Getting the Most Visibility from Property Photos with Search Optimization

Adding lively, engaging property photos of apartment communities – inside and out – enhances marketability and appeal of any property, but is that property actually getting the visibility you’d hope for? A property manager or marketing director may stroll a property and snap a few photos on a cell phone or other digital camera and upload them to the website with high hopes they’ll be seen and entice prospects to drive by or make an appointment for a closer look. The reality is that the imagery may not help to fully tell the property’s story and capture a prospect’s attention even when specifically searching for the apartment community. Google is becoming multifamily’s search result of choice Multifamily knows that visibility is all about search engine optimization. Google pulls search results based on the location closest to the searcher at the top, directing traffic to a company’s website rather than intermediary internet listing sites (ILS). Google Places’ shift in search results display makes it more important than ever to have verified, rich, immersive content on websites that can be served up depending on the searcher’s interest. Google Street View has become the most desirable search that sets multifamily properties apart when apartment hunters shop a specific property. Searches produce a colorful, 360-degree street view of the property that takes the viewer on a journey of the apartment’s surroundings. The prospect can look for certain amenities at the community and get a look at the surroundings. Also, gaining popularity in Google searches are virtual tours of the apartment’s community. Uploading content to Google Street View requires using one of the approved 360-degree cameras for the search platform. If the photo isn’t taken with one of these cameras (Ricoh and Samsung make popular versions), the street view is unlikely to come up in searches. Redefining apartment c...