Hyper Local Domain Names Lead to Real Estate Sales

While we focus mostly on local search at Practical Local Search there is still that important element of overall SEO with a website. Very specific domain names, sometimes called long tail have taken hold for affiliate marketers and now appear to be doing so for real estate agents. According to a report from GoDaddy the instances of address based domains is up over 320 percent. The target states come as no surprise as they include California, Arizona, New York and Florida, all states with struggling real estate markets.

Real estate is a very local search market. Sellers especially focus on very defined neighborhoods, even within a city. For example in Seattle WA sellers would highlight properties in neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Queen Anne and Magnolia. The strategy of using addresses for domain name is being credited with reducing the time to sell individual properties. In the same GoDaddy report brokers indicate selling a house in 43 days versus the local average of 120 to 180 days.

Once the physical address domain name is purchased from a domain registrar the seller (the agent actually) creates a targeted web site with the specifics of the target property. Images, floor plans, neighborhood information and so on is included with the appropriate contact information. The specific address domain name assists with SEO results and positions the newly created site in search results around these specific addresses.

Does this really work on a large scale? The article only has a few anecdotal references so it may simply be a puff piece by GoDaddy. Certainly they never use hype to promote their services! However, many SEO experts claim a keyword targeted domain name is not really a help. However, I suspect when the search is so specific that it indeed helps. The next leap is creating a local search listing with similar characteristics. Will this work? It’s hard to say without testing it out. However, if a well crafted local listing is created using the physical address as the business name who knows. I think it would be a big help.

It’s now up to the adventurous real estate professional to try their hand at both a highly focused physical address domain name and local business listing. Let us know if you have any success. Although, I suspect if you do you’ll keep it to yourself!