For the past few weeks, I've been learning a lot about SEO and how to get my blogs and websites ranked higher up in the search engines, without paying ungodly amounts of money to all those spamming companies. I've spoken to a few of my regular blog visitors and they've all noticed a change in the formats and how the blog posts are written.
Is that good or bad? It's good on my part, but I can see how it's a little more robotic on their part. However, I'm not blogging just for conversation with other members of ActiveRain. I'm blogging in order to help capture more of my audience and dig deeper into how they are searching different words.
Below are a few examples of how I went from being ranked almost no where for main words, to being consistently ranked on page one. Granted, I'm not in the first position on all terms, but I've made it to the first page, and for only working on this for a few weeks, that's a huge leap in this competitive Austin market.
With "Lake Pointe Bee Cave TX Homes for Sale" I'm ranked #1 and #2!! I'm ranked higher than their main HOA page!!
I was very surprised, but as I would receive leads through my PPC accounts, I found many people searched the term "Hill Country Austin TX" so I incorporated that into my blogs and appear many times on page one.
Falconhead West is the community I live in and there are a couple of other Realtors that live here too, so I'm making sure I'm found being ranked high and often for future business as I meet and get to know my new neighbors.
Lakeway TX is a very popular city in the area, and I have family that live there, so I'm also trying to make sure I capture the eyes of their neighbors.
What you'll notice is that Google isn't finding just my ActiveRain site, but it's also finding my outside blog along with the localism links as well. When you blog about hyper-local content, Google loves you! I'm appearing multiple times for each blog, but on different platforms, and you never know which platform the consumer will like. Even my blogs for the different restaurants and shops in the area are highly ranked on page one.
I am a TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) approved instructor, and I teach MCE classes about creating an internet presence, and I've definitely learned some new things the past few weeks. Thank you to Katerina Gasset for your help and advice with some of the information beyond just the basics. I had never thought about how important long tail keywords were. I always concentrated on the short tail keywords as I felt that was more and most important... but it's not!
Some of the blogs I wrote for the above results are:
Geronimo Park - Apache Shores - Lakeway TX - Quaint Little Park
City of Lakeway TX - Lakeway City Park - Halloween Goblin Glow
Falconhead PGA Golf Course - Bee Cave TX
Real Estate - Lakeway TX Homes for Sale - Austin Texas - Market Activity
Falconhead - Bee Cave TX - Golf Course Community Great Place to Call Home!
Lake Pointe Austin - Bee Cave TX - Market Activity
Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate - Sales Have Increased
Hill Country Galleria Bee Cave Austin TX - Concert Series
Falconhead West Bee Cave TX - TailGate Party was a Success
Falconhead West Bee Cave Austin TX - Tour and Tailgate Party
Real Estate Hill Country Austin TX Homes Are Selling!
Lake Pointe, Austin TX Market Activity
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
For real time Austin TX listings, click here.
** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **
Copyright© 2009 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Hyper-Local Blogging is Loved by Google Juice * was first published on donnahomesblog.com
Well that is some good news. More than ever i need to start posting data about my own areas of expertise! Thanks for the tip!
Donna, I understand the local blogging concept.
At the expense of sounding like a newbie, which unfortunately I am, what does the "Hyper" part refer to?
Russell, Oh no no no, this wasn't for you to read... move along and continue what you're doing!!! ;)
Ted, Hyper is blogging further into a community instead of just the main city you're in. THere are many people fighting for "Austin TX Real Estate" so breaking it further down into a section of Austin or a specific community of Austin makes it Hyper.
Yeah! I am happy to see it all worked out for you. Seems you are ranked pretty high on all those searches. Kudos for implementing these changes.
John, Thanks, and I'm hoping to stick with it!
Hi Donna. Someone reblogged your post and I would have missed it. It's great to see that the long tails have worked for you. It is obviously working. ~ Lana
It's amazing that no matter how good we are or how much we know, there's always room for improvement.
I learned something today from reading your post.
Thank you Donna!
Donna
That a great story.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Donna.. this is awesome ! I'm trying to grasp this concept and boost my rankings as well.
Congratulations on your rankings!! May you reap many more clients as a result! :)
Thanks Donna! You are doing a great job implementing all that you are learning. I know that as you keep on building your presence the google bots will come by to visit more often and find your great content that actually provides good information for your searchers. I am going to reblog too. Thanks so much for the mention in your post. Katerina
Donna- Thanks for sharing your results and most importantly what you did to get those results. Congrats on getting great placement with google!
The Golden Rule of Search Engines: Where you are, what you are, who you are, when you are... You got it!
Donna,
You have figured out some really great stuff. Thanks for sharing with the community. Need to put some of these ideas into good use and see how they play out.
congrats on your success. i always get what i need here. i was overwhelmed about this whole seo thing and when i searched for seo services and saw the prices, i decided that i had better sit my little self down and learn,lol i see it works.
Hi Donna - It's impressive how quickly you've moved up the search results in the Austin market. Being new in the area this must be a big relief for you.
Donna- thanks for sharing with us what has been working for you. Hyper local blogging takes some work, but it is well worth it.
Donna, Thanks so much for the post. That is definitely "ActiveRain Ambassador" type of material. You are the kind of person that makes ActiveRain so incredibly relevant and helpful.
Everything depends on intensity of your competition in a local area. The best way is to find niche key words and expoit them instead of trying to compete in cliche key words. You are abviously doing the right thing.
Donna ~ we're hyper-excited about getting Google results that are as juicy as yours. Great post!
Hi Donna... Lots of food for thought in this post. We should all be taking note of this!
Donna can I play with your little gold star when your done sharing it with everyone else? Don't give Steve any.
Donna
Good for you. You are finding, like many others, that hyper-local articles will get you where you need to be adn with less competition. I have had things end up on page 1 within hours in a few cases. Amazing. It doesn't always happen the way I expect, and some leads come from articles that are not highly ranked. I suspect this is true for others as well. I think it's important, however, to write for the consumer, and not JUST for Google. But that's just me.
Keep up the good work!!
Jeff
Great Post Donna and congrats on mastering the long tail. Getting to the top of the search engines is great...just make sure you keep giving your target audience a reason to keep returning! Good job!
Donna, You make it sound so easy. I have to learn to blog with long tail key words, i have read about it on AR, but am not sure if I am doing it correctly. Is there any chance that you could do a webinar for other Active Rainers?
We talked about long tails alot in RainCamp. Definitely worth understanding if you are doing any blogging or SEO work. Thanks for all the titles, gave me some good ideas to use here. Sounds like Austin is treating you pretty good.
Hi Donna, I am always interested in ideas to get a good page rank. Like you, I have not paid for SEO, even though many have marketed to me. My website is currently ranked 3/10 on Google. I am currently working on Keywords. By the time I am done, my goal is to get a ranking of 7-8, wherein I can overtake the market leaders in New Mexico. Very good topic
Donna,
Congratulations. Your hard work paid off. Thanks for some good ideas. It seems that hyper local blogging is a great place to start.
This certainly gives me something to think about. Thank you.
Donna Congratulations on getting your ranking improved . It make sense that this is the way to go.
Donna, thanks for helping spread the word about SEO and hyper local content. It's been working great for me and I hope real estate agents everywhere...except in my area...take your advice.
Donna,
I also noticed from your blog that you post very regularly. That's also got to be a key to the success you're seeing. Thanks for the insights!
Donna-Thank you for sharing your tips with us! I've always found the whole SEO thing very overwhelming, but I'm trying to master it bit by bit. Where would you suggest I visit to learn more...starting with the basics? And what are long-tail keywords?
Thanks again for sharing!
Donna, High Five for the great job you are doing implementing the SEO skills you are learning in class. It's great to see the results in for the blogging taking rank right before your eyes. AND congratulations on the feature too.
I also recommend Katerina's SEO class.
Donna - To me, your testimonials about rapidly moving up Google using hyper-local content is much more valuable to me than a large number of similar testimonials from other ActiveRainers for one key reason. You are in a large city of 768,000 people and in a census metropolitan area (Austin-Round Rock Metropolian Area) of 1.6 million. Although Austin is smaller than Toronto (approx population 2.5 million, Greater Toronto Area, roughly 5 million). it gives me a good sense of the power of hyper-local content in very competitive markets.
Donna, this is great information. I am going to take another look at my blog and how I'm writing things to get better positioning in google. Thanks.
I have recently discovered the same success. I learned so much about these techniques in a short one day class called RainCamp! One of the things that I have noticed in the past 3 weeks is that the more I write focusing on my long tail search phrases, the higher ranked I become for my short ones. I find this to be a very pleasant side effect.
Lana, THanks for letting me know about the reblog.
Craig, I'm glad I could help.
Lou, Thanks!
Marisa, Good for you.
Roland, Good luck!
Sonja, I sure hope so!
Katerina, No prob!
D & V, Not all secrets revealed!
Rene, Thanks!
Esko, Good luck!
Donna - Congrats on your success! You are right....hyper-local posts are DEFINITELY where it's at! :)
Donna, great job getting to the top of google with your post. It's very exciting because it really does work. Keep going!! Kate
Dee, Yes, it does work, but learn it the right way.
John, Yes, very much!
JB, Yep, you can't talk in generals, you have to be specific, but that shows people you know your stuff.
Mari, I'm too busy to be an Ambassador, so I didn't sign up. I did that on another forum for a couple of years, and it took too many hours to police and help. I like doing it on my own schedule.
IBR, Exactly!
Maureen, Good luck!
Steve, Glad you learned something new.
Greg, I'm a sharing person, so of course!
Jeff, My post about Apache Shores showed up as #1 in 4 minutes! It might have been sooner, but that's when I checked it.
Amy, I'm trying!
Sybil, Check out Katerina Gasset's blog as she put together a webinar for AR (and other) people.
Debra, It has nothing to do with Austin...
Lloyd, Good luck. Those are aggressive goals.
Hi Donna, I think this means that you're ready to graduate from SEO class! Congratulations on your Google rankings, I hope it turns into lots of sales for you.
Robert, It's starting to pay off, but still a long way to go.
Aaron, Don't just think about it... implement!
Jennifer, Thanks!
Dave, That's why I told Russell in the very first comment to not listen to me and to move along!!
Ray, Yes, postly regularly shows Google you're a source of information.
Barbara, Long tail keywords are long phrases people search. Like you're in Maine. Instead of using Maine Real Estate, you use your niche. Maine Waterfront Homes for Sale; Maine Vacation Homes for sale... but break it down to the city. I see MidCoast all over your profile, but do people use that term to search?
Kathryn, Thank so much!
Marc, I'm glad my information was useful to me. I also would roll my eyes when someone in a small town would brag about getting to page 1. Not much competition there, but we have just shy of 9000 Realtors in my market!
June, Good for you!
Mark H, I've only been in the Austin market a few short months, so my short tail words haven't taken flight yet, but I've got my fingers crossed!
Coleen, Thanks!
Kate, Thank you!
Tamara, Still lots to implement. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this information on this particular subject. One can always improve from each blog post. It is bookmarked.
Donna, how do you figure out which long-tail keywords people are searching under?
Great info, Donna. Thanks!
@Donna, how do I learn it the right way? lol there's so much out there, it gives me a brain freeze...
Good post here today. Thanks for the tip!.
Patricia Seacoast NH
This is a lesson once learned we all put to the test. Barrington short sales - I have 6 out of the first 10 positions on Google. Totally Awesome!
It is good to see that the SEO work is helping out. Congratulations.
Hi Donna:
Great post. Do you find that your blog is bringing in leads or just hits on your website?
Lisa
Thanks for sharing. We have been trying to improve our blog and this information confirms we are on the right track.
Harry, You're very welcome!
Lori, There are various websites that show stats.
Shannon, No prob!
Dee, Honestly, for me, it was trial and error. I take pieces here and pieces there and put them together. It's only "wrong" if you keep doing the same thing with no results.
Patricia, Thanks.
Corinne, Good for you!
Damon, It definitely is!
Lisa B, I wouldn't be blogging if it wasn't putting money in my pockets! I've closed 17 transactions directly related to ActiveRain blogging.
Kathy, Good!
Go girl! I learned from Katerina Gasset and Bob Stewart - longtail is the 'key' to great Google results.
Donna
Your blog gave a general overview....while good...either it's me or I just did not get how you incorporated it.
Did you place those long keyword phrases in your blogs itself? A website too? I go nuts trying to figure this out, and am certainly not an expert by any means.
Anyway that you could point me in the right direction for help would be appreciated.
Best Regards and congratulations.
Hi Donna, Terrific post and mini tutorial about getting the " Juice " flowing . Well done !
Donna,
thanks for the tip and especially the links to the blog to see it in action. I also liked your signature for your blogs that includes the local info and the link to available listings. Will try to implement some of these ideas in my own blog.
Very cool Donna! I am going to go visit these other blogs you have posted and see what else I can learn! Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Donna. I am fairly new to Active Rain and to blogging. I'm learning as much as I can as fast as I can. Posts like this are much appreciated. Thanks!
Donna - Longtail keywords is something I definitely need to work on and will take a look at your blogs. Thank you for sharing!
I'm glad you enjoyed the class. I also took it last Spring and my hyper-blogging definitely has improved. When I first attended Katerina's class, I was on my way to create my new website. It was at page 26 then and 6 months later, I find myself on page 4 - the last time I checked several weeks ago. It works!
I also was on the #4 spot of Yahoo within a month of implementing the steps Katerina taught.
I'm glad you are getting the same results. Bee Cave Realtor!
Donna - that is awesome! How are you finding out what are the top words people are searching for?
Thanks again! pippa
Virginia, THanks!
Thor, THe long tail words are in the titles as well as in the post itself.
Bill, Thanks!
THomas, Good luck!
Emily, You're welcome.
Cheryl, No prob...
Leslie, Great, good luck!
Michelle, You're welcome.
Loreena, Good for you!
Pippa, Mostly through my PPC acccount showing me the search terms people used for my site to come up.
Donna,
It looks like hyper local is working really well for you. I'll be looking forward to hearing your success stories over the next few months.
Christine, I've closed 17 transactions directly from AR, and more are to come.
17 Transactions, WOW!
That is great!
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Great educational blog! There's nothing worse that having to pay gobs and gobs of $ in this market to boost your juice!
Sounds like good advice, Donna. I'm spearheading my mom's 2010 online marketing plan and blogging is #1 on the agenda. But man, is it hard to get her to blog! She's an awesome agent (client satisfaction & $$) but blogging is not a natural for her. It seems like what's working for you are longtail, hyper-local terms related to neighborhoods and city names. Is there any other advice you wish to give mom and me on this subject? If not, I understand. Godspeed in 2010! -eric
Internet Video
Local Tours
Real Estate Marketing Lab
I can hit it in 4 different ways with hyper local. AR blog, outside blog, Localism, and some of the hyper local web sites I am making.
Good to get ranked, but how to get the calls.
Great article. The long-tail approach is awesome and I'm digging deeper into learning more about Google ranking and Google Juice. It's great information shared by AR members that keep me learning. Thanks for posting!
Good stats with that 17. Did want to know how you decide which keywords to use? What guide do you decide from? Google Keyword Tool? Just wondering on what the consensus was.
Donna, that is what I am trying to do. Just writing on Boulder City, Nevada as much as possible. Seems to be working.
Boulder City Steve
Donna:
You have given me some ideas and a motive to ratchet things up.
Thanks,Ty
That's great information. Thanks so much for sharing!
What caused the resurrection of this old post?
Jim and Cathy, It's well over 17 transactions to date as it's several months later...
Dean and Sonia, Exactly!
Eric, Just being consistent helps a lot!
Gene, That's great!
Jirius, You wait for people to search the words you're writing about. If you write, they will call.
Ryan, Good Luck!
Lyn, I've used Google Keywords, but mainly, I've typed in words that I felt people would search and started from there.
Steve, Make sure you don't put the comma between Boulder City and Nevada and you'll rank higher.
Ty, Good luck!
Nicole, You're welcome.
Donna,
I'm glad to hear about your SE ranking success using long tail keywords. I have experienced the same writing hyper local post on my blog. In your Austin, TX market, which is much larger and more competitive than mine, it is a smart strategy to target any and all relevant keywords.
Mary, Thank you and good luck with yours.
Great article and congrats on your success making it to the top in Google!
In reading your examples, i'm wondering if i have to put the name of the town first in the title instead of in the middle or end. hum?>.
Thanks for the inspiration. I need to work on more local content.