How to Rank Higher in Apartment Searches with Google Ads

Think about the last time you went on vacation.

You planned months in advance—researching the best destinations, finding deals on flights (round-trip, obviously), booking the perfect hotel within walking distance of the beach, and reserving a table at that restaurant everyone's talking about.

Did each of those decisions start with a simple Google search? Most likely, yes. Google is an ingrained part of how we make decisions.

Now imagine a prospective renter planning their next move. They, too, rely on Google to find the perfect apartment, and that’s where Google Ads come in. 

For apartment marketers, Google Ads is a powerful tool for increasing awareness of their community, attracting prospective renters, and driving leasing success.

In this article, we’re going to focus on how to make your apartment's Google Ads earn the top spot in search.

How Do Google Ads Work in Apartment Searches?

Say a prospective renter wants a pet-friendly studio apartment in Kansas City. They type “pet-friendly apartments in Kansas City” into Google’s search bar. Here’s an example of what they could see:

The first four results are Google Ads (marked with “Sponsored”).

To earn those spots, apartment marketers took the following steps:

1. Identified their ideal resident profile (IRP). They considered what their target audience values—pet-friendly features, studio floorplans, or nearby amenities. Here's how to identify your apartment's ideal resident profile..
2. Researched keywords. They found phrases like “pet-friendly apartments in Kansas City” or “studio apartments near downtown Kansas City” to match their ideal resident's search. Here's how to conduct keyword research for multifamily apartments.
3. Bid on Keywords. They set a budget and bid (how much they're willing to pay per click) for their ad to appear when someone searches for these keywords.
4. Wrote relevant ad copy. They ensured that their ad copy was relevant to the searches they were targeting via keywords mentioning 'pet-friendly' and 'Kansas City.'
5. Linked relevant website to the ad. They provided a good landing page experience for the user to confirm that the community has what they are looking for.

The result? Highly relevant ads tailored to prospective renters' needs.

Because these ads are already relevant to the searcher, they're already interested when they click on one to visit the community's website. They can explore pet policies, check studio floorplan availability, and learn about rent prices to further confirm their interest.

Essentially, a Google Ad targeted to the right prospect makes it more likely they'll choose your apartments over others. This leads to more qualified traffic and leads.  Every apartment marketer strives for this result, whether in a lease-up or having a few extra vacancies to fill quickly.

So, the next question is, 'How did these communities in the example above succeed in getting their Google Ads to show?'

How Does Google Determine When Your Apartment's Ad Appears in the SERP?

Contrary to popular belief, Google Ads isn’t just about bidding the most money. Instead, Google prioritizes relevance to ensure users see ads that match their search intent.

Google determines ad placement using a metric called Quality Score, which evaluates:

• Keyword Relevance: How closely your ad matches the search terms. Having headlines or descriptions that directly match or feature the exact keywords you're targeting is a great way to increase your ad's Quality Score.
• Landing Page Experience: The relevance and quality of the page your ad leads to (especially when its content matches the keywords mentioned in the Google Ad). Your apartment's website directly impacts ad performance. If users leave it soon after clicking on one of your ads, Google will learn to stop sending users there.
• Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR): The likelihood that users will click your ad. Keyword relevance matters, but other features, like Ad Extensions, can help increase clicks and conversions from your Google Ads shown in search.

Google combines your Maximum Bid (or how much you're willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad) and Quality Score to calculate AdRank:

Maximum Bid × Quality Score = AdRank

The higher your AdRank, the better your ad placement—regardless of your Maximum Bid. 

This means even advertisers with smaller budgets (like apartment marketers) can achieve top placement if their ads are highly relevant. 

The graphic below further illustrates how Google Ads' business model prevents only the highest bidders from getting their ads placed first:

(Source: Wordstream)

For example:

• Advertiser IV bid a maximum of $8/per click for a search term, but Google determined its Quality Score to be a 1, equaling an AdRank of 8.
• Advertiser I only bid $2 per click, but despite the lower bid, Google determined that its ad had a higher Quality Score of 10, equaling an AdRank of 20.

An ad's cost-per-click factors both your ad's Quality Score and the Ad Rank of the ad just below yours using this formula:

Ad Rank of the ad below your ad / Your ad's Quality Score + $0.01 = Your cost-per-click

Advertiser I's cost-per-click was $1.61, while Advertiser IV's was $8. 

By Google's standards, Advertiser I's ads will appear more often and generate a higher rate of clicks than Advertiser IV's ads at a lower cost-per-click. Why? The more an ad is clicked, the more money Google makes.

By focusing on the quality of your Google Ad, you can compete with multiple apartment communities vying to target similar keywords.

How Can Apartment Marketers Use Google Ads to Earn the #1 Spot in Search?

Let’s revisit our prospective renter looking for a pet-friendly studio apartment in Kansas City. 

They type that query into Google and click on a few ads, each taking them to the websites of different apartment communities. One community stands out because its ad and website perfectly align with the renter's needs.

That success starts with targeting the right keywords. 

Suppose an apartment community in Kansas City bids on an ad for the generic, hard-to-rank-for search term "apartments in kansas city." 

That decision complicates things for two reasons:

1. There may be 100 other apartment communities in Kansas City that also want their ads to appear for those keywords, so competition for placement will be tricky (and, obviously, pretty expensive).
2. Keywords for similar Google searches vary in many different ways. Semrush found 1,054 keyword variations for the search term "apartments in kansas city", accumulating 33,450 average searches per month.

Instead, a more specific keyword, such as “pet-friendly studio apartments in Kansas City,” helps your ad appear to renters actively searching for what your community offers. 

The more relevant and specific the keywords, the better. Consider adding qualifiers such as location (“downtown Kansas City”), amenities (“studio with a gym”), and more that align with your community’s unique offerings.

When you target more specific keywords, you reduce the competition. This makes it easier for Google to show your apartment's ads to the right audience more often.

Use match types to determine when your community's Google Ad appears.

Given all the ambiguity in how people search, Google relies on advertisers by asking them in advance when they'd prefer their ads to appear. 

Do they want their ads to appear when someone enters a search that includes selected words, like "apartments" and "Kansas City?" Or do they only want their ads to appear on specified searches such as "studio apartments in Kansas City?" 

Google refers to these as "match types," and there are three match types advertisers can select when setting up their ads:

• Broad Match: Your ad appears for related searches, such as “Kansas City rentals” or “2-bedroom apartments downtown.” However, Broad Match's downside is that it can sometimes lead to an ad being shown on irrelevant search terms. Broad match may bring your cost-per-click down, but the clicks are often very low-quality, and the users are not even in the market for an apartment.
• Phrase Match: Your ad appears when the search includes the exact phrase, like “pet-friendly apartments in Kansas City,” even if other words are added.
• Exact Match: Your ad appears only for the precise term, such as “studio apartments Kansas City.”

Using match types strategically ensures your ads reach the right audience at the right moment.

Google's AI features can simplify bidding and keyword targeting.

Google has implemented many AI tools into its advertising platform, making it even more user-friendly.

For example:

• Automated Bidding Strategies: Not sure how much to bid for some keywords over others? Google's AI can work for you, changing your bid amounts in real time so your ads appear in higher-intent searches.
• AI Keyword Suggestions:  As we've shown, searches like 'apartments in Kansas City' have thousands of variations. Google's AI can account for this variation and use search trend data to understand the exact series of relevant keywords renters use to find particular apartment communities.
• Enhanced Ad Personalization: Google Performance Max is a new feature in Google Ads that uses AI to create ads tailored precisely to a prospect's search. For example, if a user enters the search term 'pet-friendly studio apartments in Kansas City,' Performance Max will learn to make an ad's headline match the search term word-for-word.

Conclusion

Whether you realized it or not, when you planned your last vacation, many decisions were guided by a Google search and Google Ads.

Prospective renters are the same, which is why Google Ads can give you a lot of power to help them discover your apartments and ultimately lease. 

By focusing on high-intent searches that your target audience uses when searching for apartments like yours in your location, your Google Ads' relevance can increase their visibility, reduce costs, and generate more qualified traffic to your website.

Need help with your apartment community's digital advertising strategy? You're in the right place. Check out our Beginner's Guide to Digital Advertising for Apartments for a head start. Or, learn more about Predictive Advertising, which automates your apartment community's digital ads to deliver the right leads at the right time and improve leasing.