Google Ads Campaign for Real Estate in India: Keywords, RERA and Setup

What does a Google Ads campaign for real estate need?

A working property campaign needs four things: Search ads on keywords that name a project, locality or sector; a landing page or lead form with the RERA registration details; call assets for buyers who want to talk now; and conversion tracking that runs past the enquiry to the site visit.

Someone typing “3 BHK flats Golf Course Extension Road” has already chosen an area and a size; someone typing “property in Gurgaon” may be months away. A campaign that treats both the same spends on window-shoppers. This holds for builders, brokers and channel partners alike.

Before you open Google Ads, put this checklist in order:

1. Inventory list: each project or listing, its locality and sector, configurations (2 BHK, 3 BHK, plots, shops) and whether it is for sale or rent.
2. Registration details: the project’s RERA registration number and the Authority’s website address; for brokers, your own agent registration number.
3. Landing page: one page per project or locality, with factual details, floor plans, a short enquiry form, call and WhatsApp buttons.
4. Tracking: the Google tag on the site, conversion actions for forms, calls and WhatsApp clicks, and a CRM that records site visits and bookings.
5. Coverage plan: who answers calls and messages, and in which hours, so ads run only when someone can pick up.

For account basics, see our step-by-step guide to creating a Google Ads campaign.

Which keywords work for real estate Google Ads?

The keywords that bring serious buyers combine a property type with a place: a sector, a road or a project name. Build separate ad groups for each locality, each configuration, and for buy versus rent, so the ad and landing page match the search exactly.

In Gurgaon, people search by corridor and sector. The Dwarka Expressway runs from Dwarka in Delhi to the Kherki Daula toll plaza, and sectors along it (such as 83 to 86 and 102 to 113) appear in many searches. Golf Course Extension Road, Sohna Road and the New Gurgaon sectors are other common search areas. Use the names buyers actually type, including spelling variants such as Gurgaon and Gurugram.

Start with phrase and exact match, review the search terms report weekly, and try broad match only once conversion tracking is reliable.

Which negative keywords should property ads use?

Negative keywords stop your ads from showing on searches that will never turn into a sale, such as jobs, rent when you sell, PG and hostel, or legal research. Google notes that negatives do not match close variants, so add singular, plural and common spellings yourself.

Google’s negative keywords guide explains that a negative broad match term blocks a search only when all its words appear, and that negatives won’t match close variants or other expansions. A starter list for a builder or broker selling homes:

• Jobs and careers: job, jobs, vacancy, hiring, salary, sales executive, internship.
• Rent and short stays (if you sell): rent, rental, on rent, PG, hostel, paying guest, room for rent, co-living.
• Research and documents: stamp duty calculator, registry process, mutation, property tax, circle rate, RERA complaint.
• Free and DIY: free, “sell my flat”, “post property free”, “owner listing”.
• Wrong place: cities and districts you do not serve, and Gurgaon sectors where you have no stock.
• Wrong property type: plots, farmhouse, warehouse, shop, office, when the campaign is for flats only (and the reverse for a plot campaign).

Keep shared negatives in a shared list. Do not overdo it: Google warns that too many negatives can reduce how many people see your ads, so prune from the search terms report, not guesses.

What do RERA rules say about advertising property online?

The RERA Act, 2016 treats any publicity offering a plot, apartment or building as an advertisement, whatever the medium, so Google Ads, YouTube videos and landing pages are covered. A promoter must register the project before advertising it, and the advertisement must show the Authority’s website address and the registration number.

These points come from the text of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016:

• Section 2(b), advertisement: any document issued as an advertisement through any medium, including any notice, circular or publicity in any form informing people about a project or inviting them to buy or pay advances.
• Section 3(1), registration first: no promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale any plot, apartment or building in a real estate project in any planning area without registering the project with the Authority.
• Section 3(2), exemptions: no registration where the land does not exceed five hundred square metres or the apartments do not exceed eight across all phases (a state may lower this), or where a completion certificate came before the Act began.
• Section 11(2), what the ad must show: the advertisement or prospectus “shall mention prominently the website address of the Authority” where the project details are entered, and include the registration number.
• Section 12, false statements: a person who pays an advance on the basis of an incorrect or false statement in an advertisement is to be compensated by the promoter, and may withdraw with a refund and interest.

Brokers and agents have their own duties. Section 2(zm) defines a real estate agent to include property dealers, brokers and middlemen, and anyone who introduces buyers and sellers “through any medium”. Section 9(1) requires an agent to register before facilitating the sale of plots, apartments or buildings in a registered project, and Section 10(a) bars an agent from facilitating sales in a project that is not registered. Section 10(c) also bars false claims of approval or affiliation.

State authorities add their own directions. Maharashtra’s regulator, for example, requires a QR code beside the registration number and website address in project advertisements, as described in a MahaRERA order of June 2024. For Gurgaon projects, check the current directions on the Haryana regulator’s site, haryanarera.gov.in, before you write ad copy.

What Google Ads policies apply to property ads in India?

The main Google policy for property ads in India is Misrepresentation: no false claims, no offers that are unavailable on the landing page, and clear disclosure of how pricing works. Google’s extra housing rules on targeting by age, gender and ZIP code are written for the United States and Canada; India is not listed.

Google’s Misrepresentation policy includes sub-policies that matter in property marketing:

• Unreliable claims: no improbable results presented as likely, such as assured returns or price-doubling claims.
• Unavailable offers: an offer in the ad must exist and be easy to find on the landing page; do not advertise a payment plan or discount that has closed.
• Dishonest pricing practices: the payment model and extra charges must be clear and conspicuous.
• Deceptive ad design and clickbait: no fake system alerts, no sensational or fear-based pressure such as “last unit left, book today” when it is not true.
• Unacceptable business practices: do not offer inventory you do not have or cannot deliver, or imply licences and approvals you do not hold.

On targeting, Google’s Housing in personalized advertising page says that in the United States and Canada, housing ads can’t target by gender, age, parental status, marital status or ZIP code. India is not named on that page, so those limits do not currently apply to campaigns shown only in India. Policies change, so check the page again before launch.

Should you use lead form assets or a landing page?

Use a landing page as the main destination and test lead form assets alongside it. A lead form collects details inside the ad with fewer taps, but buyers see little about the project, so leads may need more qualifying calls. Call assets suit buyers ready to talk.

Google’s lead form assets can be added to Search and Performance Max campaigns, with some other placements for eligible advertisers. You need a good policy compliance history and a link to your privacy policy. Leads can be downloaded as a CSV, sent by email notification, or pushed to a CRM by webhook, and Google keeps them for 60 days only, so connect them to your CRM from day one.

Call assets add a phone number and call button to your ads, and you can schedule them for the days and hours your sales team is free. Call reporting with Google forwarding numbers is available in India and lets you count calls as conversions, though Google notes that caller details are limited for some calls in India.

A good property landing page covers one project or locality, shows the registration number and the Authority’s website address near the top, and ends in a form asking for name, phone and preferred visit date. Our website development team in Gurgaon can build one.

Which campaign types fit each stage of a property buyer?

Search campaigns catch buyers who are already looking; YouTube and Demand Gen reach people earlier with walkthrough videos and images; remarketing brings back people who visited your project page. Most property advertisers should start with Search and add the others once tracking works.

Demand Gen campaigns run image and video ads on YouTube, Discover, Gmail and the Google Display Network, and can use lookalike segments built from site visitors. Google has also begun moving Display campaigns into Demand Gen, so check which option your account shows.

Location targeting needs care. Google’s location options offer “Presence or interest” (people in or interested in your locations) and “Presence” (people physically in them). For sale campaigns, interest matters, because a family in Delhi or an NRI abroad may be researching Gurgaon; Presence suits a local rental campaign. Radius targeting needs at least 1 km.

Remarketing, now called your data segments, lets you show ads to past visitors on Search, Display and YouTube. Build separate lists for floor plan viewers, form starters and visitors of each project, and show each list the next step rather than the same ad again.

How do you track site-visit bookings from Google Ads?

Track every enquiry action as a conversion (form submit, call, lead form, WhatsApp click), then import the later stages, site visit done and booking, from your CRM. Google’s enhanced conversions for leads matches those offline outcomes back to the ad click so bidding favours leads that visit and buy.

Property sales close offline, weeks after the click. If Google Ads only sees form fills, bidding treats a fake number and a real buyer the same. Follow these steps:

1. Install the Google tag on every page and create conversion actions for the form thank-you page, lead form submissions and WhatsApp or click-to-call buttons.
2. Turn on call reporting and count calls above a duration you choose as conversions, so short wrong-number calls do not count.
3. Store the click ID (GCLID) and the lead’s phone and email with each enquiry in your CRM.
4. Add CRM stages such as contacted, site visit booked, site visit done and booking, with dates.
5. Upload site visits and bookings through enhanced conversions for leads, which uses hashed contact details and click IDs, through Google Ads Data Manager or the API.
6. Once enough offline data flows, set site visit done as a primary conversion and keep form fills as secondary.

A property CRM makes this practical: it captures leads from ads and portals, assigns them to sales staff, records site visits and sends the status back. See our real estate CRM software for Gurgaon, and the wider real estate CRM guide for India.

How DVM Techno can help with real estate Google Ads

Our team in Sector 84, Gurgaon plans, sets up and manages Google Ads for builders, brokers and channel partners: Search, Display and YouTube campaigns, call and location assets, remarketing, landing pages and conversion tracking set up correctly.

We target by city and sector, run A/B tests on audiences, creatives and bids aiming for more enquiries at a lower cost per lead, and send weekly reports with a monthly review call. Ad spend is paid directly to Google, separately from our fee. Already running ads? Ask for a free audit within 48 hours. If your campaign has stopped showing, read why a Google Ads campaign gets no impressions, or see our Google Ads management service.

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