le Ads for Real Estate – The Ultimate Step-by step Guide

Google Ads are the most effective tool for real-estate professionals to reach the growing number of buyers and sellers who turn to the Internet for their property needs.

Real estate agents of the past spent most their time on antiquated methods such as cold-calling and postcard mailing. Google Ads is a more affordable and scalable tactic to put your real estate company in front of clients searching online for your services.

This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through setting up Google Ads to increase your exposure as a real estate agent and reach more buyers and sellers.

Table of Contents

Google Ads and PPC Advertising: Basics

Let’s start with some definitions.

What is PPC Advertising?

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is an advertising model in which advertisers pay only when their ads are clicked. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a popular way to drive traffic for websites. It’s easy to manage, cost effective, and yields fast results.

Want to dig deeper into the basics of PPC? PPC 101

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads, a PPC platform, displays your ads in Google’s search results pages (SERPs). You can create a budget for each campaign and only pay when someone clicks your ad.

Google Ads, the most popular platform for PPC ads, is especially useful for real estate agents and teams. It provides us with a variety of tools, a large reach and an easy interface, making it easier to find leads online.


Google Ads are the first results on SERPs.

Google Ads’ reach is the most notable benefit. Google is responsible for 95% of all search traffic. Millions of people search Google each day to find information about real estate, services and other related topics.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads uses an auction-based system that can be confusing.

Google conducts an auction when a Google user enters a query. This determines which ads appear in the results. Advertisers bid for keywords that are relevant to their businesses.

The placement of an ad is determined by the combination of bid price and ad-quality, which are calculated using factors such as expected Click-through Rate (CTR), relevance and experience on landing pages.

Learn more about and how Google Ads works here.

Google Ads: Benefits for Real Estate Professionals

Why does Google Ads standout among the number of marketing platforms? Google Ads’s key advantage for real estate professionals is search intention.

Your ads will be seen by users who are actively searching for what you offer. If someone searches ” houses for sale in Miami”, they are likely in the middle of a home-buying or selling process.

Compare Google Ads with Facebook Ads. Your ads are targeted, but they’re displayed to an audience that is largely passive and busy browsing cat pictures or posting updates about their weekend.

Google Ads allows you to target potential clients in a similar way, but with a crowd actively searching for keywords related to real estate. This makes them more likely convert into future customers.

How to set up a successful Google Ads campaign for real estate

Here’s the fun part. How to set up and create your Google Ads campaign for your real estate company.

Step 1: Create a Google Ads Account

You will need to create a Google Ads Account before we begin. Sign up at ads.google.com.

Google Ads is the place where you can manage high-level items such as billing, admin rights, and campaigns.

You’ll be able to set your budget, and your targeting in campaigns. Each adgroup will have its own set of keywords that are specific to a particular segment of your business. You’ll see ads when users type in the keywords that you specify within these ad group.

Want to know how to create the perfect Google Ads Account Structure? This guide is free to download.

Step 2: Research and plan

After creating your Google Ads Account, you should think about what your business offers and who your target customer is.

Are you looking to sell investment property? Waterfront homes Are you looking in a particular city or neighborhood? List five to seven cities or neighborhoods that you would like to target. They will become our ad group.

If you live in Miami, for example, you may want to consider these ad groupings:

You might also include farms, ranches and oceanfront condos, depending on the popularity of your area.

After you’ve identified your locations, it’s now time to do some keyword search.

Use applications such as the Google Keyword Planner or Google’s Free Keyword Tool to narrow down your search. You can get an idea of the potential costs, search volume and competition for keywords in various segments.

Keyword tools may give you more ideas than you had previously considered. These keyword ideas help us identify the most popular search terms potential clients use when looking for properties and services similar to yours.

It’s now time to start your campaign. Once you’ve identified five to seven niches or areas you wish to target, you can begin the campaign.

Step 3: Launch your campaign

Click the blue plus symbol to create a new campaign in your Google Ads Account.

Select the correct campaign type and objective

Choose a campaign goal aligned with your goals. We recommend website traffic for real estate, since you are usually trying to get visitors to your site.

Here is a brief summary of the campaign goals:

These objectives tell Google exactly what we are trying to achieve with our campaign, and give real estate companies the opportunity to continuously measure and optimize ads to get the best results.

Select your campaign type

You’ll then select a type that will determine where your ads are displayed.

We will use the Search campaign type, because we want to see our ads in Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages) when they show an intent to buy or sell real estate.

Name your campaign

Choose a name for your campaign, but do not overthink it.

A good rule to follow for organizational purposes is to make your campaign name reflect your campaign goal. A good example would be ” South Florida-Search“.

Google will ask about your bid preferences. We’ll discuss that later. Leave it set to ” Maximize Clicks” for now.

Search networks

The networks is the first campaign setting you should pay attention to. Your ads will also appear on the Google Search and Display Networks by default. Display Network is not checked by default, as we want ads to appear only in SERPs.

Select (and exclude from) Locations

We will now look at Location Targeting. Here you can enter the cities and areas you want to focus on. Google will show your ads by default to people who “regularly visit, or have shown interest in the targeted locations.”

It means that no matter where they are located, your ads will appear to . These locations also provide information about the places where people click on your ads.

Add some negative locations to your list, so that you can prevent your ads from appearing within these boundaries. Start by exclusion countries with a bad reputation as click farms, and a low chance to deliver relevant traffic.

Start with the following negative locations:

Improve campaign effectiveness by creating audience segments

We’ll also address the audience segments that will help us focus on Google’s audiences in-market. They are people who are actively searching for products and services, or are considering purchasing something.

Search for ” real-estate ” and choose in-market audiences with a “For sale” label. You can also choose to target the ” Homeowner ” or ” Rent “ categories if it is relevant for your business.

We’re now ready to move on. Our account is created, and we have the structure of our campaign outlined.

Step 4: Create ad group

Ad groups organize your keywords and ads within your campaign. We’re going create 5 to 7 ad group using the choices we made earlier.

Name your first adgroup after the property or location it will target. Ours will be Miami.

Find your keyword

The keywords you’ll want to appear in your ads are listed below. We’re going with these keywords based on our research.

Understanding keyword match types

Google will show your ads for search terms that are very similar the keywords that you list.

There are several match types which tell Google the level of strictness they should use when determining what search terms are related to your keyword:



Image Source

All of our keywords will be broad match. You can adjust your match types in the future if your ads appear incorrectly.

Search terms can be blacklisted by selecting negative keywords

Use negative keyword to create a list that Google should not show your ads for.

The negative terms you use will vary depending on the market. In general, however, it is important to think about searches that your Avatar, or ideal client, will not make. We’ll list negative keywords for our real estate campaign, such as:

We can also tweak negative keywords based on the search terms which trigger our ads.

Step 5: Create your ads

It’s now time to craft our ads. These ads are responsive, meaning that Google will combine different variations from the headlines and description we provide to create a final ad.

Start your ad with your final URL. This is the page that a user will be taken to when they click on your ad. This is your landing. We’ll talk more about fine-tuning it below.

You’ll then want to select a display path. This will allow us to simplify our final URL so that it looks more appealing on the ad. Here you can be creative, but we recommend using simple and clear display paths.

Ads need powerful headlines and descriptions

The headlines will be the most important text of our ad. You should keep in mind some important tips to when creating great headlines for your ads:

  1. Use keywords: Make sure you use the keywords that you want to target. After all, these are the keywords that your potential clients will be searching for.
  2. Consider pain points. Ask yourself what your ideal clients are looking for and how to help them. Real estate agents often offer free home evaluations or list their listings. But don’t forget to come up with your own.
  3. Incorporate data and numbers Feel free to include such things as median home prices, active or sold listings or other relevant statistics.
  4. Pin your headlines in position: You can pin each heading to position 1, 2, or 3 by using the pin on the right side of the box. These pins are essential to keeping your headlines intentional and organized.

Then, we will create four descriptions that will appear beneath the headlines. When writing winning Google Ad description, keep your points brief and relevant. Include numbers and call to action.

Ads that use assets will improve engagement with the ad

We’ll now discuss some of the resources available. They are additional pieces of information that were previously known as extensions. These can make your ad more appealing and increase conversions.

The first asset that we will set up is Sitelinks. These are links that appear beneath your ad and take visitors to sub-niches relevant to what you are offering.

Callouts are additional texts that tell the consumer why your business is special or unique.

In South Florida we could, for example, use callouts like relocation and first time buyers.

You can experiment with a number of assets and see how they enhance your ad or offer. Pay attention to the Location and Calls assets for generating real estate leads.

Image assets can also be a great way to make your ad stand out, but you cannot use them until your account has been active for 90 days.


The Structure Snippet Asset allows real estate companies the ability to identify neighborhoods that they serve.

Choose a suitable landing page

Remember that URL? Let’s look at the real-estate landing pages potential clients will be sent to after clicking our ad.

The landing page that you send your visitors to must first and foremost give them what they want.

If you are promoting “Miami Homes for Sale“, then the final URL of your ad should be active listings.

A headline that says ” Get a Free Home Value ” should lead the user to a webpage where they can get it easily. This rule is crucial in generating real estate leads.

Many will make the mistake of sending all visitors to their website from every advertisement to a static page. It is then up to the customer to search for the information that they were looking for.

You should also have a clear call to action, so that the visitor understands what he or she needs to do in order to receive the value you’re providing.


A high-quality landing page for real estate.

You will become the authority on real estate if you give your audience what they want.

Step 5: Set your campaign budget

You’ll need to give Google a budget per day at the end of campaign setup. You can adjust this budget based on your needs and industry seasonality.

Google Ads offers a variety of bid strategies. However, we only need to focus on the most important options:

Step 6: Install conversion tracking

Since we want to optimize leads, and sales, you will want to setup conversion tracking.

Click on “Conversions,” under “Tools and Settings,” to create a new conversion. It is usually measured when someone fills out your contact form or registers on your site, but it can also be done by measuring calls.

You can accurately track the performance of your real estate campaign by following the Google instructions to setup the conversion tracking.

Google Ads for Real Estate: Keys to Success

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your Google Ads campaign for real estate.

1. Monitor key metrics continuously

Keep an eye on key metrics as your campaign runs to gauge its performance. Monitor key metrics such as cost per conversion (CPC), click-through rate, and conversion rate.

You can measure the effectiveness of your ads by using a Google Ads Grader tool or another similar one. This will help you analyze a campaign and provide some suggestions on how to improve it.

Want to see how your metrics stack up against others in the real estate industry? Download our search advertising benchmarks!

Search terms are important for your campaign.

Review the terms used to trigger your ads on a regular basis. This information helps you to refine your negative keyword list and keyword list so that only relevant queries trigger your ads.

3. Test your ads A/B

Test ad variants to determine what resonates with your clients. Create several ads using different headlines and descriptions as well as calls to action in order to determine which ones are most effective.

4. Relationships are important

Focus on building relationships, not just getting leads. Google Ads is just one way to build your database. You’ll be successful if you provide value and contribute from a place where you feel valued.

5. Commit to a plan of follow-up

In the real estate industry, effective follow-up is essential. It’s even more important in the digital world. Nurture leads with email campaigns, personal touch, and phone calls to keep you at the top of their minds.

6. Technology and people can be leveraged

Manage leads, interactions and appointments efficiently with a Customer Relations Management system.

Google Ads can be a great tool for real estate businesses

Google Ads offers real estate professionals a unique opportunity to scale up their business unlike anything else in the industry. Set up, manage, and optimize your Google Ads Account is the first step to owning your source of leads rather than depending on buying or waiting for your telephone to ring.

This is a great tool to use when creating or reviewing campaigns. Remember that it’s more than just running ads. It’s important to build long-lasting relationships and deliver value to your business.

The post Google Ads for Real Estate – The Ultimate Step-by Step Guide appeared initially on WordStream.

Tagged

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *