In today's competitive market, driving traffic to your community's website or leasing office is crucial for multifamily marketers. One effective and cost-free strategy to enhance visibility is leveraging local search marketing channels.
In this blog, you will learn:
- What is Local Search Marketing for Apartments
- How to Optimize Your Apartment's Google Business Profile
What is Local Search Marketing for Apartments?
Local search marketing for apartments (sometimes known as local SEO) prioritizes utilizing marketing channels like Google Business Profile to strengthen a community's local presence and boost online visibility, search rankings, and reputation.
By prioritizing your local search presence, you can better compete for the attention of renters seeking to lease an apartment community like yours in your geographic location.
These local search platforms and their many valuable tools can make a difference for renters in their search. How?
- It shows you care about marketing to your local audience.
- You're giving apartment seekers near or far the most relevant information they need during their search.
- You ensure you stand apart from other apartments nearby.
By doing all three, you're making it more likely for the traffic to come from your listing to be better qualified and ready to rent.
Optimizing Google Business Profile for Multifamily Apartments
Google Business Profile (GBP) is an absolute must-have for apartment marketers to manage their communities' Google presence.
(If you haven't established ownership over your listing, here's our guide to claiming and verifying your apartment's Google Business Profile.)
GBP is at the center of your community's local search presence. It establishes authority in what are arguably the most visible online platforms renters use to conduct their apartment searches: Google Search and Google Maps.
You can maintain an active local search presence by posting pictures, deals, status updates, update descriptions, and so much more, all within the GBP dashboard.
The more effort you put into fully utilizing and updating your Google Business Profile, the more trust and authority it gives your community to renters.
Your apartment marketing team should get into the habit of posting frequently. Whether you share a photo of one of your amenities or feature one of your available floorplans, these posts will improve your listing and resonate with potential residents.
The more effort you put into fully utilizing and updating your GBP, the more trust and authority it gives your community to renters. You can see the difference between these two GBP listings for apartments:
Community "A" vs. Community "B"
Community "A" doesn't have a strong GBP listing because it's missing valuable information, such as a link to its website and business hours. The only photo available is an exterior shot taken by one of Google's street view vehicles.
Think about the impression of the community this GBP listing is giving to prospective residents. Would the above screenshot make you want to live there?
Community "B" has a complete GBP profile, including a website link, phone number, and hours of operation. It has also used the product posts feature to highlight different floorplans. Finally, you can access a photo library of units and amenities by clicking the "See photos" link.
Here's the thing: Community "A" may be the perfect fit for a potential resident, but its local search presence lacks the necessary information to confirm that, and it's doing a very poor job of creating a good first impression for renters.
Community "B" has a listing that is more likely to attract someone's attention because it's full of helpful information. In clear contrast to Community "A," it displays media content that pops off the page.
Optimizing your Google Business Profile with relevant and accurate contact information, displaying the best features your community offers, and showing off its best photos, will certainly make you stand out from the crowd of competing apartments in your area.
Other Local Search Channels for Apartment Marketing
Apple Business Connect is a free marketing tool "that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears...across Apple Maps, iMessage, Wallet, Siri, and other apps."
Click here to learn about Apple Business Connect for multifamily marketing, including steps to claim your apartment community's location card and how to make it stand out.
Keep an eye on Bing Places, as it may also become an essential channel to add to your apartment marketing strategy in the near future because Bing Search is currently the leader in AI-generated search results utilizing OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Conclusion
When establishing your apartment communities' marketing plans, prioritizing their presence in local search marketing channels is an easy way to increase traffic instantly.
An active presence in key local search channels like Google Business Profile will help you improve your communities' rankings in navigational apps, where more renters are conducting their apartment searches, and ensure they stand apart from the competition.
Need help improving your local search presence? RentVision helps each of its partners optimize their Google Business Profile listing to standout in local search results while also automatically syncing essential information to it from the community website.