Getting your property management company to rank higher can actually be simpler than you think. Today we are going to describe two main indicators that search engines look at: citations & backlinks. This is what all major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) look for as a key ranking factor for your website.
How Citations and Backlinks Help Property Management Companies
When your business information is located on other websites, search engines notice. A citation is your NAP (business name, address and/or phone number) showing up on directory websites like Yelp, Google+, Yellow Pages, etc. A backlink is a link/URL to your website from another website. This is the easiest way for search engines to determine how relevant your business is.
So with everything else being equal for two property management companies, the company with more backlinks and citations will rank higher.
Backlinks – Content Brings in Links
At Fourandhalf, we talk about content all the time, and for good reason. If you have great content on your site, the easier it’ll be to get links. A website with good quality content is far more attractive for someone to link to rather than a website with little content. Google, Yahoo and Bing will know that your site is the one they want to rank higher because they know that people are talking about it, which helps them determine how relevant of a business you are.
How to Check Your Citations
One issue that a lot of local businesses run into is inconsistent information of your NAP on online databases; search engines rely on this information so they know what to display. A great tool to check out how your business information is displayed is by using the Check Listing feature by Moz.
The Best Sites for Backlinks and Citations
Some websites have more strength than others when it comes to backlinks and citations. For example, government (.gov) and educational (.edu) websites carry weight due to their credibility. Other good sources for backlinks and citations include city-specific blogs that get a lot of traffic and rank high on search. That’s just one of the reasons why it is wise to join your local NARPM chapter or the city Chamber of Commerce so you get those links pointed to your site. It’s an added benefit to the membership.
SEO can be fairly complex, but understanding backlinks and citations can simplify things and help you rank higher than your competitors.
If you want to start posting great content or you need ideas about how to be more competitive, please contact us at Fourandhalf, where we do marketing specifically for property managers.
