I hear my students talk a lot about how they prefer Facebook Ads over Google AdWords for their real estate business, even though the options are quite limited when running real estate ads on Facebook.

At first, I didn't get it, but after hearing them explain their predicament, it's very understandable. Because truth be told, running effective real estate ads with Google AdWords is no walk in the park.

However, It's not just my students that are scared of Google AdWords. A lot of internet marketers believe that using AdWords for real estate lead generation is not effective.

I am here to debunk that myth. So let me explain.

See, I strongly believe if you implement some or all of the tips below, you will achieve better results when running real estate ads with Google AdWords.

You only need to get accustomed to the AdWords platform and learn how to pick suitable keywords to optimise your ad copies.

Here are some practical ways to get the hang of generating real estate leads using Google AdWords;

You don't have to bid for #1 spot

A lot of people stress about getting to the number one position for their target keyword. And I know how enticing it is to want to beat your competitors by continually bidding to remain at the number one spot. Yet, a study suggests that this might not be the best strategy to use.

Most of the time, it leads to an increase in low converting traffic and increases in your ad spend all at the same time.

So, it is wise to keep changing your ad's position by reducing your bid amount. This is how you will learn which ad position leads to a higher conversion rate.

There may be a decrease in traffic, but you will likely build your CTR and conversion rate while reducing the ad spend.

Put your money where your mouth is

This strategy won't only decrease your ad spend drastically, but it will also increase your ROI.

One thing that is mostly disregarded by mid-sized and also small real estate brokers is bidding on your brand name.

But it is also important to bid on different brands if your prospects look for them on the web. 

For instance, you can run ads for keywords with the brand name of a top real estate company in your desired location. You will be surprised to see that you can easily pay less than $0.25 per click, just because the competition on brand names are generally low. 

Say for example; you are a real estate company in Lagos, and you want to run a Google Ads campaign. You can include a keyword like “(competitor's brand name) Lagos” to make your advert appear when searchers look for them on Google.

Going back to the reason why you need to bid on your brand name.

In case you already have a well-known brand, searchers will likely find it online. And if your competitors bid high on your brand name, their ad might appear above yours, which is very bad for your campaign.

Remove keywords you don't want

An important feature of most PPC advertising platforms is the ability to keep your advert from showing up if people use certain words or phrases in their search terms. They are called Negative Keywords.

While a lot of people overlook this, including negative keywords is crucial, especially if you are using ‘broad match' keywords. It will also save you a lot of money because your ads won't show where you don't want it to.

Use the correct keyword type

There are three options when it comes to targeting real estate keywords with Google Adwords PPC.

Using “Broad Match” keywords are mostly useful when driving traffic and expanding your brand. Running a lead generation ad for real estate is quite different. You will need to use the “exact match” or “phrase match” keywords to attract high converting leads. 

Choosing one of these keyword types would depend on your niche. Let's say you are into the Nutra business; you can go for broad match keywords instead. 

But in this situation, since you targeting property sellers and buyers, it would be more effective to use the “exact match” or “phrase match” keywords.

Notice:  While you don't have to use any punctuations for broad match keywords, you must enclose a phrase match keywords with the use of open/close quotations mark, for example: “buy properties in Ikoyi” and an exact match keyword with the use of brackets, for example; [buy properties in Magodo]. 

If you don't know which keywords to use, you can try different things with each type of keyword and figure out which one gives you the highest CTR. It might cost you more, but it is usually worth it in the long run.

Use Google ad extensions.

Google ad extensions are the small links that show up beneath the ad preview or snippet on the result page.

Multiple studies by Google has confirmed that these links can increase CTR significantly because they give your prospect more options.

For instance, if the headline of your ad copy says “Buy Land in Lagos”, you can put little links underneath the advert, say, “Land Around Eleko Beach”, “Ibeju Lekki Lands, “Houses in Ikoyi” and so on…

A potential client may overlook your ad after seeing your headline because he wants detailed information. But if he happens to want properties around Ibeju Lekki, your ad will quickly catch his eye.

Brand name in your headline

Aside from focusing on high converting keywords, it would help if you put the name of your real estate company in the headline.

Majority of people only click on organic result appearing beneath the ads, and even if they ignore your ad, they will still get a peek of your brand name.

In due time, they will get familiarised with your brand. And If they continue running into your brand on different occasions while searching, you will keep getting free brand promotion which creates a level of trust.

Measure your results

When you run real estate ads with Google AdWords, you should always monitor the conversion rate.

Let's say your leads start converting to customers—you would need to know the Cost Per Click (CPC) and your Earnings Per Click (EPC). This will help you figure out your ROI.

You have to concentrate on the most effective method to reduce your CPC and increase your EPC. Split testing on a few ad sets would be the strategy here.

You will need to target various text, headlines, keywords and so on to make it work.

But even if you follow all these tips, it won't make a huge difference if your website or landing page is slow or poorly designed.

So make sure your website is optimized and properly designed before running your next real estate ad with Google AdWords. If you cannot design it yourself, you should hire a good real estate website design company to do it for you.

That's it for now. And I hope you've gained a great deal of information while reading this post. I wish you good luck in your next real estate Google AdWords campaign.

If you are still here, you can check our blog for some interesting website optimization tips.

Feel free also to leave me a comment below if you have questions or suggestions.