New Homebuilder Local Search

For quite some time, local search has been coming on strong in Google SERP’s.  NewHomesource is an aggregator and nationwide, so we really to not participate nor compete in the space, but it is important for our homebuilders.  If you search for new homes in Katy, TX you find NewHomesource.com in the number 1 organic spot and a 7-pack of builders just after the number 3 spot.  This is typical. 

Katy is huge for new homes.  There are 87 communities on NewHomesource.com coming from 22 different builders.  All of these builders want to be in that 7-pack of listings on page 1 of this Google search.  If you want to be there, you can, but it will take a bit of work.  To be there, you need 2 things:

1)      You need a local address and phone number.  If you have a community in Katy, you have an address.  Make sure you also use a unique phone number.

2)      You need to be relevant as measured primarily by citations and links.

So, what is the citation stuff? A citation is no more than your name, address, and phone number (NAP) that Google might find in a directory of businesses, a news site, a social site or just about anywhere else.  The map and local search in  Google uses its own algorithm and is largely driven by local citations.  In short, more is better.  The more citations you have from credible sites, the more likely you are to rank highly in the 7-pack.

Let’s go back to our Katy example.  The number 1 position in Katy is Cinco Ranch which has 86 citations and number 7 is the Waterstone community by Beazer but has just 31 citations.  With just a little work gaining citations, you will likely see your presence in such Google displays, and your traffic improve.  So, how do you do it?

There a plenty of submission services for links out there, but these come with risks.  Get a bunch of links from spammy sites and you are playing with SEO fire.  Better to select relevant sites and submit your business or get citations from just about anyone you support who will mention your name, address, and phone number as part of your support.  Okay, but how do you find the right sites?  I just started using whitespark to find appropriate sites.  To use this tool, submit the search in Google where you want to show up and use Whitepspark’s location citation finder ($20 CDN/mo.) to find sites.  Then submit your site to those sites with relatively good ranking in SEOMoz domain authority rank and/or Majestic SEO AC Rank.  Don’t want to do the leg work?  Outsource it to Whitespark for $4-$5 per citation.  Feel free to call me if you have questions 817-658-7698.