Google Ads, Meta ads and SEO for real estate agents and teams

Where it leaks. Meta requires its Housing special ad category for real estate services: ages fixed at 18 to 65+, all genders, no ZIP codes or location exclusions, at least a 15-mile radius around any specific location and no Advantage+ lookalikes. Google bars age, gender, parental status, marital status and ZIP code targeting for US housing ads. Campaigns built on lookalikes or ZIP lists get flagged on Google or widened on Meta, well beyond the area you farm.

What we change. Seller and buyer campaigns run separately. Reach comes from places, such as cities and a radius on Google, and from what people search and watch, and the ad’s subject, such as a subdivision’s recent sales or a price band, does the selecting that targeting no longer can.

Where it leaks. Seller ads often land on an automated home value tool that shows a number and ends the visit, and buyer ads on a homepage or an empty IDX search. In NAR’s 2025 data, 43% of buyers started by looking online at homes for sale, and 7% found their agent by asking about a specific home they saw online.

What we change. Seller ads go to a page that offers a pricing review from a licensed agent, with recent sales nearby and a listing plan. Buyer ads go to IDX results already filtered to the area and price band in the ad, with a saved search one tap away. The brokerage name sits wherever your state and NAR’s Code of Ethics require it.

Where it leaks. IDX sites that demand registration on the first click ask for a phone number before showing anything worth giving it for. Showing requests now hit a step buyers don’t expect: since August 17, 2024, an agent working with a buyer through the MLS needs a written agreement before the first tour, in person or live virtual. And Meta lead forms can’t ask about income, credit scores or debt without Meta’s prior permission.

What we change. Registration comes when someone saves a search or asks for a showing, not on the first click. The showing request page explains the written buyer agreement, what it covers and that fees are negotiable, and open house sign-ups, which need no agreement, sit alongside it. Financing questions move to the first call.

Where it leaks. Three in four buyers interviewed only one agent, and about four in five sellers contacted only one, so a lead that waits for a callback has often chosen someone else. The cycle is long, too: buyers typically searched for 10 weeks, sellers had typically owned their homes for 11 years, and Zillow finds most sellers start thinking about selling three to four months before they list.

What we change. New leads go to whoever is on call, by text and phone, and the first reply answers the question the person asked. Sellers who aren’t ready get monthly sales updates for their street or subdivision, and buyers get new listings that match their saved search, until they are ready.

Where it leaks. Ad platforms count form fills, the team counts closings months later, and the lead source gets lost when a lead moves into the CRM. Bidding then learns from whoever fills in forms, including browsers who never meet you.

What we change. Every lead keeps its source in the CRM, with dated stages for appointment set, appointment held, signed listing or buyer agreement, and closing. Signed agreements are sent back to Google Ads and Meta as conversions, so bidding learns from clients.

Where it leaks. Referrals still lead: 40% of buyers chose an agent who was, or was referred by, a friend, neighbor or relative, and 66% of sellers used a referral or an agent they’d worked with before. Searches for an agent in a neighborhood go to Google Business Profiles and portals, where a profile with no reviews or local sales gives a searcher little reason to call.

What we change. Google Business Profiles for the brokerage and for each public-facing agent, whom Google treats as individual practitioners, neighborhood and subdivision pages built on real sales, and a review request to every client at closing, made the same way each time.