How to Run Google Ads for Real Estate Agents

Track valuation requests before you run an ad

Google's bidding aims at what it can count. Real estate searches are mostly people browsing homes, so if Google can't see which clicks asked for a valuation, it buys browsers.

A conversion is the action you want from a click. For an agent, that is a phone call or a valuation request.

1. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, and create a new conversion action.
2. Add one for calls from your ads and one for calls from your website, with a minimum call length.
3. Add one for your valuation or contact form, counted when it is sent.
4. Mark these as primary, so bidding uses them. Mark listing views, saved searches and newsletter sign-ups as secondary.
5. Make a test call and send a test form. Check both show in Google Ads within a day.

Then keep a list of every lead in your CRM or a spreadsheet. Is this an owner? Did you meet them? Did they list with you, and did it sell? An owner planning to sell in spring and a tenant asking about a two-bedroom apartment are both "one form" to Google. Once you have steady volume, upload the qualified and won leads to Google Ads, so bidding learns what a seller looks like.

Settings that keep an agent's ads in the right area

Three settings to fix first.

1. Search only. In campaign settings, open Networks. Untick Search Partners and untick the Display Network. You want to be on Google Search when an owner types "real estate agent near me".
2. People who are in your area. Open Locations and add the cities or areas you sell in. In some countries Google limits targeting for housing ads, so zip codes may not be offered. Use cities or a radius instead. Then open Location options and choose "Presence: people in or regularly in your included locations".
3. Auto-apply off. Open Recommendations, find Auto-apply and turn off every box. Otherwise Google can add keywords and change bidding without asking.

One thought on presence. Some sellers live elsewhere and own a home in your area, such as landlords and people who have inherited a house. Start with presence only, since it wastes far less. You can test the wider option later in a separate campaign if you want those owners.

Real estate advertising also has fair housing and licensing rules. Check your own regulator's advertising rules before the ads go live.

How to structure a real estate campaign

An ad group is a set of keywords that share the same ads. Each thing you are asked is a different person, so each gets its own ad group and landing page.

Build the ones you want. Many agents start with only the first three.

If you offer property management, give it a separate campaign. Landlords are a different client and deserve their own budget.

Keywords an owner types when they are thinking of selling

A keyword is the phrase you give Google. A search term is what the person typed. You pay for the search term.

Sellers look for a person or a number:

• real estate agent near me
• realtor near me
• listing agent
• sell my house
• home valuation
• what is my home worth

Add your city and your main neighborhoods to several. "Realtor" plus a neighborhood name is a strong keyword.

Stay away from keywords about homes themselves, such as "homes for sale" or "houses in" a city. Those are buyers on their way to the listing sites.

Match types set how loosely Google matches:

• Exact match shows your ad for that search or one with the same meaning.
• Phrase match shows your ad when the search includes the meaning of your phrase, with words around it.
• Broad match shows your ad for anything Google thinks is related. In real estate that is listings, rentals and license courses. Leave it off.

Start with phrase and exact match. Each week, see which search terms became valuation requests and add them as exact match keywords in the right ad group.

Searches an agent should block from day one

A negative keyword is a word you block. Add these at the account level before the ads start:

• Buyers browsing: for sale, listings, open house, foreclosure, and the names of the big listing sites.
• Renters: for rent, rentals, apartments, lease, roommate.
• Careers: jobs, salary, commission split, how to become, hiring.
• Study: license, course, exam, school, class.
• Selling it themselves: without an agent, by owner, fsbo.
• Cash buyer searches: we buy houses, cash offer, if you don't want them.
• Other agencies' and agents' names.

Two cautions. If you run a property management ad group, don't block "rentals" across the account. Add the renter words as negatives on the seller campaign only. And if you run a buyer's agent ad group, keep "for sale" off the account list and block it in the seller ad groups instead.

Add each as a phrase match negative, trimmed to the core word. "Apartments" stops every apartment search.

Then check the search terms. Every day or two for the first two weeks, weekly after that:

1. Open the search terms report under Insights and reports.
2. Sort by cost, highest first.
3. Ask of each search: is this an owner who might list with me?
4. If not, block the core word.

Writing ads that speak to a seller

A responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google mixes them. Fill in as many as you can.

• Say what the owner wants: "Thinking of Selling?", "What Is Your Home Worth?".
• Name the place: your city and your main neighborhoods.
• Give true reasons to call you: years selling in the area, homes sold nearby, a clear marketing plan, a free valuation with no obligation.
• End each description with the next step: "Request your free home valuation."

Stick to facts you can show. Leave out claims about ranking first in your market unless you can prove them, and don't describe the kind of people a neighborhood suits.

Each ad group gets its own ad. After a few weeks, add a second ad and let them compete.

Then add the extras, called assets:

• Call asset: your number on the ad, tap to call.
• Sitelinks: at least four, such as "Free Home Valuation", "Recent Sales", "How We Sell" and "Client Reviews".
• Callouts: short phrases such as "Local Agent", "No-Obligation Valuation" and "Professional Photos Included", if true.

The landing page: a valuation form, not a listing feed

A seller's page has one job: start a conversation about their home.

• The headline matches the search. A "home valuation" ad lands on a page headed find out what your home is worth.
• Phone number at the top, tap to call.
• A short form near the top: name, phone, property address, and roughly when they want to sell.
• Your photo and name. Sellers choose a person.
• Recent sales nearby, with photos.
• Reviews from past sellers.
• Three steps in plain words: valuation, plan, sale.
• Your license details, as your rules require.
• No listing search, no menu and no links leading away.
• Fast on a phone.

Google scores how well the keyword, ad and page match. A closer match earns a higher score and a lower price for the same position.

Budget and bidding when the sale is months away

Set the budget from listings. How many do you want from ads this year, how many valuation requests does one take, and what can you pay for a request? Multiply it through, and fund it for a season.

Bidding moves in stages:

1. Maximize Conversions from the start. With tracking working, launch on this. Google bids toward calls and forms. Give it several weeks.
2. If a new account won't spend. As a fallback, use Maximize Clicks with a cap on the bid per click. Return to Maximize Conversions once requests arrive.
3. A target cost per lead. After about 30 conversions in 30 days, set a target, which Google calls Target CPA. Start it 15 to 20 percent above what a request has been costing. Too tight and Google stops spending. Lower it a little each month while requests hold.

A single agent may not reach 30 conversions a month. If so, stay on Maximize Conversions. Don't bid by hand.

How to run Google Ads for real estate agents: a weekly and monthly routine

Every week:

• Check the search terms. Block buyers, renters and license searches.
• Add searches that became valuation requests as exact match keywords.
• Update each lead: owner or not, appointment, listed, sold or junk.
• Call new leads within the hour if you can. An owner who asks one agent often asks three.

Every month:

• Compare cost per valuation request across ad groups.
• Look back six months. Which ad groups led to listings?
• Pause an ad group that brings only buyers and renters.
• Update recent sales on the landing pages.
• Test the phone number and the form.

Seasons: spring listings start in winter

• Winter: owners planning a spring sale ask for valuations now. Set the campaign up in winter, so it has a month of real searches behind it before the season starts.
• Spring: the busy selling season in most markets. Keep the budget steady and answer fast.
• Summer: families who want to move before school starts.
• Fall: a second, smaller selling window.
• Year end: quieter, but the owners who search now tend to be serious.

Rate changes and local news move the market too. When owners get nervous or hopeful, valuation searches rise.

Or have software do all of this

That is how to run Google Ads for real estate agents by hand: count valuation requests and follow them to listings, lock the settings, keep sellers, landlords and buyers in separate ad groups, block the browsers every week, and let the bidding step up as the data grows. It works, and it takes time away from appointments.

Local Service Ads AI does these steps every morning, and it asks before it raises a budget or switches a campaign on. See Google Ads for real estate agents.