Don’t get me wrong. SEO is critical for any website’s traffic generation. But we’ve all Googled a topic, clicked a result, been disappointed by low-quality answers, and clicked off before you can say “SEO.”
In other words, page 1 is great and result 1 is amazing… but only if you continue to sell the “click.” The moment that your bounce rate rises and your time-on-page plummets are the same moment that you lose your positive ranking, meaning your passive lead generation.
Why?
Which means two things:
- Old style salesmanship isn’t dead.
- Your Google ranking and your conversion rate both depend on the “click.”
Here’s how to sell the “click” instead of the “crick(et).” Ya know, crickets? It’s what you hear when no one’s listening.
Gif via Giphy
Let’s discuss how to avoid that silence.
What is an SEO Title?
An SEO Title is the text title that you designate for your Google result. This does not have to be identical to your permalink or your blog post title, but it should be similar.
If you’re using a Carrot site, you’ll find a place for the SEO Title at the bottom of each piece of content:
Here is where that same SEO Title shows in Google:
What is a Meta Description?
A Meta Description is the descriptive copy directly below the title and URL of a Google result.
On Carrot sites, you can find the customizable meta description field directly below the SEO Title at the bottom of each page of content.
And here is how that same meta description shows up in the actual Google result.
Both the SEO Title and the Meta Description are not just critical to SEO, but — as we’ll discuss — critical to generating clicks.
All of us have Googled a tricky topic, reading through SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions to determine which result has the answers we’re looking for.
And selling the almighty “click” comes down to one lesson: a lesson in honesty and clarity.
Let’s start with the title.
Real Estate Conversion Copywriting: SEO Title
The SEO Title shouldn’t vary too drastically from your content title. Which means your content title also needs to be optimized for search engines.
Once your title is ready to climb through the ranks with correct keyword placement, ensure it’s appealing and clickable. If your result is at the top but no one clicks on it because it doesn’t appeal to their interest, that top-ranking result might as well be a sinking ship.
Does your result illustrate exactly what your content is going to explain?
If, for example, you’re wondering about the process for selling your home and you Google, “how can I sell my house fast,” you’ll see these organic results (in an incognito window).
Thinking through this, if you wanted to better understand the process behind selling a house quickly, which are your top 3 picks? These are my top selections.
I imagine that yours are similar.
Each of these titles promise to tell a number (6,9, or 10) of tips or ways to sell my house fast. So long as I’m looking to understand the process of selling my house fast — and don’t actually want to sell my house right now — these picks are appealing because they promise to show me exactly what I want.
Contrastly, the titles, such as “Sell My House Fast | We Buy Houses Cash | HomeVestors,” while great if I want to sell my house now, does not appeal to me when I’m trying to understand the process.
In other words, clarity is important because people are looking for specific information. You can’t cater to all of them with your result — trying to do so will only ensure that you don’t get promising traffic. But explaining exactly what your content is going to provide will guarantee clicks from the right people at the right time.
Note: I’m not insinuating that “Sell My House Fast” is a bad title. It’s great for the right audience — an audience looking to sell their house right now. But it’s not great for the person who wants to better understand the selling process. The point isn’t that one title is good and one is bad, the point is that each title caters to a different audience. Make sure your title attracts the right people.
Hubspot sees the most success with SEO titles that are 70 characters or less.
Lastly, use your target keywords in the SEO title.
Strike a balance between keyword usage and clarity — the golden balance of see-ability and click-ability. Ideally, the two will overlap.
Real Estate Conversion Copywriting: Meta Description
When someone searches for a tricky topic (the difference between looking to sell your house fast, or looking to understand the process for selling your house fast, for example), meta descriptions are their peephole into understanding which content offers what.
All of us read meta descriptions for this reason.
Think about the last time you Googled something like this: “how to wholesale houses.”
When you did, I’ll bet you read nearly every meta description to see which one would give you the best answer to your question.
The selected Meta Descriptions below are the most compelling because they provide the most clarity.
Also, always use your audience’s language. I could, for instance, write a post titled, “How to Attract People Who Actually Want to Sell Their House,” or I could title it, “How to Attract Motivated Sellers.”
The same is true for your audience. To find out what keywords are most effective for your prospects, check out our SEO keyword bible for real estate investors.
Above all, provide genuine value with your meta description and people will click to read the remainder of your content.
Clarity is King
Be honest about what you’re delivering, use your audience’s language, and include keywords where possible.
In the end, prospects will click on your result if they believe you’re going to provide them value at no cost to them. Ironically, they often pay you back in the long run.
Learn from your audience — who they are, what they want, and why they want it — and then write an SEO Title and Meta Description for your web pages that match their biggest desires, concerns, and fears.
