5 Tips for Property Paid Search Marketing

Paid Search (PPC) marketing is getting more and more competitive. Opposition for keywords is intense. Utilising as many relevant optimisation techniques as possible helps deliver effective results, at cost-effective prices.

We have been managing successful Paid Search property marketing for years. We’ve ridden the waves in the industry, adapting our approach and utilising all the exclusive new features we get our hands on through our Premier Partner status with Google.

We could have listed countless tips in this article… and our team would love to tell you more… but for now, here are our top 5!

1. Location, Location, Location… based keywords & ad copy…

Location-based search terms make up a large proportion of terms searched when researching to buy a property. Bidding on these keywords, along with surrounding areas, should ensure we target people who are actively in the market for a new home. The next task is to create a complementing piece of ad copy to entice them to the website. Adapting the ad copy to include the location-based search term within headline one is vital when it comes to creating ad copy. In order to increase ad relevancy, we recommend including the keyword in headline one and then following up with a call to action in headline 2 or 3 (if applicable). The rest of the ad copy can be used to highlight core USPs of the development such as the number of beds, location, price and offers.

2. Make use of all relevant ad extensions

Making the most of expanded sitelinks along with other ad extensions such as callouts, snippets, price and location are also recommended. It is widely known that including additional extensions will noticeably increase the size of the ad and improve the click through rates and quality score, improving the overall cost-per-click. When people are searching for a new property it is vital to provide as much relevant information about the development as possible: the more information you provide, the more likely the customer will click the ad and generate a lead.

You may find that in some cases the keyword you are bidding on, for example, “New Homes in Worthing”, is relatively competitive and you may not be the only advertiser bidding for that term. By including all of the above recommendations you will increase the chances of your ad appearing in position one, as Google has rewarded you with a high quality score. It will also ensure you drive a more engaged user to the website who is more likely to be interested in the property you are selling.

3. Refine your campaign’s geo-targeting

Geo-targeting within Google Ads ensures your PPC ads appear in whichever geographic locations you choose, be that countries, areas within a country, a radius around a location, or location groups (which can include places of interest) and your business locations.

When targeting a specific housing development, you would typically look at targeting the location by a defined radius of that development area, in order to get the best and most relevant audience. In this case, you would have a geographical net around the development in which all search queries you are bidding on would be picked up and your ad would be served there. This can enable you to target a customer who is more likely to be engaged with your website as it is relevant to their location. Geo-targeting can help advertisers to focus on the areas where they will find the right type of customer and restrict the areas where they won’t. This specific targeting will help to improve ROI as a result and can be used for both search and display campaigns.

4. Remarketing to your potential customers

Buying a house is a long, considered process. Not something which you decide on almost instantly (like buying a pair of shoes for example). Users tend to visit a website multiple times to see which houses are available; to get more information; to check the phone number or confirm the opening hours.

With Google Ads and/or Google Analytics you can set up remarketing lists, and then effectively use these within a campaign.

By creating a list of users who have visited the website and not converted, you can retarget these users and remind them who you are and what you have to offer. This will increase the chances that they will convert on the website, by requesting more information (a PDF brochure download for example) or booking an appointment to view their potential new home.

Remarketing can be used within both search and display campaigns. Dynamic remarketing uses the same method as a standard display campaign (targeting an audience list) but pulls data for the adverts through a feed.

This feed allows you to showcase each home that is available for a development and create an advert design yourself. Dynamic remarketing is great for drawing a user back to a website as it shows a house type that they were previously looking at on the website. We have found the use of personalisation in our remarketing strategies has significantly increased conversion rates for our clients.

5. Build brand awareness

It is fundamental that in the months before a development goes live brand awareness activity occurs. This is the process by which your target audience is made aware of a new development across PPC channels such as Google Display Network (GDN), Gmail and YouTube.

This brand awareness activity helps to build initial interest at the beginning of a customers purchasing journey which can be capitalised on later by an effective search campaign. GDN adverts appear in ad spaces on some of the 2 million websites that make up the Google Display Network. Gmail adverts appear at the top of a user’s email account. YouTube adverts are video ads that can appear either before a user’s selected video or as bumper adverts during the video. Each of these channels help to target the relevant audiences who may be interested in your property but may not be currently aware of it.

GDN, Gmail and YouTube offer demographic targeting options such as age, gender, parental status and location. There is also the possibility of targeting pre-defined or custom Google audience groups. We can target those that Google deems to be in the market right now for a house or an apartment to buy or rent based on their recent browsing history. Adverts could also be shown to those Google considers likely to be moving soon based on changes in their purchasing behaviour. For example, someone who’s about to move will likely buy new furniture, removal services, mortgages and other moving-related items during the months of their move. It is also possible to create our own audiences based on keywords and URLs. For example, if we wanted to target nurses for a particular development, we could use keywords and URLs they would regularly visit to target this more niche audience.

These are just a few tips to get you started to the path to paid search property marketing success. To find out more please contact one of our dedicated PPC specialists – we’d be delighted to talk to you!