It’s not hard to build backlinks for real estate companies.
But it IS a lot of work. And it takes a healthy helping of know-how.
I’m going to show you how to get it done in this guide to real estate link building. And share six tried and tested link building strategies that work wonders for real estate websites.
Let’s do this.
Let’s start with the basics: What is real estate link building?
It’s the process of convincing websites other than your own to link to yours. And it happens in the real estate niche.
That second part is more important than it sounds. Because real estate — as you probably know all too well — has its own set of rules and requirements.
In other words, it’s hard to convince other real estate websites to link to your real estate website.
They’re often competitors, of course. And when they aren’t, they don’t have a good reason to link to you unless you give them one.
And that’s what link building is all about.
It’s a set of tactics meant to encourage high-quality, real estate-relevant websites with real traffic of their own to link to YOUR real estate site.
And when it’s done right, it can earn you downright impressive rankings in competitive markets. Like this real estate company in Austin, Texas:
I touched on the answer to this question above. You build real estate backlinks because they help your website rank for competitive keywords.
The kinds of keywords that build your business. Like “best real estate agents Miami” and “Seattle real estate brokers.”
You see, Google and other search engines rely HEAVILY on backlinks to determine their search engine rankings.
They see backlinks as votes of confidence for whole websites and individual webpages.
If a bunch of other websites found a reason to link to a particular real estate website, that site must be pretty good. And therefore worthy of high rankings for real estate keywords.
Of course, those high rankings mean your website gets served to Google users searching for services or properties that YOU can provide.
And that’s how link building builds real estate businesses like yours.
With the what and why out of the way, let’s focus on the how. Here are six proven strategies for building real estate backlinks:
Here’s how guest posting works for real estate websites:
Each time you go through that process, you get a backlink.
It’s one of the most scalable and effective link building strategies for real estate companies. But it has also received the most criticism.
I’ll explain why:
People have abused it. They have built networks of spammy sites that provide basically worthless backlinks.
And Google has punished them for it.
But that’s guest posting done wrong. When you work with a reputable provider — or hustle hard and do it yourself — you’re doing it the RIGHT way. That’s the way that boosts your rankings.
Link insertions share some qualities with guest posting. Here’s how they work:
A couple of notes to keep in mind:
First, you’re going to get a TON of rejections with this method. It’s normal. Website owners get link insertion requests several times every day.
That’s why you have to make a compelling offer. Sometimes, that offer involves an exchange of money.
And second, link insertions are more difficult to secure than guest posts but potentially more powerful.
Why? Because the articles you get your links into already exist. That means they already have some standing with Google. They’re likely getting search traffic.
That means you’ll see the benefits of the backlink you get from such an article much more quickly.
Broken link building involves many of the same steps as link insertions.
But the idea is that you find links on other websites that no longer work. And you tell the website owners about those links.
Here’s where you get the backlink:
When you tell the website owner that their link no longer works, you offer a convenient replacement link.
And that replacement link is a link to a page on your website.
You’ve given the website owner a problem (a broken link) and a solution (a link to replace the broken one with) all in one email.
This method can be incredibly effective. But, like the other link building methods we’ve discussed so far, it takes a TON of work.
For example, you have to actually find the broken links. If you do that manually, it will take you roughly 10,000 years.
That’s why I STRONGLY suggest using an SEO tool to find broken links on other websites. Good options include Semrush and Ahrefs.
Media monitoring is a bit more involved than some of the other real estate backlink acquisition methods we’ve discussed so far. But it can yield crazy-powerful backlinks in major publications.
The idea is simple:
You join platforms that connect journalists and bloggers with expert sources. In this case, you are the expert source — an expert in real estate.
Then, you receive daily emails with media requests for sources. When you see a match, you respond to the email with a quote or similar contribution.
If the writer uses your contribution, they will likely include a link to your website to credit you in their article.
The most popular media outreach platform — Help a Reporter Out (HARO) — only allows the most popular websites in the world to use their service to find sources. So if you get a backlink through HARO, you get an insanely powerful backlink.
Just to really drive this point home, I pulled up one of the most recent HARO emails I received. And here’s what I saw:
That’s THE New York Times. You know — one of the most read news websites in the world.
Imagine if you got that backlink. Now, go make it happen.
Digital PR sounds like media monitoring, but it’s different.
When you do media monitoring, you become part of the story. When you do digital PR to obtain real estate backlinks, you CREATE the story.
How do you do that? Usually, you use some kind of data.
You dig through some kind of real estate data and look for an interesting trend, angle, or story. Then, you create a piece of content detailing that trend, angle, or story.
Next, you share it with the media. And if you picked an interesting and original enough story, they’ll pick it up.
When they run their story about your story, they’ll credit you. And that credit usually comes in the form of a backlink.
Done right, this link building method can yield incredible results.
Linkable assets are pieces of content you publish on your website with one purpose: attracting backlinks.
Common examples of linkable assets include statistics articles, ebooks, original studies, and comprehensive guides readers can’t find anywhere else.
This link building method comes with no guarantees. But it also comes with extreme potential for upside.
If you create the right linkable asset, you can get dozens of high-quality real estate backlinks passively.
Here’s an example of a linkable asset for a real estate website: a local real estate statistics article.
Using data your firm has collected through doing business, you could write up some original stats about real estate in your local area. And you’d be the only source of those statistics since the data is yours.
Then, when someone is looking for local real estate stats, they might find your article. And when they cite the stats, they’ll link to it. That’s a backlink.
If you devoted eight hours a day and 40 hours a week to those real estate link building strategies, you might snag some great links, but your business would suffer.
That’s why so many real estate companies outsource their link building.
Of course, then they run into a different problem: Most so-called “link builders” couldn’t build a solid backlink to save their lives.
To call yourself a real estate agent, you have to be licensed. To call yourself a link builder, you have to be able to spell “link builder.”
That’s it.
And that’s why so many less-than-honest individuals sell their “link building services” at premium prices and deliver nothing — or, worse, negative results in the form of a Google link spam penalty.
So, then, what do you do? How do you filter out the bad link builders and find the hidden gems?
Simple. You go to our homepage and click that big, beautiful “Book a Call” button.
Why? Because we’re the best in the business.
I’ve been building backlinks for more than a decade.
I’ve ranked firms like yours for some of the most competitive keywords in the world.
I’ve built up and exited a successful SEO agency.
And I’ve created UppercutSEO to SOLVE your SEO problems. Once and for all.
When you work with us, you get real results, no BS, and a free industry-leading SEO dashboard that acts as your digital marketing command center.
Don’t waste any more time. Your competitors are building powerful backlinks. And the longer the wait, the more clients you miss out on.
Getting started with real estate link building is easy. All you have to do is contact UppercutSEO.
We’ll get your real estate site ranking where it needs to be. Fast.
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