your profile you can pose your own questions. You don't have to wait for questions to come in. So all of those are steps that you can take to improve it.

Profiles are the New Business Cards

Filling out your social media profiles, filling out the information in Google business pro, having a robust website that doesn't look cookie cutter and has unique content from your perspective and your experience, those are all things that show people that you are not a fly by night realtor.

And we all know that there are the realtors that are in it for the long run. They're going to live, breathe and eat houses.

Then there are the ones where, when the market conditions are right, will come in for a few months, maybe they do it part time, and then they disappear.

You want to position yourself as the expert, as the person who's going to know exactly what it's like to live in this town and all these things and understand the customer journey.

So the more you can kind of fill out both your social and everything else, the more likely you are to win that business.

A Unique Website Can Set You Apart from Competitors

Service based industries and real estate agencies are both very driven by personality.

Yes, there has to be expertise and you've got to pass certain tests or whatever. But the bottom line is, if there's two people who have equally good websites but one of them is more in alignment with you, of course you're going to go with that person, right?

So putting out that content both on social media and on your website are places where you can attract your ideal clients but also push away clients that might not be a good fit for you.

Let's go find the clients that are going to be easy for us, like layups, and that's where putting yourself out there and creating this content is going to really help you.

About Rich Brooks

Rich Brooks is the founder and president of Flyte Media, a digital agency that's been in business for over 27 years. He's a nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, digital marketing and social media. Rich founded the Agents of Change, an annual conference and weekly podcast that focuses on search, social and mobile marketing. He also co-founded Fast Forward Maine, a podcast and workshop series for growing Maine businesses.

• Visit Rich Brook's Website: Flyte Media

• Listen to The Agents of Change podcast