When it comes to real estate lead generation strategies, many agents seem to have a love/hate relationship with search engine optimization (SEO). At times it can feel like you’re chasing an elusive dream. “What does Google want?” Outside of the algorithm-developing nerve center, no one may ever completely know. What we do know is, we all want to reap the reward of having qualified leads delivered to us via organic search, and when our tried-and-true efforts stop producing, our instinct is to jump ship and seek out the next promising opportunity.But here’s where most real estate professionals get it wrong. Experienced SEO wranglers have learned that it takes patience to tame the beast. And patience does pay off, especially when it comes to Google. According to NAR’s 2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 90% of home searches begin online, and over the past 4 years, real estate-related Google searches have grown 253%.So, what does that mean for you? In a nutshell, leads. SEO leads are 8 times more likely to close than outbound leads and cost around 61% less. Think about it like this: investing in SEO is like buying a home instead vs. renting. You’re building equity on a previous investment instead of paying a fixed rent for a place to live, with nothing to show for it when you leave. The key is knowing which methods to apply -- and which to abandon -- to improve your results.With that being said, here are some SEO best practices to consider when implementing your next online marketing campaign.Conduct frequent keyword researchThe competition for keywords is fierce so tightly target your keywords on a specific area. 69% of home shoppers begin their research with a local keyword phrase, like “Phoenix realtor.” Use Google’s Keyword Planner to gain an overall picture of what target keywords should drive the most traffic to your site, and how tough it will be to rank well for those keywords.Keep your website up-to-dateArmed with keyword data, make appropriate changes to your website (including the Page Title, Meta Descriptions, headers and body copy). Incorporate target keywords that you want to rank for. Pages can be over-optimized for keywords, so it is best to write page titles and meta descriptions that are appealing to both search engines and users. Proper IDX integration can increase your traffic and boost your rankings as well.Submit your site to directoriesGetting your website in as many directories as possible will gradually help improve your search engine rankings. You can find real estate directories to submit your website to through sources like Trulia, Zillow, Redfin and Homes.com who have directories for realtors. Zillow had close to 48 million unique visitors in January 2015 and Trulia had 30 million. There’s a lot of potential traffic to be captured by getting listed in the right real estate directory.Make use of your blogThese days, content is king on search engines and SEO results. Websites with blogs get 60% more traffic. Why? One way to secure traffic to your site for specific properties is to write blog posts. Publish frequent, quality articles about home renovations, local real estate market conditions and community spotlights that would be of interest to potential home buyers and sellers in your area. The content should be unique and optimized with target keywords.Go mobileIncreasingly, Americans are shopping for new homes via mobile devices. According to The Digital House Hunt report, 89% of new home shoppers search using a mobile device during the home buying process, and a 300% growth of real estate broker-related searches on tablets year over year. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile discovery so you aren’t turning customers away and losing real estate leads.Remember, it takes time and effort to improve your search engine rankings and increase your website’s prominence. Turn to real estate marketing experts who have experience creating mobile-friendly, custom real estate websites that are optimized to generate the maximum amount of organic real estate leads so you can keep your focus where it needs to be -- on your brokerage.