SEM for Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate SEM Experts for Brokers

Commercial real estate SEM is paid search built for brokers: Google Ads campaigns that show your firm to tenants, owners and investors at the moment they search for space, a sale or representation. HeyLead plans, builds and manages those campaigns. We split the budget between tenant rep, landlord and investment intent, so a search for 'office space for lease downtown' never lands on the same page as 'sell my industrial building'. CRE deals take a long time to close and bring in fewer inquiries than residential. So every click is tied to a tracked call or form, sent to the right broker, and judged on pipeline value, not click counts.

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Modern blue glass office tower surrounded by trees on a clear day. Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Pexels

SEM

Commercial Real Estate

How we structure Google Ads for a commercial brokerage

We separate campaigns by asset class (office, industrial, retail, multifamily, land) and then by side of the deal. A tenant looking for 5,000 square feet and an owner who wants to sell a building need different ads, keywords and pages. Search campaigns carry most of the budget because they catch people who have said exactly what they want. Call ads run on mobile for searches such as 'commercial realtor near me', where a decision maker would rather phone than fill in a form. We use Performance Max only in some cases. It usually runs from your listing data with audience signals from your CRM, and we exclude brand terms so it cannot take credit for people already looking for you. Location targeting follows the submarkets you actually cover, not the whole metro. That way a suburban flex industrial specialist is not paying for downtown Class A office searches.

Keyword themes by intent: tenants, owners and investors

Tenant rep keywords look like 'office space for lease [city]', 'warehouse for rent near [highway]' or 'restaurant space available [neighborhood]'. Landlord and listing keywords include 'lease my retail space', 'commercial leasing broker' and 'industrial property listing agent'. Investors search for things like 'NNN properties for sale', '1031 exchange properties [state]' or 'medical office building for sale'. Sellers search for 'sell commercial building' or 'commercial property valuation'. Each theme gets its own ad group and its own ad copy. The negative keyword list matters just as much. It blocks residential terms, apartment rentals, real estate license courses, broker jobs, and listing portal names you do not want to pay for. Without those exclusions, CRE accounts tend to waste budget on people who will never sign a lease.

Landing pages, call tracking and what counts as a qualified CRE lead

Each ad points to a page that matches the search, not to your homepage. Tenant searches go to a requirements page with a short form asking for square footage, target submarket and move date. Listing searches go to availability pages filtered to match the search. Investor searches go to a page that asks for deal criteria such as price range, expected cap rate and asset type. Call tracking numbers show which keyword produced each call, and calls are recorded so you can check lead quality. We also feed results back from your CRM. When a lead reaches a stage you choose, such as tour booked, LOI or signed lease, that result goes back into Google Ads. Google then aims for real deals instead of form fills.

What budget does commercial real estate SEM need?

Budget depends on how many asset classes and submarkets you want to cover and how competitive your metro is. Clicks on commercial leasing and investment terms can be costly in major markets. We would rather run one asset class in one submarket properly than spread a small budget thinly across everything. We set a starting spend, review search terms weekly, and only add more coverage once the first campaign is bringing in qualified inquiries. Every quote shows ad spend separately from our management fee.

Process

How we work

Step 1
Week 1: Deal and market intake
We agree which asset classes, submarkets and deal sizes matter and which broker gets which type of lead. We also get access to your CRM and any existing Google Ads account.
Step 2
Weeks 1 to 2: Keyword and auction research
We measure how many people search in each submarket, check Google's data on who else bids, and note which competing brokerages and portals show up for your main terms.
Step 3
Weeks 2 to 3: Pages and tracking build
We set up and test a landing page for each type of searcher, requirement forms, call tracking numbers, and the CRM stages that feed results back into Google Ads.
Step 4
Weeks 3 to 4: Launch
Search and call campaigns go live first. We only add Performance Max once there is enough lead data to guide it.
Step 5
Monthly: Pipeline review
We review search terms, add negatives, compare cost per qualified inquiry by asset class and move budget to the segments producing tours and LOIs.

Questions

Questions we get asked

What do commercial real estate SEM experts actually do?

They plan and run paid search for brokerages. That means choosing keywords by asset class and deal side, writing ads, building matching landing pages, and setting up call and form tracking. Each week they adjust bids and budgets based on which searches lead to tours and deals.

Is Google Ads worth it for commercial real estate brokers?

It can be, when tenants, owners or investors in your market search for the space or services you offer. Whether it pays off depends on your deal sizes, how many competitors bid in your submarket, and how fast your team follows up. A free audit shows how many people search before you spend anything.

Can SEM generate commercial real estate leads, or just traffic?

The aim is leads. Ads point to pages with requirement forms and tracked phone numbers. We then send CRM stages such as tour booked or LOI back into Google Ads, so the campaigns learn which searches turn into business.

Should we advertise individual listings or the brokerage?

Usually both, in separate campaigns. Listing ads reach tenants searching for a specific property type and area. Brokerage ads reach owners and investors looking for representation. Keeping them apart lets you control the budget for each.

How do you stop residential buyers clicking our ads?

We keep a negative keyword list that blocks homes, apartments, mortgages, license courses and jobs, and the ad copy states the property type clearly. We check search term reports every week and add new exclusions as they appear.

How soon will we know if CRE SEM is working?

In the first weeks you can see whether the searches are the right ones and how many inquiries come in. Commercial deals take months to close, so the final answer comes from your CRM pipeline. We report on both, so you are not deciding on clicks alone.

Free audit

Get a free commercial real estate Google Ads audit

We will review your current account or your market, show which searches in your submarkets are worth paying for, and suggest a starting budget.

Get a Free Audit

Reviewed by

Martin Marinov

Founder, HeyLead

Martin founded HeyLead and has worked in SEO and paid search for more than 20 years, across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and organic search.