Our company was established
in 2015.Digital Window‑Shopping in a High‑Occupancy World
Apartment hunters used to cruise neighborhoods looking for Now Leasing banners. Today they turn to Google, Instagram, TikTok, and hundred‑page ILS listings first. The communities that dominate those digital touchpoints fill units fastest, and at the lowest cost per lease. That’s why a siloed approach with SEO over here, paid media over there, no longer cuts it. When search‑engine optimization and performance advertising share data, budgets, and creative, prospects move from first click to signed lease in weeks instead of months.
This guide unpacks how SEO and paid ads work better together, the specific tactics that resonate with renters, and the KPIs that matter to property owners. It also explains the SEO Runners playbook for getting it all live without blowing up your marketing calendar.
The Renter Journey: Mapping Search Intent from Dreaming to Lease Signing
Phase 1 – Discovery (“apartments in Dallas”)
Early‑stage renters cast a wide net: city + apartments, pet‑friendly apartments near me, or even cheap studio in Uptown. They’re looking for options, map pins, photos, and review averages.
Phase 2 – Research (“two‑bedroom with dog park”)
Once a short list forms, queries become amenity‑ and neighborhood‑focused. Floor‑plan pages, 3‑D tours, and Google reviews influence whether a community moves up or down the list.
Phase 3 – Action (“schedule a tour Riverfront Flats”)
Here, intent is crystal‑clear. Searchers want phone numbers, tour‑booking tools, or immediate chat responses. Paid ads that mirror these brand‑plus‑action terms close the loop, while SEO‑driven content (FAQs, virtual‑tour pages) reinforces credibility.
Takeaway: Each phase deserves its own blend of organic and paid visibility. SEO builds evergreen authority; ads intercept urgent, high‑intent searches.
Local SEO Foundations for Multifamily Operators
1. Google Business Profile (GBP)
Claim and fully optimize a GBP for every community. Apartments with complete profiles that include photos, Q&A, and consistent NAP (name, address, phone) appear in the coveted 3‑pack more often, driving free clicks and calls.
Quick Wins
- Use UTM‑tagged URLs for the Website button to track GBP traffic.
- Post weekly: floor‑plan spotlights, amenity photos, limited‑time concessions.
2. City‑Level Landing Pages
Even if you’re on an ILS (ApartmentGuide, Zillow, etc.), build hyper‑local pages on your own domain targeting apartments in [Neighborhood] and pet‑friendly apartments near [Landmark]. Internal links from amenity pages and blog posts raise topical relevance.
3. Structured Data for Floor Plans
Schema markup (FloorPlan, Offer, and ApartmentCommunity) helps Google understand unit types, prices, and availability, increasing the odds of rich snippets and voice‑search reads.
4. Mobile‑First Technical Health
More than 70 percent of apartment traffic is on a mobile device. Compress images, lazy‑load virtual tours, and keep Core Web Vitals (LCP <2.5 s, INP <200 ms) in the green. Faster pages not only delight users but correlate strongly with better keyword positions.
5. Review Management
Google looks at review volume, velocity, and reply rate. Encourage new residents to post within 30 days of move‑in; respond to every review (even the one‑stars) with empathy and specifics.
Paid Ads That Amplify Organic Momentum
Search Campaigns: Own the Bottom of the Funnel
- Exact‑match “brand + floor plan” keywords (e.g., Riverfront Flats two bedroom) capture renters ready to schedule tours.
- Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) match Google‑determined queries to on‑site content like dog‑friendly apartment pages you built for SEO.
- Ad Extensions: sitelinks to tour pages, price callouts (“1 BR from $1,450”), and structured snippets for amenities (Pool, Dog Park, EV Charging).
Display & Discovery: Keep Prospects Warm
After a site visit, remarket with banners showing the exact floor plan they viewed. Average multifamily PPC budgets range from $150 to $3,000 per month depending on class and unit count, however we’ve seen that budgets less than $1,000 to $1,500 generally don’t drive real results.
Social Video: Swipe‑Stopper Creative
Short‑form verticals like TikTok and Instagram Reels should be created for scenarios like touring the clubhouse or show a resident walking her golden retriever by the lake. Paid promotion targets custom audiences built from your website pixel and GBP callers.
Budget Allocation Rules of Thumb
- 60 % Search / 25 % Social / 15 % Display for lease‑up phases.
- 40 % Search / 40 % Social / 20 % Display once stabilized to maintain occupancy and brand lift.
Paid search CPCs in real estate jumped 35 percent year over year, averaging $2.10, but still trail more saturated verticals like insurance. Mixing SEO reduces reliance on those ever‑rising costs.
Synergy Tactics: 5 Ways SEO and Paid Ads Feed Each Other
1. Shared Keyword Intelligence
Use paid‑ads search‑term reports to uncover converting phrases (“loft with exposed brick”) and weave them into new landing pages. Conversely, harvest high‑CTR organic queries from Search Console and add them as exact‑match keywords.
2. Unified Conversion Tracking
Tie form submissions, phone calls, and schedule‑a‑tour clicks to a single CRM. Knowing that 15 calls = 7 tours = 3 leases lets you calculate cost per lease for both channels.
3. Audience Recycling
Feed remarketing audiences such as site visitors and video viewers from paid channels into SEO retargeting email flows for floor‑plan alerts and rent‑drop notifications.
4. SERP Real Estate Dominance
A brand showing up organically and in the top ad slot pushes competitors below the fold, boosting click‑share.
5. Content‑Powered Ads
Repurpose blog posts (“Top 5 Dog‑Friendly Perks in [City]”) as carousel ads, and vice‑versa. The creative lift is minimal, but the reach multiplies.
KPIs That Matter to Owners and Asset Managers
| Metric | Why It Matters | Healthy Benchmarks |
| Cost per Lead (CPL) | Measures marketing efficiency at the inquiry level | $60–$70 via Google Ads for multifamily |
| Cost per Lease (CPLs) | The true cost of revenue; includes tours and applications | $588 average for PPC, lower than ILS at $607 |
| Tour‑Set Rate | % of leads that schedule tours | 25–35 % for well‑optimized sites |
| Tour‑to‑Lease Conversion | Measures leasing team performance and lead quality | 25–30 % typical |
| Occupancy Lift | The goal is 95 %+ stabilized occupancy is ideal | Increases 2–5 % within six months of unified campaigns |
Pro tip: Monitor crawl stats in Search Console after every content sprint; a spike in Discovered—currently not indexed means your publishing velocity has outpaced domain authority.
Mini Case Study: 200‑Unit Lease‑Up in Phoenix
Challenge: New Class‑A community needed 95 % occupancy before loan conversion. Existing ILS listings produced unqualified traffic and $900+ cost per lease.
Solution
- Built city + neighborhood landing pages (“Apartments near Camelback Mountain”) with FloorPlan schema.
- Launched branded and non‑branded search campaigns, plus Instagram Reels remarketing.
- Synced CallRail, tour‑booking widget, and Google Ads conversions into one Looker Studio dashboard.
Results (90 days)
- Organic sessions +110 %
- Paid CPA (lease) $540, 40 % below prior ILS average
- Stabilized at 95.3 % occupancy two months ahead of schedule
Six‑Month Implementation Roadmap
- Month 1: Keyword research, GBP audit, analytics/CRM integration.
- Month 2: Build city‑level pages, add FloorPlan schema, launch brand search ads.
- Month 3: Roll out amenity blogs and non‑brand search campaigns; begin remarketing.
- Month 4: Social video creatives; Core Web Vitals optimization sprint.
- Month 5: Review management push; A/B test ad copy and landing‑page headings.
- Month 6: Re‑allocate budget based on CPL and tour‑to‑lease data; refresh best‑performing content with 3‑D tours.
Common Pitfalls and How to Dodge Them
- Over‑segmenting keywords: 10+ ad groups with near‑duplicate terms dilute budget; combine by intent tier.
- Ignoring 404s after renaming floor‑plan URLs: Always map 301s; orphaned backlinks hurt authority.
- Slow virtual‑tour embeds: Host on lightweight players or defer off‑screen.
- Review gating: Violates Google policy; request honest feedback instead.
- Letting ILS cannibalize brand traffic: Bid on your own name; those are your prospects.
Why SEO Runners Is Built for Multifamily Marketing
Unlike single‑family or retail, apartment marketing demands hyper‑local precision and rapid occupancy wins. SEO Runners blends:
- Technical SEO chops: structured data, Core Web Vitals, advanced internal‑link architecture.
- Paid‑media expertise: Google Ads, Meta, TikTok with housing‑category compliance.
- Real‑time dashboards that map dollars to leases, not just clicks.
We’ve scaled campaigns for 50-unit boutique builds and multi-hundred master communities alike. The playbook stays the same: marry data, creative, and development so every marketing dollar captures qualified renters and pushes them down the funnel.
Turn Clicks into Keys Faster Than Your Competitors
Great SEO gets you discovered; precision paid ads close the gap between discovery and move‑in day. When both run off a shared keyword set, conversion pixel, and analytics lens, occupancy climbs, cost per lease drops, and investors see NOI rise.
Ready to see how a unified strategy can slash vacancy days for your portfolio? Contact SEO Runners today and let’s turn clicks into keys.
