–Terry Burger, The Search Factory 

It sure has been a roller coaster of a month. Many of our clients across the country are seeing frozen or suspended real estate markets because of the recent economic volatility. What impact, if any, has there been on search since the first big drop of 777 points on September 29th? Hopefully the research below prove that people still need a place to live, and they are searching online for answers.

My first source of data turns to our own Search Factory clients across the country. I’ve observed search volume drops of 10-15% depending on location. In an effort to be more statistically accurate, I look to Google, the world’s largest search engine and provider of search data.

Google uses a 12 month benchmark in what it calls its “Interest Rating”. The peak of their search is measured at 100, and all other “points” are established from the peak number. For the purpose of this article, I wanted a 12 month snapshot dating back to October 2007. According to GoogleTrends, there has been a 17.6 point drop in the Interest Rating of “homes for sale” related keywords since September 1, 2008. This is not surprising when you consider all that has taken place in the past 30 days.

The silver lining however is that even with economic volatility, the interest in “homes for sale” keyword searches is up 10% from October 5-October 12. The lowest interest rating was reported on December 15, 2007 at 52. As of October 12, the interest rating is up 10% from the previous week to 84.

As always, in every market there is opportunity. 5 of the top 7 fastest rising keywords in real estate are related to foreclosures. While people are interested in real estate, they are also interested in a deal.

If you’re currently involved in search engine marketing, stay the course. The leads you have today will cultivate into business tomorrow when there will be pent up demand. Never lose sight of the fact that one of the basic necessities of life is shelter. If you need help with Search Engine Marketing, we’re giving you $100 in advertising to try out The Search Factory.

Tags: real estate pay per click, real estate ppc, real estate search engine marketing, search engine research

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Real Estate Articles, real estate internet leads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.