Stop reading if you already show up on the first page of Google for "[your town] property management"

For everyone else, this is a practical guide on how to dominate your local search results for property management. We're writing down the exact playbook we used at our management company (before starting RentEngine).

We don't expect you to write your own blog posts or optimize your website. Instead, we'll show you how to get started and how to hire a great freelancer for the best results.

Just a couple things to get out of the way:

It takes at least 3-4 months of consistent SEO investment before you start seeing results
You shouldn't do all this work yourself. We'll show you what matters and how to find the right freelancers
Expect to spend $2,000-$3,000/month to be on the first page of Google for property management in a big city. But you can start seeing results with $500-600/month
If you stop investing in SEO, your competitors will eventually surpass you

Alright, let's get into it!

First, what actually is SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's the strategies you take to boost your ranking on Google.

Google wants to show its users the most trustworthy and relevant content. It does this by indexing the information on your website (called "content") and also seeing how much other websites link to you (called "backlinks"). They also take into account your websites age, design and load speed. When a user submits their Google search, Google combines all this collected data to rank the matching websites.

SEO is all about improving your content, backlinks and website so it ranks higher on Google.

And because you're running a local business, there's a couple of extra things you'll need to do - like location pages and Google My Business.

Website - Keep it simple and owner-targeted

Google gives a lot more weight to domains that have been around for a long time. It makes sense, older domains mean the company has been in business for longer and is more credible.

For best results, focus your website on property owners (aka the clients who pay you).

Owners will be target of your SEO investments. The goal is to make it easy for them to click on your page and understand that you're an experienced local PM. This will dramatically increase your conversion rates.

You don't need anything fancy to start. Here are the bare minimum of pages we recommend:

Home page (who do you serve and what do you do; be clear that you do "property management for [town]")
Services page (what specific services do you offer; also good place to add pricing)
About page (why did you start the business and who works there)
Location pages (one for each neighborhood that you serve, very important)
Contact Us page
Blog page (this is where all your content will go)

Get this launched as soon as you can so that Google can start indexing it.

Content - Be relevant to investors who are searching for local PMs

As soon as your website it launched, you'll want to start adding useful content. Remember, Google prioritizes websites that are "domain experts", which means websites that are full of content that is relevant to what the person is searching for. This content is usually a blog post that covers a single topic (like "Best neighborhoods to invest in Miami")

You shouldn't write this content yourself

It's simply not worth your time and there are amazing freelancers who can do this very well at a low price.

So instead of telling you what to write, I'll tell you how to hire a content writer and what to expect from them

How to hire an amazing SEO content writer

Upwork is a website that connects freelancers all over the world to business owners. You'll be able to search for, interview and hire your content writer (and anything else like website designers)

In your job description say that you are "looking for an SEO content writer with experience in local SEO". Don't set an hourly limit yet. Post the job and wait about two days before you start reviewing applications.

To review the applications, start from the top of the list (Upwork automatically shows you the best matches first). Look at each candidates cover letter, # of jobs completed and work portfolio. Pick 5-10 freelancers that you think could be a good fit and schedule 15 minute interviews with each one.

Top tip: Kenya is a great place for SEO content writers. They are natively fluent in English, well-priced and have a booming content writing industry.

During the interview focus on these:

Fluent in English (written and spoken, this is non-negotiable)
At least 2 years of SEO content experience, preferably with real estate

Pick your favorite and make them an offer. For a good Kenya-based content writer you should expect to pay $70-$100 per week.

What to expect from your writer

Ok, so what should you expect for $70-$100 per week?

They'll start with a competitor and keyword analysis to figure out what content they should be writing. Each of their content pieces will be based around a keyword. A keyword is a short phrase that potential customers are searching for. The goal is for the blog post to show up as the first result for that search on Google.

Based on this analysis they will develop a month-long content plan with a brief outline of each article. You should expect 5 content pieces per week that each contain:

At least 1000 words long (Google rewards longer articles)
At least 3 images with alt text
At least 3 internal links (to pages on your website or other blog posts)
At least 3 external links (to other relevant websites)
Written at a 6-10th grade reading level and easy to read

Your writer will then post these to the blog page on your website and do on-page optimization. Most website builder let you give limited access to your freelancer. You can pay them each week after they've written and posted the articles.

What to NOT expect from your writer

Immediate results.

SEO is a long-term investment and it will take at least 3 months to start seeing results. You should assume that content writing will be a recurring monthly expense. If you stop, Google will start ranking your competitors who are consistently adding content.

Top tip: you can monitor your SEO performance with a free Ahrefs account (see the end of the article for full details)

Backlinks - Building authority for your property management website

After 3 months of consistently adding new blog content, you can start to invest in backlinks.

Backlinks are links from other well-respected websites to your website. They signal to Google that your business is an expert in the industry and deserves to rank high.

Fun fact: ranking based on backlinks is why Google is the dominant search engine. Before that, search engines just ranked websites based on the number of times they use the keyword.

So how do you get backlinks?

You buy them from an agency.

This is the easiest and most effective way to get quality backlinks. Expect to pay about $3,000/month for 5-6 backlinks from a reputable agency like Bold SEO

Behind the scenes they will reach out to owners of high-quality, relevant websites (like a popular blog that focuses on investing in rental properties in your state). They'll pay that website owner to add a link to your website from one of his popular articles or from a new article he writes.

How many backlinks do I need?

It depends on how competitive your city is for property management. Your backlink agency will help you with the optimal strategy, but you can explore it yourself with Ahref's Keyword Difficulty Tool

This will tell you how many backlinks you need to rank on the first page of Google. For best results, you should consider this to be recurring marketing expense that will compound over time. Don't stop or your competitors will start to outrank you.

I see much cheaper backlinks, can I use those?

No!

Google is cracking down on backlink farms (called Private Blog Networks). Even though these links are very cheap, if Google catches you using them they will blacklist your site. If that happens you'll have to start everything all over again with a new website.

Only buy backlinks from reputable agencies and expect to pay $200-$500/backlink.

Local SEO & Google Business Profile

As a property management company you serve a specific town, city or region. So there is an extra step for you called Local SEO. Local SEO focuses on boosting your online presence to attract nearby clients actively seeking property management services.

Fun fact: 46% of Google searches are for local information, like "best property managers nearby"

Optimize your Google Business Profile

The most important element to local SEO is your Google Business Profile. This is the profile you create for your local business on Google. If you don't have one yet, create it for free here

Again, Google rewards companies that provide up-to-date and relevant information for their users. That means that you should do the following on your Google Business Profile:

Add your business hours, phone number, website, logo and physical address
Add at least 10 photos of the properties you serve and services you provide. Use actual photos you've taken, not stock photos of houses and people
Add a photo of your office's front door so customers can find you (Google will highlight this photo)
Add a few "Products". You can make a product for each of your pricing tiers (if applicable) or for property management, leasing, maintenance, accounting, rent collection
Post weekly "updates". You'll get the most SEO benefit when you post these updates from your phone with GPS enabled and include a photo. Google rewards businesses that have updates all over the city (it shows them that you actively serve those areas)

Schedule time to review your Google Business Profile once per month. Update your information and add new photos. This shows Google that you care about your profile and they will reward you with higher ranking.

Google Reviews are your secret weapon ⭐️

If you ignore everything, just remember that Google reviews are the best SEO tool for property management companies.

Here's something I bet you didn't know: the number of reviews is usually more important than the average number of stars. A lot of recent reviews shows Google that you are actively in business and interacting with your customers.

So ask for Google reviews from every tenant and owner!

To maximize the SEO value of each Google review, here's what you need to do:

Ask them to include a photo in their review
Ask them to add a a few sentence to their review, and not just select the # of stars
Respond to the review immediately with a well-written message (either thank them for their review or address their complaint)
Like their review (using the thumbs up icon)

The added benefit of having lots of good Google reviews is that they will cancel out the occasional bad tenant or owner that leaves you a 1-star.

How to measure your SEO performance

First things first, set the right expectations. SEO takes 3-4 months of consistent investment before you start to notice results. It takes time for Google to re-index your website and notice that you're actively investing.

Once you're ready to start tracking results, here's what we recommend:

Search for yourself

Simply use Google the same way a rental owner would search for a property manager.

Search for things like "best property manager in Tampa" and "Tampa property management". Take note of where you rank and your competition.

For best results, do this in a incognito window so that Google doesn't use your cookies.

Monitor your Domain Rating using Ahrefs

Ahrefs has a free tool that measures your Domain Rating (DR). This refers to the “strength” of your domain on a scale of 1-100 and is a proxy for how much credibility Google thinks you have. The higher your DR, the more likely you are going to rank on Google for relevant searches

Google Search Console

The official SEO tool from Google, it tracks how many searches you appeared in, for which keywords and your click-through rate.

Over time you should be see more clicks per month and a lower average position. Your SEO content writer will also be using this to decide which keywords to focus on.

Once you create an account, you'll just need to install it on your website (instructions)

How to take killer rental photos

SEO for Property Managers - The Ultimate Guide