SEO for Property Managers - Part 9 Build a Great Homes for Rent Page

Property display/Homes for Rent Page – The purpose of the homes for rent section is to show the company’s current rental inventory in a professional and effective manner on the property management website. Most PM’s market their properties on multiple websites through data feeds. One of the best marketing methods is still a for rent yard sign. The for rent sign is going to reference the company website, and tenants need to be able to get property details while in the field looking at properties. Much of the traffic to this section will come from mobile phones when prospective tenants see a rental sign and want information on the rental. The property display should be searchable, have great pictures, give all of the vital information about each property, and be responsive. The display should make it easy for tenants to contact the company via phone or email for more info and to schedule showings. Many third parties like software companies provide website plugins to power rental listings. Make sure that the viewing experience takes place on the company website and not the software provider’s. This practice will cost the company valuable traffic and usage data.

To increase the content on the rental listings page, the PM can give some basic move-in info or qualification criteria. Make sure to place this info below the listings.

Meta Tagging for Properties for Rent Pages – While most rental leads come from a PM company’s advertising efforts on other websites, it is still possible for company property pages to get search engine rankings. The terms are competitive, but they are worth going after to get credit for the big boost in usage data if the company is able to attain first page rankings. The title tag should say “Orlando homes for rent, Orlando rental homes, Orland houses for rent | Company Name.” The meta description should contain one or two of the search terms in the text. Like the property management services, it is good practice to create multiple property landing pages for homes for rent.

It is much more difficult to rank for these search terms because big companies like Zillow, Trulia and Rentals.com optimize and spend millions of dollars to rank for these terms. It is worth optimizing because property managers have to build the pages anyway, and if the company can obtain rankings the traffic and usage data will be well worth the effort. Here is an example of a customer appearing in a Richmond homes for rent search on the front page after Zillow, but ahead of Trulia and Rentals:

David Borden

Co-Founder

With a resume that includes West Point graduate, Captain of the West Point Team Handball team (which, interestingly, is also referred to as “Borden Ball” around the world. Google it. We’re not sure which name came first, but we’re pretty sure Dave could tell you), US Army Chinook helicopter pilot and Co-founder, President & CEO of what is now the leading website in the country for advertising long term residential rentals, it stands to reason why Dave has a place at the PMW kitchen table...

With a resume that includes West Point graduate, Captain of the West Point Team Handball team (which, interestingly, is also referred to as “Borden Ball” around the world. Google it. We’re not sure which name came first, but we’re pretty sure Dave could tell you), US Army Chinook helicopter pilot and Co-founder, President & CEO of what is now the leading website in the country for advertising long term residential rentals, it stands to reason why Dave has a place at the PMW kitchen table: his appetite for success. And, well, because he keeps us laughing. As our resident funny-man (possibly self-proclaimed), his booming voice can be heard spreading the PMW gospel to anyone who’ll listen. And, frankly, even those who have no interest in property management. (Don’t they teach “Inside Voice” at America’s oldest military academy?) But his high-decibel, funny ways become awfully serious when it comes to staying one step ahead for the good of our customers; because Dave has been there. As a second-generation property manager from Colorado Springs, CO, he knows the struggles that property managers go through and painstakingly dissects every step of their process to come up with ways to ease their burden. As former CEO & President of RentClicks (which went on to become Rentals.com), he strategically positioned their business to become NARPM’s first official partner and was awarded NARPM’s National Affiliate of the Year three times. When he’s not devouring industry information at our kitchen table, you might find him bellying up to a plate of wings while watching his beloved (understatement) Broncos, flipping channels in search of a historical documentary, searching out a tennis match or preaching the ways of the world to his pre-teen sons, Andrew and Brady.