Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin dominate real estate search results with massive budgets. Individual agents bidding on 'homes for sale [city]' are paying premium CPCs to appear below these portals, attracting browsers who typically start with portal searches anyway.
Buyer keywords ('homes for sale') and seller keywords ('sell my house fast') require completely different messaging and landing pages. Most agents run mixed campaigns with generic messaging, reducing relevance scores and conversion rates for both audiences.
Real estate is hyperlocal—buyers want specific neighborhoods, not entire metros. Broad city targeting wastes budget on areas you don't specialize in or where you have no listings. Neighborhood-specific campaigns convert 3x better than city-wide targeting.
Broad match keywords trigger your real estate agent ads for searches like "real estate agent jobs" and "real estate agent salary". Without negative keywords, you're paying for clicks that will never convert.
Fix: Add comprehensive negative keyword lists and switch high-value keywords to exact match.
Your homepage isn't optimized for conversions. Real Estate Agents who click ads expecting specific services bounce when they land on a generic page.
Fix: Create dedicated landing pages for each service with clear CTAs and matching message.
You're paying the same CPC at 3 AM as you are during peak hours. But real estate agent searches convert differently throughout the day.
Fix: Analyze your conversion data by hour and day, then adjust bids accordingly.
Running the same ads for months means you're leaving performance on the table. Different messages resonate with different real estate agent customers.
Fix: Run at least 3 ad variations per ad group and let Google optimize.
These keywords waste budget without delivering customers:
Too broad. Dominated by portals. Browsers not ready to commit to an agent.
Career seekers, not buyers or sellers.
Aspiring agents, not clients.
Brand searches—send them to Zillow, not your ads.
Tire-kickers looking for FSBO or portal browsing.
Two powerful tools for real estate agents to improve your Google Ads performance
CPC Benchmarks
Average cost per click for real estate agents
Best Keywords
High-converting keywords to target
Budget Guide
How much to spend on Google Ads
ROI Calculator
Expected return on ad spend
2025 Benchmarks
Industry performance metrics
Real Estate Agents Audit
Complete real estate agent Google Ads guide