Using Google Keyword Planner to Never Run Out of Real Estate Blog Ideas

Having a real estate agent website that impresses visitors is great. That said, having an impressive website that people keep returning to is even better.

Consistently posting relevant and original blogs is one of the best ways to continually attract website traffic. As many of our clients share with us, however, coming up with engaging blog topics is far from easy.

What if there was a free tool that could help you discover exactly what buyers, sellers, and investors are searching for online so your blogs can address them? Enter Google Keyword Planner.

Understanding Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner gives you valuable insight into keyword search volumes, competition levels, and trends, giving you a data-driven jump-off point when brainstorming blog topics. Why does this matter? Because instead of writing about any topic and hoping it sticks, your content directly addresses questions that people already have.

Google Keyword Planner is accessible via Google Ads and it’s 100% free to use — you don’t need to run ads to access it. Do note that you need to set up a Google Ads account first (details here). When you’re in the Google Ads dashboard, simply do the following:

1. Click the "Tools" icon on the left-hand side menu.

2. Select "Planning" from the dropdown menu.

3. Choose "Keyword Planner” to access the tool.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Before starting keyword research and blog topic brainstorming, it's essential to know your target audience.

Are you writing for first-time home buyers, luxury property buyers, real estate investors, or renters? Creating buyer personas makes it easier to not just come up with suitable blog topics, but also allows you to cluster relevant keywords together.

For instance, “First-Timer Fred” is new to buying real estate, so he’s not just looking for listings but also mortgage lenders. “High-Net-Worth Heather,” on the other hand may not be worried as much with financing, but is particular about deluxe amenities and potential resale value.

Conducting Initial Keyword Research

After identifying your target audience, start your keyword research by entering seed keywords. Go for more general search terms at first, such as “buying a home," "real estate investment," or "selling a house.”

When evaluating which keywords or search phrases to develop into blog topics, there are two critical metrics to assess:

1. Search Volume — This is how many people search for a given search term. Higher volume means higher interest.

2. Competition — This indicates how many advertisers are targeting a given keyword. The more people targeting a search phrase, the harder it is to rank for.

In general, keywords that have high search volume but relatively low competition give you the best chance at having a high-ranking blog that draws constant organic traffic.

Exploring Relevant Terms and Themes

Google Keyword Planner can also suggest related keywords that you can use to inspire your blogs (and integrate into your copy for better SEO — a double win!)

For instance, keywords like “first-time home buyer guide” might lead to relevant searches like “down payment assistance programs” or “what is mortgage pre-qualification.”

As you can see, each seed keyword can lead to myriad search phrases. Keep exploring and you’ll soon have a trove of blog inspirations that are not only helpful but relevant to real-life people.

Leveraging Long-Tail Keywords

Did you know that 70% of all search queries are long tail? For the uninitiated, a long tail keyword is a search query involving three or more words.

Although they tend to have lower search volume, their specificity often signals high intent and lower competition. As such, they are useful when you want to target a niche audience. That is, if you’re the only one blogging about a niche topic (e.g. “finding ranch properties in Montana with water rights”), you’ll earn the lion’s share of traffic for that keyword.

So when using Google Keyword Planner, don’t ignore long-tail keywords in the list of suggestions – you never know what blog content they might inspire.

Spotting Seasonal Trends

For an industry as highly seasonal as real estate, Google Keyword Planner is a real boon. That’s because when tax season or spring comes around, search terms like “minimizing property taxes” or “spring home staging tips” invariably start showing up in suggested keywords. In other words, Google Keyword Planner can remind you to create timely blog posts that you would have otherwise forgotten.

Using Third-Party Keyword Tools

Of course, Google Keyword Planner isn’t the only tool at your disposal. Paid alternatives such as SEMRush and Ahrefs can also be extremely useful because they help identify keywords your competitors are using. In turn, you can uncover content gaps and create blog posts to address them — and potentially outrank your competitors. That said, Google Keyword Planner also offers some level of competitor analysis; you can enter a rival’s URL and it will suggest keywords based on their site’s content and structure. If you find relevant keywords you’re not blogging about, now is the time to do so!

Thinking Laterally

The best way to use Google Keyword Planner (and other keyword tools) is to see them as starting points, not crutches. Put another way, look at keyword suggestions as a way to explore and discover topics that are important to your future clients. One way to do so is to take a keyword and do some lateral thinking, such as by asking interesting questions related to it. Here’s an example:

Tips and Best Practices

Now that you’ve added keyword planners to your content marketing arsenal, here are a few tips to further your success:

• Consistency is Key
  Regularly update your blog with fresh content.

• Don’t Overstuff Keywords
  While keywords are important, they should be naturally integrated into blogs. Don’t add keywords to blogs solely for SEO – relevance and readability take precedence over rankings.

• Practice Local SEO
  Incorporate local keywords to attract readers from your target market area.

• Cross-Post Your Blog
  Sharing your content on social media helps attract more readers to your blog posts.

Get Your Blogging Game On!

As you can see, tools like Google Keyword Planner can make blog topic ideation easier by giving you relevant, data-backed prompts. By using its keyword suggestion and your own sense of what buyers/sellers need, your blog will be a valuable resource for prospects.

For more on launching a real estate blog, check out Agent Image’s step-by-step guide!