Google Ads for developers and the real estate industry

Google Ads for the real estate industry means running advertising campaigns on Google for developers, brokerages, and real estate agencies, focused on acquiring valuable purchase or rental leads. Because of high transaction values and long decision times, measuring lead quality — including phone calls — is key, not just lead volume.

The real estate market places exceptional demands on online advertising. The value of a single transaction is high — buying an apartment is a decision made over months, not hours. Buyers compare many listings, return to their favorites several times, and often call before filling out a form. That means the ad click is just the beginning: what matters is how the agency measures and optimizes lead quality, not just lead volume.

At ICBM Polska, we run Google Ads campaigns for developers and the real estate industry with these specifics fully in mind — from selecting keywords for the development's specific location, through call tracking implementation and CRM integration, to remarketing that closes the sale among people who already visited the website.

Search campaigns — capturing active demand

The foundation of a developer campaign is Google search ads. People actively looking for an apartment type in specific phrases: the district name, floor area, property type. Search campaigns capture this demand at the moment purchase intent is strongest. We select keywords with the development's local nature in mind — precise branded phrases (the development's name), broader category phrases (e.g. "new apartments Krakow Krowodrza"), and intent phrases tied to the decision stage (e.g. "how much does a 3-room apartment cost").

• Purchase and location keywords — precise targeting on a specific district, city, or region of the development.
• Matching the decision stage — different messages for people searching, comparing, and finalizing a purchase.
• Extended ads — sitelinks to specific unit types, phone numbers, and location in the ad.
• Negative keywords — excluding phrases unrelated to a purchase (e.g. rental, second-hand) so budget is not wasted.
• Lead form extensions — collecting contacts directly in the ad without requiring a website visit.

Local and geo-targeted development advertising

Real estate is bought locally — which is why geotargeting is the foundation of an effective campaign. We show ads to people located in or regularly visiting the area around the development, and concentrate budget on the most promising geographic zones. Targeting is possible at the district level, a radius around a specific address, or an entire region. For developments in several cities at once, we run separate campaigns with separate budgets and messages tailored to each location.

Lead generation — forms and call tracking

In real estate, a phone call is often the first and most important form of contact from a potential buyer. That is why, alongside measuring contact form submissions, we implement call tracking — a call tracking system that tells us which campaign, ad group, and keyword each call comes from. This lets us optimize campaigns for real leads, not just clicks. Integration with the developer's CRM is possible — passing information back to Google Ads about which leads turned into reservation agreements or notarial deeds, letting smart bidding algorithms learn from actual sales results.

• Call tracking — phone call measurement broken down by campaign and keyword. Details in the call tracking section.
• Contact forms — submission tracking, integration with a CRM or lead sheet.
• Developer CRM integration — offline conversions (agreements, deeds) as signals for smart bidding.
• Lead qualification — analysis of lead quality and cost per qualified contact, not just cost per form submission.
• Conversion optimization — analysis of the development website for contact intent.

Remarketing to people viewing the listings

The long purchase cycle in real estate means most visitors to a development website do not make contact on their first visit. Remarketing keeps you in touch with these people over the following weeks and months — showing ads across the Google Display Network, on YouTube, and on display platforms. We segment remarketing lists by behavior: people who viewed many units, spent a long time on the site, or visited the contact page receive more intensive remarketing with a stronger message. We can also create reach and programmatic campaigns building development awareness among audiences similar to your current leads.

Seasonality and budget planning

The real estate market has clear seasonality — spring (March–June) and early fall (September–October) are the periods of greatest interest, while July–August and the turn of the year see markedly lower buyer activity. We adjust budget allocation to these patterns, increasing campaign intensity at demand peaks and not wasting funds during natural dips in interest. We also factor seasonality into development launches — anticipation-building campaigns start ahead of time, and sales campaigns launch when the development is ready to receive leads.