Developing a list of keywords is an essential early step to taking control of your SEO as a real estate investor. It’s also a step that cannot be taken lightly. The topics, phrases, and terms that you use will play a powerful role in your success or failure.
One of the most important things to remember when choosing keywords is that you must match them to the traffic you want for your website. You aren’t likely to get the results you want if you try to capture as much traffic as possible.
In this guide, you’re going to learn what it means to choose keywords for searcher intent. Then, you’re going to be introduced to sets of keywords that match user intent for different real estate investing purposes. For each one, you’ll get lists of example keywords you can use.
At the end, you’ll get some tips for taking these starter lists of keywords and turning them into a professional set that you can use to compete with other investors.
What is Searcher Intent, and what role does it play in real estate SEO?
Searcher intent refers to the need that is driving a user when they perform a search. Many searchers are trying to sell their homes, but they don’t all have the same preferences or sense of urgency.
You need to make decisions based on intent because Google’s algorithm resists letting you target every type of search simultaneously. If you don’t focus your keywords around a specific intent, your pages won’t rank competitively for any of them.
Urgency is a key factor for many real estate investors. You want sellers who are as eager to sell as possible. Standard keywords like “sell my home” may not be useful to you, because that keyword is used by all types of home sellers—including those who will hold out for years to get the right offer.
However, intent (and awareness of terms) isn’t even the same among a narrow group like motivated sellers. In the following sections, you’re going to be introduced to 4 families of keywords for real estate investors. You’ll when they should be used, and the keywords you can use to target the right intent.
- Sell house fast
- Cash for houses
- We buy houses
- Buy my home
Sell house fast
One of the easiest ways to target motivated sellers is to target people who want to sell their home “fast”. These home sellers may be motivated by many different factors that can be further targeted in your titles, content and design. They may be experiencing:
- A job relocation
- Retirement downsizing
- A desire to change school districts in time for registration
To target these search searchers, make sure that your site and practices are consistent with the keywords you are using. To build trust with them, you should have an information request form front-and-center. Make sure to respond to any messages from them quickly.
The following sample keywords can help you attract them from the search page.
Sample Keywords
| Keyword | Volume | Keyword difficulty |
| best way to sell house and buy another | 90 | 87.63 |
| desperate to sell house | 90 | 78.71 |
| how to sell house quickly | 390 | 86.4 |
| i need to sell house fast | 50 | 77.84 |
| i sell houses | 210 | 82.48 |
| need to sell house fast | 170 | 77.39 |
| people who sell houses | 590 | 89.64 |
| prayer to st joseph to sell house fast | 210 | 60.66 |
| sell house fast | 2400 | 74.45 |
| sell house fast for cash | 210 | 66.03 |
| sell house for cash | 1300 | 67.17 |
| sell house online | 590 | 80.6 |
| sell house quickly | 590 | 75.65 |
| sell house to company | 880 | 78.38 |
| simple sell house | 90 | 60.19 |
Cash for houses
Motivated sellers may communicate their intent by using terms that indicate they want to sell their homes for cash. This is a distinct intent. Unlike the last set of sellers, they may not want to sell fast if they can’t get cash.
Cash sellers are often fine with taking a loss as long as they can get the price in cold cash. That makes this set great keywords for real estate investors. In order to target them more effectively, consider other motivations. Sellers who are looking for cash may be motivated by:
- A preference for cash in all matters
- A need for capital to resolve debts
- Will to move onto their own next investment property
Consider that cash-motivated sellers may also be real estate investors. If you find that many of your site’s visitors have this in common, you can target it in the rest of your content.
Sample Keywords
| Keyword | Volume | Keyword difficulty |
| cash for houses | 1900 | 55.09 |
| cash for houses near me | 90 | 0 |
| cash for houses reviews | 40 | 71.24 |
| cash for houses scams | 110 | 61.51 |
| people who pay cash for houses | 50 | 74.57 |
| we pay cash for houses | 140 | 60.58 |
| we pay cash for houses scam | 70 | 62.52 |
We buy houses
“We buy houses” is a phrase that has been used by many major real estate businesses in slogans and advertisements. As a result, it has a high level of penetration in the market.
Searchers who use the phrase are motivated by the intent to find a buyer quickly. If they’re searching for buyers, it’s important to consider that they may want more information about the company they’re selling to than other types of searches.
If you choose to target this family of keywords, make sure you the page that they’re landing on has some information about how you set yourself apart from other local home buyers.
Sample Keywords
| Keyword | Volume | Keyword difficulty |
| we buy houses | 12100 | 53.02 |
| we buy houses any condition | 210 | 51.33 |
| we buy houses as is | 90 | 0 |
| we buy houses asap | 50 | 39.58 |
| we buy houses fast | 390 | 47.69 |
| we buy houses fast for cash | 170 | 47.31 |
| we buy houses for cash | 2900 | 58.93 |
| we buy houses for cash near me | 480 | 59.49 |
| we buy houses for cash reviews | 390 | 67.39 |
| we buy houses fort worth | 110 | 40.63 |
| we buy houses full price | 70 | 57.11 |
| we buy houses homes | 90 | 0 |
| we buy houses near me | 260 | 58.19 |
| we buy houses pros and cons | 70 | 50.9 |
| we buy houses reviews | 480 | 64.77 |
Buy my home
Another way that searchers search directly for buyers is by using verb phrases like “buy my home.” This directness often signals a will to sell quickly. The additional search terms they use, such as “buy my home now”, or “buy my house fast” can signal more about their intent.
With this family of keywords, it’s important to watch incoming traffic to see what additional terms are being used most often.
Sample Keywords
| Keyword | Volume | Keyword difficulty |
| buy my home | 390 | 64.14 |
| buy my home for cash | 140 | 71.82 |
| buy my home for cash now | 70 | 64.92 |
| buy my house | 2900 | 59.96 |
| buy my house and rent it back to me | 50 | 69.44 |
| buy my house as is | 70 | 69.1 |
| buy my house fast | 140 | 46.78 |
| buy my house fast reviews | 90 | 62.96 |
| buy my house for cash | 390 | 65.23 |
| buy my house now | 390 | 59.31 |
| buy my house website | 90 | 57.74 |
| how to find an investor to buy my house | 70 | 61.08 |
| investors to buy my house | 50 | 69.1 |
| need someone to buy my house | 50 | 62.54 |
| someone wants to buy my house for cash | 50 | 78.88 |
Developing New Keywords
These starter sets of keywords will be useful for initially optimizing your site. Still, suppose you want to compete with other real estate investors who understand SEO. In that case, you will need to implement more specific and professional sets built by a real estate investor SEO team.
Here are some tips for how you can turn your starter lists into something more powerful
- Go local: The importance of making your keywords local cannot be overstated. Nearly all property buyers are looking for property in a specific area. Your keywords should include local regions.
- Be specific: If you purchase properties that are even more specialized than the lists provided here, make sure that you choose keywords that are just as specific.
- Go Pro: Experts who handle real estate investor SEO create lists that involve hundreds of related terms rather than just a few general ones. They also know how to deploy keywords for the most potent effect
