Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads for Estate Agent Marketing

Most property businesses near to reach a variety of end customers. For example, the typical estate agent needs to generate landlord leads, seller leads, rental leads and buyer leads to sustain and grow their business. To generate property leads, you need a solid understanding of PPC and of the property market.

If you’re evaluating Facebook Ads and Google Ads for estate agents’ marketing, I’ve written this article to share my experience managing £100k's in advertising property. I hope help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of both Google Ads and Meta Ads (AKA Facebook Ads) by sharing my personal successes and challenges.

Note: Google Ads offers several networks and campaign types. In this article, we'll focus purely on Search advertising.

What are the Goals of PPC Marketing for Estate Agents?

Of course, different property businesses will have different needs. Here are some of the common goals for paid media campaigns in property.

PPC Lead Generation for Estate Agents

1000 Property leads generated with Google Ads PPC

Property enquiry leads generated with Google Ads, Facebook Ads and SEO.

As a business, an estate agency needs new leads to drive the business and build the pipeline. Costs per lead need to be profitable, which is why PPC with its sophisticated controls works well. Leads also need to be relevant, of high quality with good potential to convert to instructions. Time wasting leads should be minimised. Lead quality is as important as quantity.

Advertising Reach & Frequency

Depending on the areas you work in, you might have a finite number of prospects at any given time. Estate agent PPC campaigns need to make the most of the available audiences. Some campaigns also need a high number of views, often measured in frequency to build brand awareness.

Prospecting and Remarketing Campaigns for Estate Agents

Digital marketing for estate agents can be often split into two groups:

  1. Prospecting. Reaching out to new audiences and introducing them to your estate agency’s offer.
  2. Remarketing. Re-engaging existing users. These could be people who’ve visited your website or interacted with your agency on social media. You can even upload an email list of past leads and customers to the PPC platform for matching and retargeting.

Typically, remarketing PPC campaigns have a cheaper cost per lead than prospecting campaigns. This is because the audience is warm and is familiar with your estate agency brand.

Types of Lead for Estate Agent PPC Campaigns

As mentioned, estate agencies have multiple stakeholders. There are multiple leads types that may also have different costs per acquisition.

Tenant Leads for Estate Agents

Tenant leads or rental enquiries are usually the cheapest leads. They typically have a lower lifetime value. Some estate agents won’t advertise for tenant enquiries because they can get enough rental enquiries through Zoopla and Rightmove.

Property Buyer Leads for Estate Agents

Much like tenant leads, buyer leads can be generated with PPC campaigns or from Zoopla and Rightmove. Property sales have a higher lifetime value for estate agents. For this reason, they tend to cost more than rental enquiries. They are also a good way of generating seller instructions, as many buyers will also need to sell a property. Buyer lead costs vary depending on the area, average property value and competition.

Landlord Leads for Estate Agents

Landlord leads are crucial for estate agent growth. High-quality landlord leads can be worth a lot for real estate agencies so their cost can be higher than sales or rental leads. We’ve found landlord leads can often be generated at around £40 per lead with Facebook or Google Ads.

Property Valuations & Appraisals for Seller Leads

Much like new landlord leads, generating seller leads through valuations is essential for an agency. We’ve found PPC costs for valuation & appraisal leads are between £5-£120 depending on the process.

Differences Between Facebook Ads and Google Ads for Estate Agent Lead Generation

Both Facebook Ads and Google Ads are a form of PPC advertising, which stands for pay per click. Both PPC platforms offer some very appealing features for real estate marketing but each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Advantages of Google Ads for Estate Agent Marketing

Ads on Google search results for estate agents

The simple and powerful concept of Google Ads for estate agents.

  • High-quality and high-intent traffic
  • Text Ads on search engine results
  • Keyword targeting, showing the right ads to the right people at the right time
  • Accurate conversion tracking
  • Built-in integration with Google Analytics
  • Ads redirect to your website
  • Can achieve good lead quality

Disadvantages of Google Ads for Real Estate Agents

  • Relatively high costs compared with Facebook Ads
  • Can be limited by search volumes for certain keywords
  • Ad text has strict character limitations
  • Ads are hard to differentiate from the completion so there's less potential for brand building
  • As a result, competition can be high
  • Google’s recent privacy update hides a lot of the search data from advertisers

Advantages of Facebook Ads for Estate Agents

Facebook Ads for estate agent leads

The use of inspiring property photos and videos combined with text make Facebook Ads engaging and increase click-through rates.

  • Advanced audience and interest-based targeting
  • Various ad formats, including video and carousels
  • Advanced optimisation algorithms
  • Often cheaper costs per lead
  • Ability to generate leads and meaningful interactions natively on the platform, without a website interaction
  • Advanced retargeting options, including people who’ve interacted with an ad or post
  • Low threshold for retargeting audiences
  • Ability to reach new audiences and build awareness

Disadvantaged for Facebook Ads for Estate Agent Lead Generation

  • Tracking has become more limited recently since the iOS14 update
  • Lead quality can vary as users are not actively looking for a property when they see the ads
  • Interest & demographics-based targeting doesn’t always indicate a current intent on real estate
  • The cost of ads is rising and isn't always cheaper than Google Ads
  • No built-in integration with Google Analytics

Google Ads and Facebook ads offer very different approaches to PPC advertising.

Google Ads will serve your text ad at the exact moment they make a relevant search. From that respect, Google Ads are very different from traditional advertising. If your targeting and ads are good, you are helping the searcher solve a problem when you offer them properties that are relevant to them.

Facebook Ads are more like traditional advertising in the sense that they interrupt a user while he or she is scrolling through their feed. Though this doesn't sound as appealing as Google Ads' method, with the right targeting and ads users can get useful offers that are of genuine interest to them. The results are genuine interactions that can either happen on your estate agent's website or on Facebook and Instagram. The ability to add images, video and carousels to ads and having more freedom with text length gives you the option to highlight featured properties and stand out.

So Which PPC Channel is Best for Estate Agent Leads?

Google Ads or Facebook Ads for estate agent ppc campaigns?

Both Facebook Ads and Google ads can work wonders in generating property leads. They each have their pros and cons and offer very different approaches. Each one can reach different groups of people in a very different way. That's why they work best when they complement each other.

I recommend using a mix of Google Ads and Facebook Ads for Estate Agent marketing. Paid search offers a very direct way to prospects who are actively looking for property. Paid social shows ads while people or on their feeds but it does work really well. If coordinated together, the two PPC channels can engage your prospects and various stages of their property buying or selling cycle. Usually, the best strategy is to run campaigns on both Google Ads and Facebook Ads simultaneously. You can vary budgets between them based on the results they bring and the objectives you have.

If you’re targeting an area with limited search volume, you might find the Facebook ads help you reach audiences that weren’t actively looking for what you have to offer. You can entice them to take action with appealing images, videos and text.

If you have a lot of properties on your website or clear calls to action, Google search Ads will send prospects to your property pages at a time when they're searching.

About me

I’m a property marketing specialist and PPC consultant with over 10 years of Google Ads experience. I’m based in London and work with clients all over the UK.

I work with a small team of experienced marketers to deliver digital marketing for estate agents and property investors. If you’re looking to grow leads and instructions with Google Ads or Facebook Ads, get in touch and I’ll be glad to help.

Odi Caspi - Real Estate and Property PPC Specialist
PPC Marketer

Google Ads Tips & Tricks Mail Shots

Keep up-to-date with Google Ads tips, tricks & tutorials.  Sign up for occasional email updates.  We only email when there's something useful to share. 
You can always unsubscribe.  
Newsletter signup
Categories
Tags
More digital marketing guides

Need Help with PPC?

Google Ads management from £1000* per month. PPC Audits & training from £300*. 
*plus VAT  
Get more out of your ads!
Contact Form 1
home