PPC Services for Realtors + 6 Top Agencies to Consider

Real estate has become one of the highest-converting industries for PPC ads. Learn how PPC services for Realtors can send you enough qualified leads to fill your calendar.

Here, you’ll find:

• What PPC services for Realtors entail
• How PPC agencies can help Realtors succeed
• A list of the best PPC agencies for Realtors
• The benefits of partnering with a PPC agency

The real estate business moves faster than tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. That’s why PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is a popular marketing channel for Realtors. 

But does PPC work for real estate agents?

With a conversion rate of 4.23% in Google search ads, the real estate industry accumulates more conversions than the average of all industries together at 3.750%. 

But to get the most out of PPC and see these conversion rates, you need a well-executed campaign strategy. If you run your campaigns in-house, chances are your marketing team is a bit overwhelmed with all the other channels they already manage. The good news is there are plenty of high-quality PPC services for Realtors.

We’ll give you a preview of the top PPC agencies for Realtors, and how to choose one that’s right for you; here’s a sneak peek:

Top 6 PPC agencies for Realtors

1. HawkSEM
2. RevLocal
3. ReachLocal
4. Chatter Buzz
5. Thrive Agency
6. LYFE Marketing

You know you want to run PPC ads for your real estate business, but where should you start? If you are looking for an agency to manage them, then your first stop was probably Google or another search engine. 

The problem is that PPC agencies are numerous, and a quick Google search will yield endless pages filled with options. So, how can you filter the best-in-class options from the average Joes?

With a team sporting decades of combined digital marketing expertise, we’ve become very good at being able to spot a team with skills to pay the bills – and teams that talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Since it can be hard to translate all that knowledge, we took a deep dive into dozens of PPC agencies for Realtors to bring the best of the best to you.

Check out our list of the top 6 PPC service providers for Realtors below, then keep scrolling to see why we chose each agency. 

1.  HawkSEM

   

   Based in sunny Los Angeles, HawkSEM (hey, that’s us!) is a results-driven, ROI-focused digital marketing agency. 

   We opened our doors in 2006, and since then, have been helping Realtors scale their marketing and have delivered PPC campaigns that drive in so many high-quality leads you don’t know how to manage them all.

   Exactly how do we deliver such results for our real estate clients? We combine the human touch of our incredible team, who gets to know your business and its goals with the latest and greatest technology and tools. 

   For example, our exclusive platform, ConversionIQ, is an incredible tool that helps us take your PPC campaigns to the next level. We start by automating growth signals, account anomaly signals, trend performance, reporting, and more, to get continuous insights for improving PPC campaigns. 

   The platform also helps us accurately depict your buyer’s entire journey, from first sight to purchase, which can help you minimize the number of leads that don’t convert and establish where buyers are dropping off on your site.

   HawkSEM is backed by reputable companies that have experienced our results first-hand. 

   We’ve been recognized in the Google Partners program’s top 3% of US agencies for our ability to drive success for our clients, from doubling Nike’s ecommerce conversions and reducing Honda Motor Co.’s cost per conversion by 30% to doubling Mighty Leaf’s holiday sales. HawkSEM also won Quartz’s best companies for remote workers.

   If you want customized results backed by artificial and human intelligence, we’re your people.

   Services we offer:

   • Conversion rate optimization
   • PPC management
   • Paid social media marketing
   • SEO
   • Performance display
   • Remarketing
   • Shopping and feed management
   • Email marketing

2.  RevLocal

   

   RevLocal is a digital marketing agency that was established in 2010. For over 12 years, it has used determination and expertise to help real estate business owners thrive and succeed with PPC. 

   RevLocal is known for providing a highly personalized service for local businesses and multi-location real estate agents. 

   They also have consultants dotted around the entire US, which means they can really get to know your local market. They’ve had the pleasure of working with many local Realtors, dentists, lawyers, and other local businesses. In 2022 they received both Upcity Local Excellence and Upcity National Excellence awards.   

   Its services include local search marketing, PPC advertising, review marketing, and social media. And they have industry-specific experts in their teams who know all about real estate PPC. In addition, RevLocal is a Premier Google Partner, just like HawkSEM.

   Services offered:

   • Local search marketing
   • Review marketing
   • Paid advertising
   • Social media
   • Website services
   • Marketing analytics
   • Organic SEO

3.  ReachLocal

   

   ReachLocal (now LocaliQ) was founded in 2004 in California and has now expanded to operate in 5 countries across the globe. Its team has specialists with over 10+ years of experience in real estate marketing.

   Its global success is built on its expert skills and focuses on creating marketing solutions that scale. ReachLocal is known for its data-driven marketing approach and will combine data from your real estate business with insights from its historical campaigns that have delivered 201m+ leads.

   Neighborly named ReachLocal “Remarkable Vendor of the Year” in 2022, and LocalIQ was a finalist for the 2022 Drum Awards for online media.

   Services offered:

   • Search engine marketing
   • Social media advertising
   • Display advertising
   • Search engine optimization
   • Youtube advertising
   • Live chat
   • Marketing automation

4.  Chatter Buzz

   

   Chatter Buzz is an agency that understands the digital landscape for real estate is competitive. Maybe that’s why they’re a top-rate real estate marketing agency on review site Clutch.

   The Chatter Buzz team works to understand their clients’ audiences and user behaviors as well as competitors and where they currently stand in the market. From there, they help create streamlined omni-channel campaigns that don’t just attract leads, but motivate them to convert.

   Still not convinced? Check out the myriad case studies on their website, then schedule a free strategy session to find out how they can help you scale your real estate efforts and boost growth in the process.

   Services offered:

   • Website design
   • Email marketing
   • Social media marketing
   • Search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns
   • SEO

5.  Thrive Agency

   

   Thrive is a full-service digital marketing agency that has been around since 2005. It works with a wide range of industries including real estate, and can deliver a full range of marketing services. 

   Its services include consulting and management options for a variety of online marketing tactics, including SEO, PPC ads, Amazon store optimization, copywriting, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and more. 

   A wide range of services means you can get all your marketing in one place. And it is a good place to go. Thrive is known for keeping a customer-centric focus on its services. The customer is the priority for its team, and you will be well taken care of.

   Thrive Agency has several certifications, including Microsoft Partner and Google Ads Premier Partner certifications. They’ve also made to Inc. 5000’s list 6 years in a row. Clutch awarded them the Top SEO Companies and Top Social Media Marketing Agencies awards 2022 as well.

   Services offered:

   • Web design
   • Social media marketing
   • Reputation management
   • SEO
   • PPC marketing
   • Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
   • Ecommerce marketing
   • Amazon marketing

6.  Lyfe Marketing

   

   Lyfe Marketing is a Social Media Management Company that offers a wide range of social media services, including PPC ads for Facebook and other platforms.

   Its full range of services includes social media advertising, email marketing, video creation, and more. It is well known for being able to create and manage top-performing social media campaigns for businesses. And it has expertise in a wide range of PPC channels, knowing how to leverage social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

   Some of their most notable clients are Vulcan Fitness Equipment, Royce Chocolate, and Egyptian Magic skin cream. They’re a Google Premier Partner and a Facebook Marketing Partner.

   Services offered:

   • Social media marketing services
   • Social media advertising services
   • PPC management services
   • Email marketing services
   • Video animation services
   • Social media management services
   • Short video advertising services

What are PPC services for Realtors?

PPC services for Realtors are online advertising campaigns, managed by a team of professionals, that allow agents to pay for ads on search engines and appear above organic search results. 

Platforms like Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) and Microsoft Advertising let you buy clicks to your real estate website or landing page rather than waiting for that visit to come from organic means such as search engine optimization (SEO).

PPC is quite different from other digital marketing channels for Realtors because of how people come to your ad. If we look at organic search results and social media, for example, your content is shown by the search engine perceiving what that user wants to find based on their search term.

The search engine, such as Google, will then present them with what its algorithm believes is the best pieces of content to answer the query and show it at the top of search results. 

In contrast, PPC doesn’t rely on a search engine to rank your content as the best answer. Instead, you pay to appear at the top of those search results (ahead of the organic content).

PPC marketing has become one of the most rewarding channels of lead generation in real estate. Not only does it deliver a killer conversion rate and give you control of where your content is shown. But also, when you implement a good keyword targeting strategy, you can have confidence that those conversions come from genuinely interested parties. 

PPC services for Realtors: What to expect

1. PPC audit of current campaigns
2. Competitive analysis & market research
3. Conversion & goal tracking review
4. Keyword research & development
5. Audience, ad copy & creative buildout
6. A/B testing & landing pages

PPC services help you no matter what stage you’re in, from creating an account to optimizing your campaigns. 

1. PPC audit of current campaigns

A PPC audit reviews your current campaign structure, keywords, settings, and more. It tells you what’s working well and what needs improvement. It finds gaps in your strategy and allows you to gauge your success.

2. Competitive analysis & market research

In PPC, competitive analysis isn’t just knowing who your competitors are in the local world but also knowing your competitors in the digital world. Understanding their strategies will help you get a leg up. 

Market research is crucial to knowing your target audience. It’s the base for your digital marketing strategy and informs the whole process.

3. Conversion & goal tracking review

Is your conversion tracking set up correctly? A checkup will make sure you’re tracking the right conversions. Choosing soft goals instead of concrete ones is easy when getting your campaigns set up. Or, you may forget to tag a thank you form. An audit will ensure your conversions are fine-tuned.

4. Keyword research & development

Proper keyword research informs everything from your strategy right down to your ad copy. It’s an important step to ensure you reach the right audience, and make the best use of your budget.

5. Audience, ad copy & creative buildout

Your audience, ad copy, and creatives all rely heavily on your target personas and research. It will allow you to create customized ads that speak to your audience. Staying away from generic messaging and audiences will allow you to resonate with potential customers and hit your goals.

6. A/B testing & landing pages

You don’t know what you don’t know. A/b testing is an essential part of any marketing strategy. Testing variables optimizes your PPC campaigns, and keeps progress moving forward. 

Landing pages are a vital part of PPC. You’ve paid to get people there, don’t lose them. Landing pages put all of the important information, benefits, and key facts on one page, improving your conversion rate.

What are the benefits of PPC for Realtors?

There are a lot of benefits to using PPC for Realtors. Let’s take a look at some of the top.

Specific targeting 

With PPC ads, Realtors can deliver their ads to homeowners interested in selling their houses and homebuyers searching for their services at that very moment. Unlike SEO, your ad can appear at the very top of the page and quickly attract attention. 

You can target your leads at all stages of the buying cycle. As the user is already on a search engine, you know they’re looking for answers to a question. So you can then target specific keywords to hone the targeting of your ideal audience.

For example, let’s say you want to target users at the beginning of their real estate buying cycle. In this case, you can use specific keywords you know will target that audience. These could be terms such as “best neighborhoods in Chicago” or “new vacation homes in Myrtle Beach.” You choose these keywords, and then your PPC ads will land in front of this early stage of the buying cycle audience at precisely the right time. 

Let’s take another example and say you want to target sellers. You would approach your keyword strategy a bit differently. You could include terms such as “how much is my Los Angeles home worth?” or “find a St. Louis Realtor to sell my home.” 

Control over budget

You choose your ad spend. With PPC, you’re free to spend as little or as much as you like. So while your ads may not show as often as you like, you’re also not locked into a particular amount. Competition varies based on geography, so be sure to keep that in mind.

Greater visibility

Not only will you benefit from very specific targeting, but you’ll find your real estate businesses get more visibility than with some other marketing methods. SEO can be very helpful in building free traffic for a business. However, generating organic leads is quite difficult in a highly competitive real estate industry. 

PPC search ads put your real estate business above the other organic search results, which gives you greater visibility and can improve brand awareness.

Generate qualified leads

We’ve talked about how you can get very specific with your targeting of PPC ads. This lets your real estate businesses get the attention of qualified leads who are actively searching for property. This increases the chances of that lead to becoming a customer that will generate profit for your business. 

How to choose an agency

When your success is riding on your marketing strategy, you need to know you can count on your marketing experts and their marketing campaigns.

You can learn more about everything you need to know about hiring a PPC company in our post, How to Hire an SEM Expert (+ Top 5 Agencies to Consider).

Here are a few highlights of what you should look for:

• Have case studies and previous examples of successful campaigns they have managed
• Have expertise in real estate
• Are established and have accreditations such as being a Google Premier Partner

How much do PPC services for Realtors cost?

Cost will vary by provider; however, it can range $1,500 – $5,000/month. Payment models include the following:

• Percentage of budget – the agency will charge a fee based on a percentage of the budget (usually somewhere between five and 10%)
• Fixed fee – the provider charges a fixed fee based on criteria like number of hours spent on the account or budget
• Hourly –  this is the least common model. You would pay for the time your service spends on your account

When can I expect to see results?

PPC shows results quickly, unlike SEO. You could start seeing results within a week, though it takes about 3 months to optimize. Your ads show about the organic search results, so you’ll be getting lots of eyes on your ads straightaway.

The takeaway

Pay-per-click advertising boasts serious benefits for real estate agents — from specific targeting to increased brand awareness, there is a lot to like.

Ready to rock with a PPC agency? We’d love to work with you. We’ll study your real estate business meticulously and conduct A/B testing to inform a customizable, tailored strategy to optimize your real estate PPC campaigns. Learn more about our PPC services for Realtors.

This article has been updated and was originally published in May 2023.