We dove into the collective data from various multifamily properties utilizing SEO and paid media strategies in their digital marketing efforts to gain better insight into the benefits of pairing the two in your multifamily media mix. We came to the conclusion that properties leveraging both SEO and paid methods can experience significant benefits and increase the number of metrics like incoming traffic, Google Business Profile presence, CTR, and more.

Leveraging SEO and Paid Search

By combining Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search (PPC) efforts within our multifamily property digital marketing strategies, we believe that there will be an increase in overall marketing campaign results. This synergy between SEO, which focuses on organic visibility and long-term traffic growth, and Paid, which provides immediate visibility through paid ads, is expected to create a cumulative effect that enhances brand visibility, boosts lead generation, and ultimately improves the performance metrics, such as click-through rates, conversions, and return on investment (ROI), for the multi-family property campaigns managed through Digible.

Paid Search Performance

Paid Search (or PPC) offers immediate results by creating effective ads and bidding on relevant keywords, where each click on an ad results in paid search traffic to your website. This product can be viewed as renting an apartment. Similar to renting an apartment, your ads are renting a space on the search engine results page (SERP). Once you pull your budget (or decide not to renew your lease), your ads immediately no longer show on the SERP. Leveraging the power of paid advertising is its full capacity to generate large amounts of traffic swiftly and provide immediate brand exposure to future residents.

After analyzing the data of several properties in the Southeast region running only SEO, only Paid Search, and a combination of both services to found that these properties witnessed a remarkable surge in conversion rates, such as a 51.22% increase in branded terms in paid search and a 32.09% overall rise in conversion rates in paid search due to better landing pages. WOW!

Moreover, these efforts led to substantial cost savings, with a 98.13% decrease in media costs across various parameters on Google Business Profile listings. Our Paid Media Team also reported that by adding SEO into their media mix, total media cost per search views on GBP listings decreased by 98.58%, total media cost per phone clicks on GBP listings decreased by 97.78 %, and website conversion rates in Google Analytics increased by 371.42%. 

SEO Performance

If Paid is like renting an apartment, then SEO is like buying a house. It’s a lengthier process that starts slow but if done correctly, it can yield a consistent and increasing stream of high-quality traffic consistently. If you decide to stop utilizing SEO in your marketing strategies, you can still see performance results for a little while after. 55% of marketers consider SEO an important tool in their overall marketing strategy as its main role is to optimize content and website design to improve a website’s ranking on the SERP.  

When analyzing the data, we saw outstanding improvements in website performance, including:

• Whopping 119% increase in conversion rates
• Notable rises in total traffic (80%)
• Increase in organic traffic (58%)
• Total sessions (79%)
• An overall increase in total conversions (152%).

Key Takeaways for Leveraging SEO and Paid Search

This collaboration between SEO and Paid Search not only elevated visibility but also notably improved conversion rates and cost efficiencies, laying a robust digital marketing foundation for multifamily properties. Establishing both forms of digital marketing into your online strategy saw benefits for both services, proving that by proactively making sure the paid and organic components of your search engine marketing are working together, you can speed up your campaign optimization and boost ROI as a result. 

Conclusion

By creating a better user experience with more relevant content and information, we see key benefits such as more qualified traffic to your site as well as higher conversion rates. SEO and Paid complement each other strategically align with your goals and yield successful results for your apartment marketing campaigns. Paid can address geographical areas where SEO coverage is limited or weaker, A/B testing of ad copy and landing pages can be used in organic listings and landing pages, and keywords tested in your Paid strategy can be used in long-term SEO strategies. 

So the question of “SEO vs PPC: which is better?” is outdated as both products have their advantages and disadvantages — but it is undeniable that incorporating both into your multi-family marketing strategies will have lasting results in the long run.

Ready to get your SEO and Paid Search strategy off the ground? Drop us a line to get started.