Berger Realty SEO Case Study: Growing Organic Visibility in a Competitive Real Estate Market

Berger Realty is a real estate company serving Ocean City, New Jersey, offering both vacation rental properties and properties for sale near the beach and throughout the surrounding area.

The company partnered with SEO Locale in the summer of 2020, during a particularly unusual period for the real estate and travel industries. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Berger Realty recognized the long-term value of increasing its visibility in organic search.

The goal was to compete more effectively in Google search results, bring more potential renters and buyers to the website, and ultimately generate more leads.

Since beginning the campaign, Berger Realty has experienced significant growth in organic search performance. Google organic users increased by 66.29%, new users increased by 66.43%, and sessions increased by 74.33%.

The Challenge: Increasing Traffic and Leads Through the Website

Real estate in Ocean City, New Jersey is an extremely competitive market.

Berger Realty competes for visibility with other real estate companies, rental providers, and property websites targeting many of the same potential customers.

For someone planning a stay in Ocean City or looking for a property near the beach, the search process frequently begins online. Appearing prominently when those users search for relevant properties and real estate services creates an important opportunity to bring qualified traffic directly to the website.

Berger Realty wanted to improve its position against competing websites while increasing overall website traffic and leads.

The challenge was determining which searches offered the strongest opportunities and developing an SEO strategy capable of improving rankings within an already competitive search landscape.

Building the Campaign Around Competitor Research

The SEO campaign began with an in-depth analysis of Berger Realty’s existing search presence and the websites competing with it.

Because Ocean City real estate is such a competitive market, keyword selection needed to be based on more than general search volume.

SEO Locale reviewed the keywords for which Berger Realty was already being found as well as the terms competitors were ranking for.

This created a more comprehensive view of the search landscape and helped identify areas where Berger Realty could strengthen its presence.

Competitor research also provided insight into opportunities the website was not yet taking advantage of, allowing the campaign to target terms with stronger potential to attract relevant users.

Selecting the Right Keywords

After completing the initial research, SEO Locale worked with Berger Realty to determine which keywords were the best fit for the campaign.

The goal was not simply to rank for as many phrases as possible.

The selected keywords needed to reflect the company’s actual services, market, and audience while providing opportunities to reach people searching for vacation rentals and real estate in and around Ocean City.

Collaborating with Berger Realty during the selection process helped connect the SEO strategy with the company’s business priorities.

Once the target keywords were established, the next step was determining where each term belonged throughout the website.

Mapping Keywords to Relevant Pages

Target keywords were mapped to the pages where they made the most sense based on subject matter and search intent.

This created a clearer structure for the campaign and allowed individual pages to target specific opportunities rather than having multiple pages compete for the same terms.

SEO Locale then developed on-page recommendations based on that keyword mapping.

After those recommendations were approved, optimization work could move forward throughout the website.

Strengthening On-Page SEO and Content

On-page optimization included updates to important search elements throughout the site.

Meta titles, heading tags, and other page-level elements were optimized to better communicate the subject and purpose of individual pages to search engines.

Content creation was also incorporated into the campaign to strengthen existing pages and provide additional opportunities for Berger Realty to appear in relevant searches.

Together, keyword mapping, on-page optimization, and content development gave the website a stronger foundation for competing within the Ocean City real estate market.

58 Targeted Keywords Reached the First Page

Berger Realty developed a strong first-page presence for the keywords targeted through the campaign.

The case study reports 58 targeted keywords reaching the first page of Google.

Reaching these positions is particularly valuable within a competitive real estate market because users searching for rentals and properties have numerous websites available to them.

Greater first-page visibility gives Berger Realty more opportunities to appear early in that search process and bring potential customers directly to its website.

27 Keywords Reached Google’s Top Three Positions

Across the 175 tracked ranking keywords included in the case study, Berger Realty achieved visibility throughout several important search positions.

The ranking distribution included:

• 27 keywords ranking in positions 1–3
• 31 keywords ranking in positions 4–10
• 54 keywords ranking in positions 11–20
• 54 keywords ranking in positions 21–50
• 9 keywords ranking in positions 51–100

Approximately 60% of the tracked keywords were ranking on the first two pages of Google.

The 27 keywords appearing within positions 1–3 were especially valuable because those positions provide some of the strongest organic visibility within Google’s search results.

At the same time, keywords ranking just outside the first page created additional opportunities for continued optimization.

38 Keywords Ranked Above the Fold

Berger Realty also achieved above-the-fold visibility for 38 keywords.

Appearing above the fold can be particularly important in a competitive search environment because those results are visible before a user needs to scroll farther down the page.

For real estate searches where multiple companies may be competing for the same customer, gaining that prominent placement gives Berger Realty a stronger opportunity to attract the initial click.

Traffic Value Increased 108%

Another significant improvement was the growth in Berger Realty’s organic traffic value.

During the two-month period measured in the original case study, traffic value increased by 108%.

Traffic value provides additional context beyond the number of website visitors by helping illustrate the potential value of the organic search traffic being generated.

The increase supported the broader ranking improvements and demonstrated that Berger Realty was gaining visibility for increasingly valuable searches.

Google Organic Users Increased 66.29%

Berger Realty’s increased search presence translated into substantially more organic users.

Compared with the period before beginning its campaign with SEO Locale, Google organic users increased by 66.29%.

This meant significantly more people were reaching Berger Realty through unpaid Google search results.

For a real estate company operating in a location-driven market, that increased organic visibility created additional opportunities to connect with potential renters and property buyers while they were actively searching.

New Organic Users Increased 66.43%

New users from Google organic search increased by 66.43%.

This growth demonstrated Berger Realty’s ability to reach a larger audience through search rather than relying exclusively on people already familiar with the company.

Attracting new users is particularly important in the vacation rental and real estate markets, where potential customers may begin researching an area well before they have selected a particular agency or property.

Improved search rankings allowed Berger Realty to become part of that research process for a substantially larger number of users.

Organic Sessions Increased 74.33%

Google organic sessions increased by 74.33% compared with performance before the SEO campaign.

The growth in sessions exceeded the increase in users, indicating greater overall activity from organic search visitors.

Combined with the increases in users, keyword rankings, and traffic value, the session growth demonstrated that Berger Realty’s expanded search presence was bringing considerably more organic activity to the website.

Building Long-Term Visibility in Ocean City Real Estate

Berger Realty’s SEO growth was built around understanding the competitive search environment rather than simply targeting broad real estate terminology.

Competitor analysis identified opportunities within the Ocean City market. Keyword research helped determine which searches were worth pursuing. Those keywords were mapped to appropriate pages, followed by on-page optimization and content development.

As the website became more relevant for those searches, Berger Realty gained stronger positions throughout Google’s results.

The campaign ultimately expanded the company’s ability to reach people researching Ocean City vacation rentals and real estate without relying exclusively on paid advertising or existing brand recognition.

The Results

Berger Realty’s SEO campaign produced substantial improvements in organic visibility and website traffic within a highly competitive real estate market.

The campaign resulted in:

• 66.29% growth in Google organic users
• 66.43% growth in new Google organic users
• 74.33% growth in Google organic sessions
• 58 targeted keywords reaching the first page
• 27 tracked keywords ranking in positions 1–3
• 31 tracked keywords ranking in positions 4–10
• Approximately 60% of tracked keywords ranking on the first two pages of Google
• 38 keywords ranking above the fold
• 108% growth in traffic value during the measured two-month period

By combining competitor research, strategic keyword selection, keyword mapping, on-page optimization, and content development, Berger Realty strengthened its organic presence in one of the more competitive real estate markets.

The result was not simply better keyword rankings. Berger Realty significantly increased the number of people finding and visiting its website through Google, creating more opportunities to connect with potential renters and buyers searching in the Ocean City market.