“Can’t sell house” related searches are above 2008 levels: What this means for Local SEO for Real Estate Agents
55% of height in 2008 vs 89% of height right now.
Highest level (100%) for “Can’t sell house” related searches was February 28 through March 31, 2025…
…which was almost 2X 2008.
What this means to us
For Real Estate
The obvious impact on the housing market, prices, days on market, sales, expireds, withdrawns, etc.
Per usual, market areas vary and a single google search trend does not define the market, but pictured are the top DMA’s over the last 3 months for these types of searches.
React locally as appropriate for your market and business model.
For Local SEO
a. Write an article (and/or video content) titled “Can’t sell house in Carlisle, PA? What you’re doing wrong and how to get it sold”.
b. Write it yourself, no AI. Get in the habit of doing this if you can. (Or at least add in unique information, perspectives, opinions, etc – Google and AI’s want that, not just regurgitated information)
c. Actually make it a good article that would really help people and provide good resources. (give away the farm) It can also be a good resource to send to withdrawns, expireds, and prospective sellers.
d. Make sure it’s SEO optimized (that can mean a lot of things, but won’t go over all that here).
e. This is a bottom of funnel type search. People searching for this type of thing need help now or soon. So I like it. Make sure there are calls to action on the page.
f. Possibly add your “Add to Google Preferred Sources” button somewhere on the article. If it’s a truly good resource, people might do this. And if they do, it’s a good signal to Google… It’s somebody explicitly telling Google they like your content and want to see more of it.
e. Embed the video in the article if you made an accompanying video.
And keep in mind, even if this search term was not super high right now, this is something that is always being searched by those who cannot get their home sold. And again, it’s bottom of funnel. Aaaaaaand it’s targeting sellers.
Get help with your Real Estate Local SEO…
