Negative equity, lack of consumer confidence, frozen foreclosures and a shaky economy all have received their share of blame for the dearth of sellers and buyers that keeps the housing recovery in low gear and vulnerable.  No factor, however, has been as devastating to the housing economy and as difficult to improve as the inability of buyers, especially credit worthy buyers, to get financing.

In the ten weeks that have passed since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told bankers May 10 strict lending standards are preventing many creditworthy borrowers, but y some measures, consumers are actually having a more difficult time getting loans today than they were them.

Risk of default is declining as the pool of mortgages written after tighter standards were imposed in 2007 grows. In the past two years, delinquent payments by homeowners have declined markedly.  The latest US Credit Trends report from Equifax shows that that 30-day delinquency rates on first mortgages are down 13.5 percent from a year ago. The May 2012 total of $450 billion in delinquent balances represents a 37 percent decline from the peak of more than $700 billion in January 2010.  Yet mortgage lenders are not responding by making credit more available. Mortgages account for only about 5 percent of the 30 percent improvement in overall credit.

Even though mortgage rates are again at record lows and home prices are bottoming in markets across the nation, only 46 percent of consumers applying for a mortgage to buy a home are successful, according to Ellie Mae, whose mortgage management software handles approximately two million loan applications, or 20 percent of all U.S. mortgages.  But that’s an improvement over 39 percent in March.  Median FICO scores for approved conventional purchase loans are virtually unchanged over the past year, at 762-764.  Mortgages to purchase homes are actually taking three days longer, 46 days, to approve than they were a year ago.

Today’s tighter standards are making it tough on move up buyers, who are also sellers, who get behind on their mortgages as well as first-time buyers.  Currently, some 3.6 million homeowners today are 30 days or more delinquent on their loans.  At the end of 2011, about 6.8 million homeownes were delinquent, according to LPS.  As noted, delinquency rates are falling and a sizeable percentage of those who became delinquent will resume timely monthly payments rather than end up losing their homes, However the ten to twenty million homeowners who have allowed themselves to become delinquent may find it impossible to qualify for a mortgage should they choose to take advantage of today’s affordable prices and rates.

Add the 10 million plus homeowners who have been recently delinquent to the number of homeowners who have fallen underwater on their mortgages — owing more than their homes are worth – now at 11.1 million.  Large numbers of these 21 or more million homeowners are potential sellers who could ease the demand for middle and lower tier inventory and could increase demand for move up homes.  Together these two groups account for 40 percent of the nation’s 53 million homeowners with a mortgage and 27 percent of all homes.

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WordPress Permalinks

While many SEO experts put a lot of emphasis on keyword-rich URLs, they don’t seem to matter so much recently. Moreover, with the latest Google Penguin update you can pull an over-optimization trigger quite easily. So instead of fine-tuning every post URL and stuffing keywords in it, just make sure your URLs are text-based and not post-ID based (like www.yourblog.com/?p=123).

This means to go to the Settings/Permalink Settings page in your WordPress admin and make sure the “Post name” option is selected. This is also the best way to make sure your link makes sense by itself. And when someone links to your post by using the URL as an anchor (which many bloggers do), you’ll still have a link with some keywords in it.

Another thing, even if you make this permalink change in the settings, WordPress always makes post-ID based URLs work. This may sometimes lead to duplicate-content issues if someone (or you by accident) link to a post using the UD. The plugins that I talk about in the next section will help you to solve this issue.

Using SEO Plugins

There are plenty of SEO plugins but these are the two I like most: All in One SEO Pack and WordPress SEO By Yoast. Both are very useful but I recommend you to use only one of them at a time. Using them together may lead to conflict.

Using All In One SEO Pack

In All in One SEO Pack, load its main page in Settings and make sure the plugin status is enabled.

Then:

1. Make sure Canonical URLs are checked

This will take care of the permalink issue that we discussed above and most other similar issues with duplicate content.

2. Check Rewrite Titles check box

In my opinion, the default WordPress titles are ugly, long and not search-engine friendly enough. You can fine-tune your titles in the boxes below the check box. Usually the default templates that the plugin offers are good but I’d like to debate the need of “| %blog_title%” part in them.

While it helps the readers to remember your blog name, this can also make your titles long or keyword stuffed. And overusing keywords is another red flag especially with Google Penguin. So either keep only the page/post title there in the boxes or make sure your blog name is good. Good means short, original, memorable, and not keywords stuffed. Another option is to simply hard-code your domain name instead of using “| %blog_title%“, so the templates will look something like “%post_title% | www.bluewidgets.com“.

3. Do not use any META keyword tags

And deselect META keyword-related settings in the plugin. META keywords have been useless for ages, and now they may even be a sign of over optimization.

4. Use “noindex” for archives and tag archives.

“Noindex” for categories is questionable. Sure, you want to avoid duplicate content but you also want your category pages to rank in search engines. Ideally they present content focused around a given topic. So the best way to handle this is to edit your WordPress theme so category pages show excerpts only and not the full post content. You can also just use a theme which already does this.

The other options in the plugin can stay unchecked. I am especially against using “Autogenerate descriptions”. If you don’t want to write META description for each post, search engines will figure out better ones than the plugin can.

The plugin also adds a box under each post/page that lets you add a title and META description there. Feel free to use it. Do not add keywords.

Using SEO For WordPress by Yoast

This is the better plugin, with more features. I prefer to use it over All in One SEO Pack. It has multiple pages with settings.

So once installed, here is what I like to do:

1. On the dashboard page, disable “date in snippets for posts”. Generally I like to disable most date-related info from my WordPress sites to avoid dissatisfied users and search engines when they land on a too-old post. Blogs with time-sensitive publications may want to keep the snippets.

2. Title settings can be similar to the ones in All in One SEO Pack. Leave only “%%title%%” unless you have short, memorable and brand-able blog titles. You can hard-code your domain name as well but do not stuff keywords.

3. The Indexation page is really powerful. In most cases it’s best to deindex author archives and date-based archives. Keep the category and/or tag archives indexed (see the explanation about the categories above). I’d disable all the archives from indexing too.

4. XML sitemaps better be enabled. I check the “ping” checkboxes too although this won’t do wonders for your rankings. One thing that this plugin misses is the canonical URL setting that is in the SEO Pack. The Permalinks section have some useful features however. Enforcing the trailing slash prevents yet another duplicate content issue, and stripping the category base makes your URLs prettier. Better not do the latter if your blog is already indexed though.

5. Breadcrumbs is useful for both readers and search engines. It doesn’t work on all themes however. On one of my blogs, it was showing just below the homepage which is not useful and only adds clutter. So better check how it works for you and disable the feature if it doesn’t generate useful breadcrumbs.

6. In the RSS section you may add some social network links or a subscribe reminder under each post. Search engines won’t care about this but users will. The plugin authors suggest to include a link to your site also because many low-quality sites scrap content from RSS. However instead of placing a generic link to your homepage (especially a keyword stuffed one) I prefer to link contextually from each post/page to another relevant post/page on my site. This is a good practice even for non-WordPress-based sites.

That’s basically what you can get from these two plugins.

Cache your blog

Caching is one of these little things that combined with the other optimizations can help you climb a few positions up search engines. They don’t make wonders alone. However a site that works fast will get lower bounce rates, more likes, and more links. So it’s important to make sure your WordPress-powered site is fast. WordPress by default runs a bit too many slow database queries for something that serves mostly static content.

The most popular plugin for caching your blog is WP Super Cache. I like WP Green Cache too. Just use one plugin, activate it and make sure your site is cached. There is no need to spend days on this.

Site-wide Links, Blogrolls, Footer Links

Placing various site-wide links and footer links is common practice not just for WordPress powered sites although WordPress users are more exposed to it. Many free themes include footer links to sites which are often totally irrelevant to yours. Some plugins also include links even without letting you know. Be wary of this. If possible, have a designer (or yourself) create a custom theme for you. When activating less known plugins, check your site if they have added any unwanted links.

Bad outbound links can really hurt your rankings especially after the Penguin update. Be generous with linking but link to quality and relevant content. Think about your blogroll. I would probably remove the blogroll because it’s a bunch of site-wide links. A resources or “recommended reading” page linking to good relevant blogs may work better.

Summary

To summarize, the main things to do are: watch your permalinks and make sure they are well-structured; use some of the best SEO plugins to fix your titles, meta descriptions and duplicate-content issues; cache your blog so it runs faster. Watch out who you link to. And of course don’t forget that content is what wins in the long term.

After a year of supporting both the old and new versions of Analytics, we are now fully transitioning and leaving the old version behind. This means that as of tomorrow we’ll be removing the link to the previous version which sits at the bottom of Google Analytics pages and all your analysis will take place in the new version.

It’s been a long journey to this point, and we hope you’ll find value in all of the features that the new version of Google Analytics offers. And our help center is a great resource to be sure you’re getting the most out of these new features and reports. The new version has been completely rebuilt on a more powerful platform that lets us move faster and develop more amazing features including these recent launches:

• Real-Time shows you what’s happening on your site as it happens. Immediately see the impact that online campaigns, TV ads, or mentions at a live event can have on engagement with your website.

• Multi-Channel Funnels provides insight on the full path to conversion over a 30 day period. The variety of marketing channels used to find your website, and not simply the last click, so you can make better decisions on your marketing investments.

• Social Reports help you measure the impact of your social marketing initiatives and evaluate the effect social media has on the metrics which matter to your business.

• Mobile Reports show how visitors from mobile devices and AdWords mobile campaigns engage with your website. See how many pages they visit, how much time they spend, as well as conversion and ecommerce insights to help you optimize your mobile strategies.

• Content Experiments enables you to show different versions of a page to different visitors, then using a new advanced statistical engine measures the results of each to determine which is the most effective version.

We have received some really great feedback over the last year on what’s working and what’s not; we’ve been listening very closely and doing our best to incorporate the feedback and ideas.  We are continually working to improve upon Google Analytics and help provide you with tools to make better decisions for your website and marketing programs, so please keep providing the feedback.  You are our most important source of ideas for innovation!

Posted by Paul Muret, Director of Engineering, Google Analytics

Just when you thought that images didn’t have their place in social media and networking (I jest!), Foursquare has taken its somewhat bland look and introduced a more image-based feed, giving your snapshots center stage … much like that of Path and Instagram. But that’s just the tip of the facelift …

Before I get into the cool changes of Foursquare, let me explain quickly what Foursquare is for those of you who have been out of the loop for the past few years, and living on Planet Z.

Foursquare is a free app that allows you to share and save what you are doing, and where you are doing it, along with everyone else at any given time.

Why is this kind of sharing beneficial?

A)  It’s age-old word of mouth marketing at it’s finest.

B)  It’s a great way for you (a Realtor) to get to know your friends (and sphere) on a more intimate level – it is much less congested than Facebook tends to be.

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So, back to the updates.

Foursquare upped the ante to a whole new level on how it delivers our information to others.  The desktop version is much more robust, yet clean in it’s format. Many options are available to you without being overwhelming (a hard niche to come by).

Two of the updates that I found to be most useful and noteworthy are the Personalized Recommendations and the Like (or Heart) button being added to third-party apps.

Personalized Recommendations

One of these options is the Personalized Recommendations that Foursquare now provides you with upon logging into your account.

As you can see from the image above, Foursquare starts you off with some recommendations based on your current location, with the option of then digging deeper to narrow down your current cravings.

By clicking on the “Explore: Get Personalized Recommendations” link on the top right of the page, you are then taken to a place many would consider an answer to prayers:  Gone is the tedious need to scroll through reams of where others have visited lately; now you can choose your category of interest (such as food, coffee, nightlife or shopping) along with whether or not you or your friends have or have not already been there.  And for those of you always looking out for a deal, like me, you can also sort by those that currently have Foursquare specials.  Cool!

Note:  The “Explore” link in the menu bar also takes you to the same recommendations page.

I Heart Foursquare (aka the Like button)

Foursquare took its quasi-Facebook “Like” capability (where you can click on the little heart icon to like friends’ recent venue visits, tips, lists and check-ins) and integrated it over to the mobile side (including the good ol’ Blackberry).

In addition, the ability to comment is still there, so liking and commenting can be done in one fell swoop, allowing for some great personal interaction with those you may be many miles away from, no matter where you are.

So, there you have it.  Foursquare seems to really have made some great strides in making its interface much more user-frie

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses retail sales and GDP growth.

• U.S. economic growth looks to be tepid heading into the November election.  Today’s data on retail sales is implying a very slow GDP growth rate in the second quarter, probably between 1 to 1.5 percent.  Moreover, a slightly higher level of business inventory implies less robust production activity and continuing slow GDP growth in the third quarter to the tune of 2 percent.  Such growth rates will not meaningfully lower the unemployment rate.  The economy after a recession needs to move at 4 percent or better on a consistent basis.
• Overall retail sales fell in June by 0.5 percent, though sales are higher by 3.8 percent from one year ago.  Spending at furniture and home furnishing stores is holding on better than other sectors, with sales up 7.8 percent from one year ago, no doubt due to increases in home sales.
• The concern going forward is that inventories at retail shops have been rising.  That likely means there will be fewer orders to restock in the upcoming months, which will slow production activity and job creation in the third quarter.
• In other economic data, the banking sector continues to rake in good profits, as evidenced by quarterly earnings reported by Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase so far.  Citi, meanwhile, reported a $3 billion profit during the latest quarter, a good bottom line though down from one year ago The Fed’s low interest rate policy is greatly helping the banks’ bottom line.  Banks have plenty of cash reserves to increase lending, but unfortunately they remain excessively stringent.  The uncertainty related to the new Dodd-Frank financial regulation and various lawsuits thrown at the sector is one of the reasons why banks are holding on to excess cash and why stock prices have not zoomed up very high in proportion to profit growth.
• Let’s hope that banks recognize exceptional loan performance and profit opportunities in recently originated mortgages and begin to expand lending to more homebuyers.  Not back to the lax bubble year standards, but just back to normal like the conditions in the 1990s.  A beginning of a home price recovery should also be another motivator for banks to be less stringent.  For real estate practitioners, if we get back to normal underwriting standards then home sales would rise by an additional 15 to 20 percent, on top of recent gains already observed.

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses the consumer price index and inflation.

• Today’s data on inflation showed decelerating pressure on consumer prices.  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged in June from one month ago, and is now higher by 1.7 percent from one year ago.
• Food prices were up 2.7 percent from one year ago, but the rain shortage in the Midwest will raise prices going forward.  Gasoline prices fell 4.3 percent, but expect no further relief based on the recent rise in Brent crude oil prices back up to $100 per barrel.  Oil prices in June were lower, but rising so far in July.  Producer prices have shown a declining trend so perhaps the overall CPI could fall further in immediate upcoming months.
• Something appears amiss related to rent data.  Rents are up 2.7 percent, but were decelerating in the latest month with only a 0.1 percent monthly gain, compared to consistent 0.2 to 0.3 percent monthly gains in the prior 12 months.  Based on other data, rents have been showing an accelerating, and not decelerating, trend.  Therefore, there could be stronger ‘catch-up’ increases in the upcoming months.
• Home prices are not part of CPI because it is considered as an asset.  Similarly, any rise and fall in stock prices or gold prices is not included.  But something called imputed rent is included, which in theory is how much a homeowner would charge in rent to a tenant of their home but in practice is fairly hard to measure.  It is computed largely by basing rates off the general rent trend.
• Water and trash bills continue to outpace the overall CPI, with the latest showing a 5.5 percent gain.  This cost has been rising at 5 percent or higher for nine straight years.  But on a positive note, the gas bill for utilities has fallen sharply by 14 percent.
• Of interest to some commercial real estate investors, moving/freight/storage costs rose 3.8 percent.  It is the highest rate of inflation in 6 years after several years of falling prices on this component.
• Bad news for parents: college tuition and fees continue to grow fast, rising 5.3 percent.  This bill has outpaced CPI for 30 consecutive years.  Why: Strong demand for higher education and/or high salaries for professors and college administrators?
• The biggest reason to monitor this data aside from assessing how your pocketbook is impacted is that inflation data impacts monetary policy and interest rates.  Based on today’s softening inflation in the broad CPI, the Federal Reserve will not raise its short term interest rate anytime soon.  The long-term rates like 30-year fixed rates could also continue to remain at rock bottom rates.  Still, core inflation is up 2.2 percent, above the Fed’s preferred target of 2.0 percent.  The core rate could rise even higher once rent data begins to accelerate again.  Even though the Fed has pronounced its desire to keep low rates well into 2014, the Fed may have to start raising rates from as early as fourth quarter 2013 if rent continues to move higher.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published its Semiannual Risk Perspective for the spring of 2012 on July 5^th.  In it, the agency outlined concerns about a potential wave of rate resets on home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) that are set to occur from 2014 until 2017.  While these loans certainly merit concern given the already stressed banking and mortgage finance system, the current market environment has created room for borrowers to absorb the higher costs and primed the banking system to provide aid where needed, which should help to ameliorate this issue.

According to the OCC, on average HELOCs accounted for roughly $500 billion of the combined balance sheets of the banks monitored by the agency in 2010 and that those portfolios fell through 2011.    As a share of all bank assets, HELOCs acount for only 9% compared to 27% for 1-4 family residences and 11% for credit cards.  Furthermore, the charge off rate was roughly 2% in 2011 compared to near 6% for credit cards.

However, as pictured in figure 1, beginning in 2014, the balance on HELOCs that will end their draw (e.g. convert from a line of credit to loan that must be repaid) will begin to rise from $29 billion in 2014 to $73 billion by 2017.  Of concern to the bank regulator isn’t just the size of the blances coming due, rather it is the fact that the value of many of the homes backing these loans has decline, some significantly, and that a majortiy of these loans were interest only (figure 2), meaning that the holder has only paid interest to date and that the rate reset will be joined by principal payments.

An example will help to clarify. For a borrower who took out a HELOC with a balance of 20% of the value of their $200,000 home or $40,000 in 2007,  they would pay $213 a month for the first seven years at the prevailing rate of 6.39% for an interest only 7/1 HELOC in July of 2007.  However, when the loan resets it will change to the prime rate plus the banks profit margin.  While the current prime rate is 3.25%, it is likely to rise, so for this example I’ll use 5.25% plus a margin of 2.0% for a rate of 7.25%.  That would translate into a jump in the monthly payment of $85 for a total of $298, or a 40% increase assuming that the balance of $40,000 is ammoritized over a 23 year period; a shorter period would cause the payment to rise further.  If the prime rate continued to rise, but was capped at 2% per year, by the fifth year the monthly payment would be $481 or a 126% increase as depicted by the blue line below.  A base case where the prime rate hovers at 5.25% is also included in graph.

However, there are some factors in play that would help to ameliorate the payment shock of a rate reset on a interest only HELOC:

1. The prime rate has fallen considerably in recent years due to the weak economy, concerns in Europe, and the sluggish U.S. housing market and currently stands at 3.25%, well below the prevailing HELOC rates of 6.5% or higher back in the period from 2003 to 2007.  A person facing a HELOC reset today might actually receive a lower payment.  However, rates are likely to rise over the next 5 years, so it would be prudent to address the mortgage terms today.
2. Given the record low mortgage rates, the borrower may choose to refinance their primary mortgage.  A homeowner who refinanced from 6.31% (the average in June of 2007) to 3.75% (well above last week’s average of 3.56% according to Freddie Mac) would see a decline in their payment of $374 on a $186,808 loan (the principal balance on a $200,000 mortgage after 5 years of payments). The savings in turn could be used to pay down $8,978 of the priniple on the HELOC, which would lower the payment relative to the worst-case reset scenario (green line charted above).  The lower monthly payment on the first lien could also help to offset or to absorb the difference in HELOC payments after the reset.
3. The borrower may choose to refinance the HELOC in tandem with the 1^st loan if the borrower is not underwater.  Refinancing a $40,000 HELOC at 4.75% would lower the payment from $213 to $209 (purple line in the chart above)…and it would be fixed for the remaineder of the term meaning no payment shock.
4. If the borrower is underwater, they could take advantage of the HARP or HAMP programs to lower the cost of the primary mortgage.  Investor holders of 2^nd leins have been more willing to re-subordinate their loans in recent quarters in recognition that it is in their own interest.
5. HAMP refinances can also modify a 2^nd lien like a HELOC through the 2MP program.
6. As prices rise modestly in the coming years, those not elligible for these programs may become elligible for traditional refinances.
7. Finally, banks and financial institutions have become more aggressive about their own loan modifications as they see it in their own best interest to prevent costly foreclosures.

It is unlikely that any one program will eliminate the problem.  Rather, it will be a combination of factors that ameliorate the impact of the payment shock as well as the impact to banks’ balance sheets as both the outstanding balances and incidence of default decline.

The upsurge in refinances this spring will likely help to stabilize the HELOC situations as homeowners have more funds to pay down HELOC balances prior to any resets.  What’s more, the mortgage finance industry has been primed to respond to this type of problem.  While a government funded bailout of these sector is unlikely, these borrowers can take advantage of current programs to manage their other expenditures.  For REALTORS® this is an opportunity to inform their current or former clients of this situation, adding value to their service and supporting stable prices and confidence in their communities.  It is possible that not enough homeowners will take advantage of the currently available low rate refinancing and that the prime rate might surge in response to robust economic growth by 2015, but it is in the banks’ interest to see that these borrowers achieve stable positions.

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses housing starts.

• New home construction activity continues to improve with good gains in June.  Housing starts rose 7% to now 760,000 (annualized rate).  This time last year, the figure was 615,000. Both single-family units and multifamily units made gains.
• Though the bottoming in housing starts occurred in 2009 with only 550,000 housing starts, the pace of recovery since that time has been very sluggish.  Sharper gains are occurring this year, already up 25% year-to-date, and even bigger gains could occur next year because the inventory levels have fallen to very low levels.
• Based on the historical average of the U.S. population growing by about 3 million people each year, housing starts have been 1.5 million a year on average.  However, the deep downturn after the bubble years has resulted in 1.5 million housing construction over a long 3-year time span from 2009 to 2011.    There is clearly pent-up demand ready to hit the market.  Do not be surprised if housing starts rise by 50 percent in 2013.  Note that even with such a large percentage increase, housing starts will only be 1.15 million units, still below the normal 1.5 million historical average.  If housing starts rise at a slower pace, then home prices will perk up at a faster rate.
• One unwelcome development in the nascent recovery in homebuilding is that many of the smaller builders have been shut out from participating.  Construction loans are very hard to obtain.  As a result the big homebuilders with the ability to tap Wall Street funds and issue bonds are the ones taking advantage of recovery over the smaller players (just like big banks getting bigger while smaller banks experiencing difficult conditions).  Less competition will mean somewhat higher home prices for consumers to buy a newly constructed home.

1. Create Link Bait

Link bait is the look-at-me-now of any website. It refers to any content on a website created specifically to gain attention and encourage others to link to the website. Infographics are a great example of creating eye-catching content that has excellent visualization and a wealth of information. Articles that are funny or incite debate can also stir up attention, while breaking news and current affairs add timely content.

2. Create SEO Friendly Content

Spend some time researching and selecting appropriate keywords using Google AdWords. Once you have a list of keywords, place them strategically in the title tags, body text, meta tags, image captions, etc. Write with your audience in mind and be relevant to the category for which you’re creating content.

3. Redesign Homepage

Your homepage represents your company – treat it as your calling card. Without the right links and functions, it won’t serve its purpose. Evaluate your homepage load time and check whether it is effectively communicating your brand’s value proposition. .

4. Improve Primary Navigation

Having the right keywords present in your anchor text, including your major menu structures, is good practice.

5. Social Voting Buttons

Search engines are increasingly crawling the web for social signals to understand how users value a page. Adding voting buttons such as “+1”, “Like” and “Tweet” attract up to 8X more user interactions than the equivalent sharing buttons. Social voting buttons with links to popular social media sites help users share and recommend links to your website.

6. Remove Duplicate Content

Search engines do not generally return more than one version of the same page, so identical content on a website can be a missed opportunity. This leads the search engines to consider pages carrying duplicate content as irrelevant or spam, and these pages may be removed from the search index. Instead, consider combining duplicate content onto a single page with a single URL.

7. Title Tags

Title tags appear in the clickable links on the search engine results page, so ensure that specific keyword phrases relevant to your company are present in the title tag. Remember that you should keep your title tag shorter than  70 characters.

8. Fix Broken Links

Broken links don’t just get you into trouble with users, search engines also consider such links to be an indication of poor quality. A poorly maintained linking structure won’t rank as well as one that is maintained properly.

9. Fix 404 Pages

External or internal links pointing to pages that do not exist (404 errors) should be corrected immediately, and you need to make sure that your 404 pages are reporting correctly the ’404′ HTTP code to the browser, otherwise google has trouble understanding your webpage.

10. H1 Headers

Implementing optimized headers allows search engines to easily identify the topic of a passage or section of a page, thereby letting them know what your site is about.

Let us know in the comments if any of these SEO suggestions have worked for you.

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• Buyers look to real estate agents most to help them find the right home. Fifty-five percent of buyers said that what they want most from their agent is help finding the right home.
• Thirteen percent of buyers wanted their real estate agent to help negotiate the price, and 12 percent wanted help with the terms of sale.
• The share of home buyers was consistent over first-time and repeat buyers, new and previously owned home buyers, and by household composition.
• Buyers most often noted that the benefit of having an agent was helping them understand the process (61 percent), more so for first-time buyers (81 percent).
• Also, more than half of buyers noted that real estate agents pointed out unnoticed features or faults with a property, while over 4 in 10 said real estate agents negotiated better sales contract terms, improved buyers’ knowledge of search areas, and provided a better list of service providers.

Click to view larger graph