Most agents skip keyword research entirely. They write blog posts about topics they personally find interesting, publish neighborhood guides based on their own market knowledge, and wonder why the site gets 40 visits a month.
Keyword research is how you decide what to create in the first place. It’s the difference between content that compounds and content nobody ever finds.
Why Keyword Research Matters in Real Estate
Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin own the top of Google for almost every broad real estate search. “Homes for sale.” “Real estate agent.” You’re not winning those as an independent agent or boutique brokerage, at least not right away.
What you can win is specificity.
The large players are unlikely to go for highly specific neighborhoods and queries such as “3-bedroom homes for sale in Scottsdale under $500k”. The additional benefit of optimizing for these “long tail” keywords is that specificity = greater transactional intent.
Finding the best keywords for real estate means thinking about intent before volume. It’s about figuring out who’s making the search, what they want, and whether you’re actually the right answer. A term that sends a thousand visitors who aren’t ready to transact is worth less than one that sends fifty who are.
You don’t need to chase high volume keywords to be successful. You just need to find the best ones that convert.
Step 1: Understand the Types of Real Estate Keywords
Real estate keywords fall into four categories, each playing a different role in your strategy.
Transactional Keywords
These are the money searches. “Homes for sale in Austin,” “buy a house in Denver,” “condos for sale downtown Chicago.”
Someone searching these terms is ready to act. The catch, they’re the most competitive keywords in real estate.
Informational Keywords
These attract people who are researching, not yet buying or selling. “How to buy a house with bad credit,” “what is a buyer’s agent,” “steps to selling your home.”
They’re excellent for blog content that builds trust with people who are 3 to 6 months away from a transaction. The only issue with these keywords is that they are being slowly eaten up by the AI overviews.
However, you still need to have this foundational information available on your website so that search engines know what you actually do and can tie your business to other entities in their knowledge graph.
Local Keywords
This is where most independent agents have their biggest opportunity. “Real estate agent in Tampa,” “best neighborhoods in Nashville,” “average home price in Phoenix.”
Local keywords combine topic and geography, which is exactly how buyers and sellers in your specific market search. These are often hidden gems as the you can infer that the people making these queries are likely in close proximity to you.
Long-Tail Keywords
These are longer, more specific phrases. “First-time homebuyer programs in Colorado Springs.” “Pet-friendly condos for sale in Seattle.” “What’s the best school district in Plano TX.”
Search volume is lower, but conversion rates are higher. Someone typing a 6-word phrase knows exactly what they want and is a lot closer to a decision.
Step 2: Check Search Intent Before You Write Anything
Most keyword guides tell you to find terms with decent volume and low competition. What they skip is checking what Google actually returns for that query.
If your content doesn’t match the search intent, you won’t rank regardless of how well the page is optimized.
Before targeting any keyword, search it in Google and look at the first five results. Ask yourself:
- Are these blog posts or property listing pages?
- Are they step-by-step guides, FAQs, or service landing pages?
- Is Google showing a “People Also Ask” box, a local map pack, or a video carousel?
That tells you exactly what content type belongs for that query.
💡 Pro Tip: When you see a “People Also Ask” box, screenshot every question. Each one is a real query people are actively searching and they make excellent blog post topics, FAQ sections, and H3 subheadings.
Step 3: Build Your Seed Keyword List
Open a blank document and brainstorm the core topics your business covers. Think about:
- The cities and neighborhoods you serve
- Property types you specialize in: single-family, luxury, condos, land, investment
- Client types: first-time buyers, relocating families, retirees, investors
- Questions clients ask you during consultations (these are almost always the exact phrases they search)
From those notes, build structured seed phrases:
- “homes for sale [city]”
- “real estate agent [city]”
- “buy a house in [neighborhood]”
- “selling a home in [city]”
- “investment properties [city]”
- “moving to [city] guide”
- “best neighborhoods in [city]”
- “first-time homebuyer [city]”
These are starting points you’ll run through tools to uncover the actual phrases people are typing.
Step 4: Use the Right Keyword Research Tools
Google Keyword Planner is free with a Google Ads account. Enter your seed terms and it returns search volume, competition level, and related keyword ideas. It’s the right starting point if you’re not ready to pay for a dedicated SEO tool.
Ubersuggest has a solid free tier. It shows keyword suggestions, search volume, difficulty scores, and content ideas. For a solo agent doing keyword research once a quarter, it’s often enough.
Ahrefs or Semrush are the serious options. They show search volume, keyword difficulty, what competitors rank for, and content gaps. If SEO is a real business priority, the $100 to $130 per month pays for itself quickly when you find a cluster of low-competition keywords your competitors are ignoring.
Google Search itself is underrated. Type your seed terms into the search bar and watch what autocomplete fills in. Scroll to the bottom of any results page and read the “Related searches” section for another layer of real queries at no cost.
For each keyword you find, capture three things: monthly search volume, keyword difficulty score, and search intent. A spreadsheet with those three columns is all you need.
💡 Pro Tip: Open Google Search Console and go to Performance > Search results. Sort the Queries tab by Impressions. You’ll find keywords your site is already showing up for but not yet ranking well on. Optimizing those existing pages is almost always faster than creating new ones from scratch.
Step 5: Analyze Your Competitors
Pick 3 to 5 real estate websites that rank well in your area (other agents, local brokerages, or city-focused real estate blogs) and enter their URLs into Ahrefs, Semrush, or the free version of Ubersuggest.
Look for which keywords drive the most traffic, which pages rank highest, and where they have obvious gaps. A competitor ranking for “best school districts in [city]” with a 600-word article from 2021 is an open invitation to build something better and take the spot.
Step 6: Evaluate and Prioritize Your Keywords
Narrow your list down to what’s actually worth pursuing using these four criteria.
Search volume: For local terms, aim for at least 50 to 100 monthly searches. Broader terms have higher volume but are much harder to rank for with limited domain authority.
Keyword difficulty: Focus on terms with a difficulty score below 40 on a 0-to-100 scale. Anything higher typically takes 12 or more months and serious backlink building to move the needle.
Search intent: Does this query attract people who match your ideal client? High-volume traffic from out-of-market visitors or renters who’ll never transact doesn’t help.
Business value: Will ranking for this term generate leads? Transactional and local keywords score high here. A purely informational post about national mortgage trends might attract traffic but produce zero contacts.
Build a prioritized shortlist of 20 to 30 keywords. These become the backbone of your content calendar for the next 6 months.
Step 7: Map Keywords to Specific Pages
Every keyword needs a home: one keyword (or a tight cluster of related keywords) per page. Targeting the same keyword across multiple pages creates “keyword cannibalization,” where your own pages compete against each other and neither ranks well.
Homepage: Target your primary service and location. “Real estate agent in [city].” One primary keyword, two or three related variations.
Neighborhood pages: One page per neighborhood or market area, targeting “[neighborhood] homes for sale” or “living in [neighborhood].” These are some of the highest-value pages an agent site can have.
Service pages (buyer representation, seller representation, luxury, relocation) should each target the relevant transactional keyword for that service.
Blog posts are where informational and long-tail keywords live. “How much does it cost to sell a home in [city],” “first-time homebuyer tips for [city],” “is now a good time to buy in [neighborhood].”
Community guides (“Moving to [city] guide,” “best schools in [neighborhood]”) attract people in the early research phase. A genuinely useful guide keeps them coming back, and it’s often the page that earns you the phone call.
Step 8: Think Local First With Your Keywords
You won’t outrank Zillow for “homes for sale.” You can outrank them for “homes for sale in [your specific neighborhood]” if your keyword targeting is specific enough.
Most agents stop at the city level, but the buyers who are ready to move are searching at the neighborhood level. That’s where the opportunity is.
Build out keyword targets for every geographic layer you serve:
- City level: “real estate agent in [city],” “homes for sale in [city]”
- Neighborhood level: “[neighborhood] homes for sale,” “living in [neighborhood]”
- Hyperlocal: “homes near [school name],” “condos in [zip code],” “houses for sale near [landmark]”
Each layer deserves its own dedicated page. One page, one geographic target.
Keyword targeting gets you pointed in the right direction, but ranking in the map pack takes more than the right phrases on your pages. Once your keyword targets are set, the work shifts to local SEO which involves building out your Google Business Profile, keeping your business info consistent across directories, and earning consistent reviews.
Step 9: Track, Measure, and Adjust
Publishing content is step one. Measuring what happens after is how you get better at this.
Google Search Console (free) shows which queries are generating impressions and clicks, your average ranking position, and which pages drive the most organic traffic. Keywords where your average position falls between 8 and 15 are one or two content improvements away from page one. Those are your fastest wins.
Google Analytics tells you what happens after someone arrives. Which pages lead to contact form submissions? Which have high bounce rates? Use this to identify which content types actually convert, then build more of what works.
Review both tools monthly. Look for keywords that moved from page 2 to page 1, terms where you’re stuck, and new queries appearing in Search Console you haven’t targeted yet.
Most new pages take 3 to 6 months to gain traction. The agents who stay consistent during that stretch end up with a site that generates leads while they’re out showing homes.
Putting It All Together
Start with a seed list built from your real business. Use tools to expand it, check search intent before you write anything, and study what’s working in your local market.
Find the gaps, map every keyword to a specific page, and track performance every month. The agents who win in organic search are the ones who research first and publish second.