Stop Renting Your Pipeline From the Listing Portals
Every enquiry that arrives through a portal is shared with the broker down the road. Own the search results for your submarkets and the next mandate calls you first.
Commercial real estate marketing is not residential marketing with bigger buildings. Your buyers are tenants with a lease expiry, owners with a vacancy, and investors with a mandate. They search for specific things: "warehouse for lease near [city]", "tenant rep broker", "who can sell my office building". A handful of those searches are worth more than a thousand generic clicks.
Most brokerages still depend on portals such as LoopNet and CommercialCafe for visibility, plus referrals and cold calls. Portals are useful, but you rent that audience and share it with every competing listing. Your own website, search presence and ad campaigns are the only part of the pipeline you own.
We build that part for brokers and CRE firms: submarket pages that rank, Google Ads aimed at the searches that signal a real deal, listing pages that convert enquiries, and follow-up that stops warm leads going cold between site visit and heads of terms.
Commercial Real Estate SEO: Own the Submarket Searches
Commercial real estate SEO works differently from residential. Nobody types "houses for sale" and expects a broker to win a mandate. The searches that matter are specific: "industrial space for lease in [submarket]", "medical office for sale", "NNN retail investment", "tenant rep broker [city]".
Bruce Clay's guidance for CRE brokers is to give each service and each area its own page rather than one page that tries to cover everything. We agree, and we go a step further. Each submarket page should carry real local substance: vacancy and asking-rent context you are allowed to share, major occupiers, transport links, zoning notes and a short list of your recent instructions.
That depth is what separates a page that ranks from a thin location page that gets ignored. It also gives AI search tools something concrete to cite when someone asks which brokers know a particular area.
The goal is not traffic. It is being the firm a landlord finds when they search for who can lease their empty unit.
- One page per service: tenant representation, landlord instruction, investment sales, build-to-suit
- One page per submarket and property type, with real local data, not boilerplate
- Long-tail targets such as "flex industrial space for lease" and "medical office for sale"
- Schema markup for your organisation, service areas and listings
- Broker bio pages that show specialism, so enquiries reach the right person
Wondering which submarket searches your competitors already own? We'll show you.
Google Ads for Commercial Real Estate Brokers
WordStream's 2026 benchmarks, as reported by WebTonic, put the average real estate search CPC at $3.22 across all real estate. Commercial-specific figures are rarely published, so treat any agency that quotes one with suspicion. What matters in commercial is that a single lease or sale can pay for a year of advertising, which means wasted clicks are expensive but missed enquiries are worse.
Google Ads for commercial real estate brokers should be narrow and intent-led. Bid on landlord and owner searches ("sell my office building", "lease out warehouse"), tenant searches by property type and area, and investor searches. Exclude residential terms, job seekers and students, and review the search terms report weekly.
Send each campaign to a purpose-built page, not your home page. A tenant looking for 20,000 sq ft of logistics space should land on a page about exactly that, with a clear way to speak to a broker.
- Separate campaigns for landlord, tenant and investor intent
- Negative keyword lists that keep residential and DIY searches out
- Call tracking so you know which ad produced a real conversation
- Landing pages per property type and area, not one generic form
- Offline conversion tracking so Google learns which enquiries turned into instructions
Want to know how much of your ad spend is going to searches that will never instruct you? We'll show you.
How to Get More Commercial Listings From Owners
For most brokerages the scarce thing is not buyers or tenants. It is instructions. The firm with the listing controls the deal, and landlords choose a broker they trust before they ever pick up the phone.
That trust is built online first. An owner with a half-empty building will search, read two or three broker sites and decide who to call. Your site needs to answer the questions on their mind: how will you market my space, who will you reach, what will it cost, how long might it take, and who have you done this for.
Publish clear, honest pages for owners: how you value and position a property, what a marketing plan looks like, how you handle confidentiality for off-market sales. Add short market notes for the areas you cover. Link them to your broker profiles so a landlord can see who would actually run the instruction.
We also set up simple owner-facing tools, such as a request-a-valuation or marketing-appraisal form, so a quiet visit turns into a conversation you can follow up.
- "How to lease out a vacant commercial property" guides written for owners
- Off-market and confidential sale pages that reassure discretion
- Marketing-appraisal request forms routed to the right broker
- Track record pages with deal types and property sectors, only with client permission
If a landlord compared your site to your biggest competitor's tonight, who would they call? Let's find out.
Listing Pages and Lead Capture That Convert Tenants and Buyers
Each listing is a landing page. A tenant comparing six units will not scroll through a PDF. They want size, rent or price, availability date, floor plans, photos, a map and a quick way to book a viewing.
Bruce Clay's CRE advice is to give each property its own descriptive URL with an embedded map, floor plans and virtual tours, and to put a clear contact method on every page. We build listing templates around that, plus a fast enquiry form that asks only what a broker needs to qualify the lead.
Speed matters after the enquiry. A tenant who contacted three brokers will often work with the first that replies sensibly. We connect enquiries to your CRM, notify the right broker straight away, and trigger a follow-up sequence so nothing waits in a shared inbox.
We also build lead-capture assets that suit the sector: lease cost calculators, yield calculators for investors and downloadable market reports.
- Listing templates with maps, floor plans, brochures and virtual tour embeds
- Short enquiry forms with property-aware routing
- CRM integration so each lead is tagged by property, source and broker
- Automated follow-up that books viewings
- Market report downloads that capture investor and occupier contacts
How many enquiries sit unanswered in your inbox right now? We can help you answer them faster.
Google Business Profile and Local Search for CRE Firms
Brokerages tend to ignore local search because they sell to businesses, not walk-in customers. That is a mistake. Owners and tenants still search for "commercial real estate agents near me" and compare reviews and categories before they call.
A complete Google Business Profile with the right category, accurate details, photos of your team and regular updates helps you appear in those searches. CommercialCafe's guidance also suggests using the Product feature to showcase available space, and keeping your name, address and phone consistent everywhere.
Reviews matter in commercial too, but they need care. Ask satisfied landlords and tenants to describe what you did and where, in their own words, and respect client confidentiality. Never offer incentives for reviews.
Finally, make sure each office has its own page on your site that matches the profile. Consistency between the two is what search engines look for.
- Category and service setup for a commercial agency, not a generic realtor
- Product listings for key vacancies where relevant
- A review request process that respects client confidentiality
- Office pages that match your profile exactly
Content That Makes Investors and Occupiers Trust You
Investors and corporate occupiers judge a broker by how well it understands the market. Content is how you show that before the first meeting.
Publish market updates, lease negotiation guides, investment breakdowns and zoning explainers. Write for the person who needs the answer, such as "what is a NNN lease", "how is cap rate calculated" or "what should a tenant negotiate before signing". Refresh these pages regularly, because stale market data does more harm than none.
Answer-led formatting also helps with AI search. CommercialCafe recommends question-style headings with short direct answers, plus FAQ sections and full names for people, companies and places. We apply that structure across your key pages so they are easy for both readers and answer engines to quote.
Pair the content with LinkedIn, where commercial decision makers spend time. A few well-chosen posts from your named brokers will do more than a high-volume feed.
- Market updates tied to the submarkets you serve
- Explainers for NNN leases, cap rates and break clauses
- Question-style headings with concise answers for AI search visibility
- LinkedIn posts from named brokers, supported by case notes you have permission to share
Not sure what to publish first? We'll map the questions your best clients are asking.
What's holding growth back, and how we fix it
The problems we hear most from Commercial Real Estate Brokers, and what we change first.
"We depend on the portals and every enquiry is shared with five other brokers."
We build your own search presence and paid campaigns so owners and tenants reach you directly, with portals as one channel rather than the whole pipeline.
"Our website is a brochure. Nobody finds it and nobody enquires."
We restructure it around services, submarkets and property types, with listing pages and forms that turn visits into conversations.
"Winning instructions from landlords is harder than finding tenants."
We create owner-facing pages, appraisal requests and targeted ads aimed at the people who control the space.
"We spend on Google Ads but can't tell which clicks led to a deal."
We set up call tracking, CRM tagging and offline conversion imports so spend is tied to real enquiries and instructions.
"Leads go cold because brokers are out on viewings."
We automate instant routing, acknowledgements and follow-up so every enquiry gets a response while the broker is on site.
Services that move the needle for Commercial Real Estate Brokers
Start with the one that fixes your biggest leak. Each one plugs into the same growth plan.
- SEO ServicesRank for the submarket, property type and service searches landlords and tenants actually use.
- Google Ads ManagementReach owners, occupiers and investors at the moment they search, and measure what turns into instructions.
- Local SEO ServicesShow up when decision makers search for commercial agents in your area.
- Landing Pages & FunnelsGive every campaign and key listing a page built to turn visitors into enquiries.
- CRM IntegrationRoute every lead to the right broker and keep follow-up from slipping.
Your questions, answered
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly
The most reliable mix is search visibility for submarket and property type searches, Google Ads aimed at landlord and tenant intent, listing syndication, and fast follow-up. Portals help, but owning your website and ad traffic means leads aren't shared with competitors.
Often yes, because one instruction or deal can justify the cost. SEO builds slowly, so it suits firms that want a lasting source of direct enquiries. We don't promise rankings or timelines, but we can show where you stand today against your competitors.
WordStream's 2026 benchmarks, as reported by WebTonic, put the average real estate search CPC at $3.22, but that covers all real estate. Commercial costs vary by market and keyword. We build a budget from your target searches and check real data first.
Create pages that answer an owner's questions: how you market space, how you price it, how you handle confidential sales. Add appraisal request forms, run ads on owner-intent searches, and follow up quickly. Trust is built online before the first call.
Probably, as they bring in tenants and buyers who browse them. But they shouldn't be your only channel. Treat portals as one source and build your own site, search presence and ads so you keep control of the relationship and the data.
Service pages, submarket pages, a page for each listing with maps and floor plans, broker profiles, owner appraisal forms, market content, and a clear contact method on every page. It should be fast, mobile-friendly and marked up with schema.
Yes. Occupiers searching for a tenant rep broker compare firms online before calling. Service pages, sector expertise, reviews and targeted ads put you in front of them while they are choosing, rather than after they've signed with someone else.
We use call tracking, form tagging and CRM integration so each enquiry shows its source, property and broker. We can also import offline outcomes, like a signed instruction, back into Google Ads so campaigns improve toward real deals.
Get your free growth audit
Send us your website. We will show you where enquiries are leaking and what to fix first.
- Where your site is losing enquiries, page by page
- How visible you are in Google and AI answers
- The first three fixes, in the order we would do them
Who it is for
Businesses with an established offer that want more of the right enquiries, in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria.
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