One of the biggest mistakes that commercial real estate professionals make, including marketers and webmasters, is considering search engine optimization (SEO) a one-and-done activity.  Doing SEO correctly requires tireless dedication to continually improving search results.

In the commercial real estate industry, building owners regularly check their properties to ensure tenant satisfaction, safety and make sure that normal wear-and-tear has not outpaced maintenance efforts. The same diligence should happen for your virtual properties—meaning your website, social media presence, blogs and the like. The best way to ensure that your brand is being found is by doing regular SEO audits. An SEO audit can be complex, so it may be best to work with a virtual marketing team that’s skilled in this industry as well as in website development and search engine optimization.

SEO Audits Should Be a Marketing Imperative

A decade or so ago, websites were still somewhat of luxury. Today no matter the size of your business, it’s important to have a website. This virtual front door to your business communicates your brand promise, your offering and may even define your company values. Since you’re running a commercial real estate business and not a speakeasy, it’s important that your door is easily found. Regular checkups can make sure that happens and ensure that everything is in order.

It’s important to remember that your website and digital presence is continually changing. In any given month, you’ve likely posted new stories on your blog, added personnel, adjusted your offerings or announced a new win. That’s all great content that can be very attractive to search engines. A semi-annual SEO audit can ensure the new content is found by searchers and provide your web team with the opportunity to fix critical issues proactively—rather than waiting for a prospective customer to say, “I couldn’t find your site.”

Audits Should Be Comprehensive

An SEO audit should look at your digital presence from multiple angles. At bare bones minimum, it should look at how your company compares in terms of ranking to your nearest competitors.  But the semi-annual evaluation shouldn’t end there. The purpose of the audit is to find as many issues affecting search results performance as possible. That means looking at technical issues, website structural issues, off-site issues and gaps in content.

A website audit equates to the multi-point checkup your automotive dealer does on your car. You may not need transmission fluid, but it’s best to make sure that it is topped off appropriately.

The results of an audit should be easy to understand and should provide insight into how you may adjust your other marketing activities like newsletter development, blog posts and email marketing to drive more people to your site. For instance, suppose industrial properties have really heated up in your region. A good audit should provide some insight on opportunities you may be missing by not dedicating a web page to that topic. You can also use that intelligence to create blog posts or an email marketing campaign dedicated new uses for warehouse space or similar topics.

SEO Audits Are Not One Size Fits All