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Real Estate Seo Case Study: From Low Visibility to Massive Growth
March 25, 2025
Most real estate businesses in NYC struggle with a common problem—they can’t get enough leads from Google. Their website isn’t ranking, their competitors show up first, and potential clients aren’t finding them.
Why does this happen? Real estate SEO is tough. The market is crowded, big agencies dominate search results, and local competition is fierce. A lot of realtors have old websites, weak content, and not enough online reviews. Without good SEO, they’re missing out on buyers and sellers who are searching online.
That’s why having a solid Local SEO strategy is super important. It helps real estate businesses show up higher in search results, attract local clients, and stay ahead of the competition.
In the next section, we’ll talk about a real estate case study where we helped a business go from being hard to find online to growing really fast.
Objective
Our main goal was simple: help our real estate client rank higher on Google and get more leads. They wanted to appear on the first page for important real estate keywords, attract more local buyers and sellers, and beat their competitors in NYC.
To do this, we needed to fix their website’s SEO issues, improve their online presence, and create a strong local SEO strategy.
Client’s Website History
Our client is a local real estate business in NYC, helping people buy, sell, and rent homes. Their website had been around for years but wasn’t showing up in local searches. Potential clients couldn’t find them online, and competitors were taking all the leads.
With weak local SEO, no Google Business optimization, and low rankings, their site wasn’t working as it should. They needed a solid SEO strategy to get more visibility, attract the right audience, and grow their business.
What We Found: Key SEO Issues
When we started analyzing the client’s website, we found several major SEO problems that were stopping them from getting traffic and leads.
Here’s what we discovered:
Low Clicks & Impressions
The website was barely getting any traffic. In search results, it only had 19 clicks and 3,410 impressions (as shown in the first image). That means very few people were seeing or clicking on their site.
Poor CTR & Rankings
The Click-Through Rate (CTR) was only 0.6%. This means that even when people saw their website in search results, almost no one was clicking on it. On top of that, their average position on Google was 81—basically buried on page 8 or beyond. And let’s be real, no one goes that far when searching for something online.
Technical SEO Problems
The site had slow loading speeds, which made visitors leave quickly. Plus, it wasn’t properly optimized for local searches, so people looking for real estate agents nearby couldn’t even find them.
Poor Performance of Long-form Content
The website had lots of great, detailed blog posts, but they weren’t ranking on the first page of Google. Even for easy-to-target keywords, the content wasn’t showing up where it mattered.
Weak Backlink Profile
The site didn’t have enough high-quality backlinks. In SEO, backlinks act like votes of confidence from other websites. Without them, Google doesn’t see the site as a trusted authority, which makes it much harder to rank well.
Poor Google My Business (GMB) Optimization
Their Google My Business profile wasn’t fully optimized. This was a big problem because it meant they weren’t appearing in local map searches when people searched for realtors or properties in NYC.
All of these issues combined were making it nearly impossible for the client to attract potential buyers and sellers online. That’s why they needed a strong local SEO strategy to fix these problems and start bringing in leads.
Our SEO Strategy: How We Fixed It
We took a step-by-step approach to turn things around.
Google My Business (GMB) Optimization
So, the first thing we did was focus on getting the Google My Business (GMB) profile fully optimized—think of it as your business’s digital “business card” on Google. We made sure everything was perfect, starting with the NAP (Name, Address, Phone number).
We double-checked that all the details were 100% accurate because Google uses this information to show your business in search results. We also added real estate-specific keywords like “real estate agent in NYC” to make sure the profile shows up when people search for services like ours.
Lastly, we encouraged happy customers to leave reviews, which is super important because positive reviews not only build trust but also help the profile rank better in search results.
Google Maps Optimization
For Google Maps optimization, we made sure the Google My Business profile was complete, with accurate details like business hours, services, and a good description. We also uploaded high-quality photos of the business, showing off our services and environment.
We selected the most relevant categories like “Real Estate Agent” and added subcategories such as “Luxury Real Estate” to help our client stand out. We turned on the messaging feature to respond quickly to customer inquiries.
Keyword Research & On-Page SEO
We started by doing keyword research to figure out what people were searching for, like “Best real estate agents in NYC” and “Luxury apartments for sale in Manhattan.” Once we had these keywords, we made sure to use them in important places like the Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Headers of each page.
This helped Google understand what each page was about and made it more likely to show up higher in search results. We also created local content about trending topics like “NYC real estate market trends” and “Top realtors in Manhattan,” which attracted more local traffic.
Improving SEO for Long-Form Content
Our client had lots of long-form content, but it wasn’t ranking well on Google, mostly stuck on the second page. First, we did a backlink audit using tools like Ahrefs to find and remove harmful backlinks.
After that, we focused on pages that were close to ranking on the first page by targeting low-hanging keywords—keywords the site was already ranking for but needed a little push. We improved the content by filling gaps, adding helpful details, and including videos and images. We also made sure keywords were used naturally and updated headings, titles, and meta descriptions.
To help users navigate, we added breadcrumb navigation, which also helped with SEO. Plus, we used branded and keyword-rich anchor texts to link to important pages, helping them rank higher and get more traffic.
Local Content Creation
We created blog posts about local topics, like neighborhood guides or local market trends, to boost the client’s presence in local searches. We also used specific local keywords, like “real estate agents in NYC,” to make sure the content was aligned with what people were searching for.
Building High-Quality Backlinks & Citations
To boost SEO, we worked on getting high-quality backlinks, which are like votes of confidence from other websites. We made sure our client was listed in important local directories like Zillow, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Angie’s List and Realtor.com to help boost credibility.
We also reached out to trusted real estate blogs for guest post backlinks to show Google the site was an authority. On top of that, we used tools like Ahrefs to spot and remove any harmful backlinks from competitors that could hurt the site’s SEO.
Website Speed & Technical Fixes
Next, we focused on improving the website’s technical health to make sure it worked well for both Google and users. We compressed large images to make the pages load faster and fixed any old 301 redirects that were slowing down the site.
We also implemented structured data (Schema Markup) to help Google better understand the real estate listings, which made them more visible in search results and helped attract more clicks.
Mobile Optimization
Since many people search locally on mobile devices, we made sure the website was mobile-friendly. We tested it to ensure it loaded quickly and was easy to navigate on phones. We also optimized it for voice search queries, like “Where can I find a real estate agent near me?” or “Best apartments in Manhattan” to help the business show up in relevant local searches.
Engage with Social Media Locally
We helped the client engage with their local audience by posting locally-focused content on social media. We used location tags on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to make sure the content reached people in their local area and increased visibility.
The Results: Massive Growth in 16 Months
Our SEO work produced incredible results. Over just 16 months, the website’s performance saw dramatic improvements.
Here’s How the Numbers Changed
Our SEO work transformed the website’s performance. Here’s what happened:
Metric | Before (Image 1) | After (Image 2) | Improvement |
Total Clicks | 19 | 51.2K | +268,315% |
Total Impressions | 3.41K | 1.77M | +51,876% |
CTR (Click-Through Rate) | 0.6% | 2.9% | +383% |
Average Position | 81 | 14.6 | Page 8 → Page 1 |
Let’s look at the performance improvement in a graph:
Here’s a graph showing the massive growth in clicks and impressions over time.
The Final Outcome: Huge Success
With our SEO strategy, the real estate business saw huge improvements in traffic, visibility, and lead generation. The site went from being buried on page 8 to ranking on page 1 for high-intent keywords.
- Total clicks skyrocketed from 19 to 51.2K
- Impressions jumped from 3.41K to 1.77M
- CTR improved from 0.6% to 2.9%
- Average ranking improved from 81 to 14.6
Want Similar Results?
If you’re a real estate business in NYC, US, struggling to get leads, Capinity can help. We use data-driven Local SEO strategies to get your listings in front of buyers & sellers.
Let’s grow your real estate business today! Contact Capinity now.
FAQs
"A good digital marketing strategy allows you to reach a wider audience with more personalized messages, helping your business grow in a smarter way."
– Neil Patel
