What are SEO metadata and why do they matter?

If you want your real estate website to stand out on Google and attract more clients, it's essential to optimise your SEO metadata. In this video, we explain what metadata is, why it matters and how to set it up correctly to improve your site's rankings.

SEO metadata is information that helps Google and users understand your website's content. The main elements you need to optimise are:

Meta title: the title that appears in the search results.

Meta description: the text shown below the title that summarises the page's content.

Optimising these elements helps Google understand each page and, above all, gets more people to choose your result over the others: more visits from people who want to buy or rent.

How to write an attractive, effective meta title

The title is one of the most important SEO factors. Follow these recommendations to optimise it:

• Recommended length: no more than 60 characters, so it doesn't get cut off in the search results.
• Include relevant keywords: use terms such as “Flats for sale in Madrid” or “Houses to rent in Barcelona”, depending on the content of the page.
• Use eye-catching phrases: add calls to action or lines that spark interest, such as “View the homes for sale in Gràcia” or “Your trusted real estate agency in Barcelona”.

How to write an optimised meta description

Although the meta description doesn't directly affect your ranking, it does affect how many people click on your result (CTR).

• Ideal length: between 150 and 160 characters.
• Include keywords: relevant to the user and aligned with the content.
• Call to action: invite users to interact with your website. Example: “Flats and penthouses for sale in Chamberí, hand-picked one by one by our team: real photos, floor plans and a clear price. Book a viewing and we'll show you the neighbourhood.”

Tools to manage your metadata

To make optimisation easier, you can use specialist plugins and tools:

• Yoast SEO: an ideal WordPress plugin that lets you edit metadata easily.
• Rank Math: an alternative to Yoast, with advanced SEO features.
• Google Search Console: tells you which searches each page appears for, how often it's seen and how many clicks it gets, so you know which title or description is worth rewriting.

How to set up metadata in WordPress with Yoast SEO

If your real estate website runs on WordPress, follow these steps to set up your metadata with Yoast SEO:

1. Install the Yoast SEO plugin from the plugins section in WordPress.
2. Activate it and follow the initial set-up wizard.
3. Edit the metadata on each page and post: go to the page or post you want to optimise.
4. Find the “Yoast SEO” section below the editor.
5. Write an appealing title and an optimised meta description.
6. Save your changes and check the Yoast preview to see how it will look on Google.

Optimise your metadata and attract more clients

Start with the pages that matter most to you: the home page, your area pages and the listings for your best properties. If you don't have area pages yet, you first need to review your website architecture. A title that says what it is and where it is, and a description that gives people a reason to click, are enough to stand out among results that all say the same thing.