---
title: "Apartment Website Search Benchmark 2026 | Kihan Marketing"
description: "Google Search Console data from four apartment websites over 90 days: branded share, search and page types, phones and community page medians."
url: https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/multifamily-search-benchmark/
published: 2026-09-30
updated: 2026-10-21
author: "Kiran Dasgupta"
---

# Apartment Search Benchmark

What four apartment websites earned from Google in 90 days

Across four apartment websites, 88 percent of the clicks Google Search Console reported a search for came from people who searched the community's name or its management company's name, in the 90 days to October 14, 2026. Searches for apartments in a place earned far less. The figures, the method and a way to compare your own site follow.

By [Kiran Dasgupta](https://kihanmarketing.com/kiran/), Founder and Lead Strategist

## Key findings, October 2026

Most clicks to the four apartment websites in the October 2026 benchmark came from people searching a community's own name, and most came from phones. Each finding pools Google Search Console data for July 17 to October 14, 2026, and stands on its own, so it can be quoted as written.

1. Across four apartment websites, 88 percent of clicks with a reported search came from searches naming the community or its management company (Google Search Console, July 17 to October 14, 2026).
2. On four apartment websites, searches that did not name the property were 27 percent of impressions but 12 percent of clicks, at an average position of 25.7 against 6.5 for name searches (Google Search Console, July 17 to October 14, 2026).
3. Phones produced 63 percent of clicks and 53 percent of impressions on four apartment websites, at a 5.2 percent click-through rate against 3.4 percent on desktop (Google Search Console, July 17 to October 14, 2026).
4. The median community page on a management company website earned 2 clicks and 129 impressions in 90 days, and 23 percent of 236 such pages earned no clicks at all (Google Search Console, July 17 to October 14, 2026).
5. On four apartment websites, home pages took 41 percent of clicks from 16 percent of impressions, while community pages took 45 percent of clicks from 55 percent of impressions (Google Search Console, July 17 to October 14, 2026).

## How many clicks does an apartment website get from Google?

Not many per page, and most of them come from people who already know the name. Pooled across the four websites in this sample, 4.4 percent of Google search impressions turned into a click, at an average position of 12.6, over 90 days. The median community page earned 2 clicks in that time.

| Measure | All four websites, 90 days |
|---|---|
| Websites | 4: two single-community sites, two management company sites with a page per community |
| Community pages measured | 236 |
| Window | July 17 to October 14, 2026 |
| Click-through rate, pooled | 4.4% |
| Average position, pooled | 12.6 |
| Share of clicks Google reported a search for | 60% |

Impressions count how often a page appeared in search. The click-through rate, or CTR, is the share of those appearances that got a click. Average position is where the page sat on the results page, weighted by impressions, so 1 is the top.

## What does a typical community page earn?

Very little on its own. Across 236 community pages on two management company websites, the median page earned 2 clicks and 129 impressions in 90 days, and the middle half earned between 1 and 5 clicks. Almost a quarter earned none. These are the pages' own figures; they leave out any separate website a community may have.

| Community pages, 90 days | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clicks | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Impressions | 41 | 129 | 574 |
| Click-through rate | 0.2% | 0.9% | 3.8% |
| Average position | 7.1 | 8.8 | 11.7 |

Each column is worked out on its own, so a row does not describe one page. 23 percent of the 236 pages earned no clicks in the window.

## How much apartment search is branded?

Most of it. 88 percent of clicks with a reported search came from searches naming the community, its management company or someone at the company. On the median website in the sample the share was 90 percent. Name searches also ranked far higher: an average position of 6.5, against 25.7 for searches that named no property.

| Search | Share of clicks | Share of impressions | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names the community, its manager or someone there | 88.3% | 71.3% | 4.1% | 6.5 |
| Does not name it | 11.6% | 26.8% | 1.5% | 25.7 |
| A street address | 0.1% | 1.9% | 0.2% | 34.0 |

A branded search is one that contains the property's own name. The split matters more than any other cut, because it shows whether a site is only catching people who already know it or really reaching new renters. Two sites can post almost the same totals and sit on opposite sides of it.

## Which searches reach renters who do not know the name?

Searches for apartments in or near a place reach the most renters who do not know the name, at 4.9 percent of clicks and 13.9 percent of impressions, but on average they sit on page three. Floor plan and unit type searches, such as studios, townhomes and bedroom counts, brought 2.5 percent of clicks, and income-restricted housing searches 1.2 percent.

| Search type | Share of clicks | Share of impressions | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names the community or its management company | 88.3% | 71.3% | 4.1% | 6.5 |
| Apartments in or near a place | 4.9% | 13.9% | 1.2% | 24.6 |
| Floor plans and unit types | 2.5% | 2.0% | 4.2% | 17.7 |
| Income-restricted and affordable | 1.2% | 1.1% | 3.5% | 31.6 |
| "Near me" searches | 0.9% | 0.5% | 5.6% | 12.1 |
| Property management services | 0.7% | 3.2% | 0.7% | 19.7 |
| A street address | 0.1% | 1.9% | 0.2% | 34.0 |
| Amenities | under 0.1% | 0.1% | under 0.1% | 18.8 |
| Pet-friendly | under 0.1% | 0.1% | 2.3% | 17.7 |
| Jobs and careers | under 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.9% | 17.4 |
| Resident tasks (portal, paying rent) | under 0.1% | under 0.1% | under 0.1% | 24.5 |
| Everything else | 1.3% | 5.8% | 0.8% | 34.8 |

Floor plan searches clicked through at 4.2 percent, about the same rate as name searches, from much further down the page. When a site does rank for a unit type, the searcher is close to a decision. That is the case for a page per floor plan, which our [multifamily SEO](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/multifamily-seo/) page sets out.

## Which pages earn the clicks?

Home pages and community pages earn most clicks on apartment websites, 85 percent between them across the four sites measured. Home pages turned impressions into clicks best, at an 8.4 percent click-through rate. Neighborhood pages and blog posts drew about 5 percent of impressions together but under half a percent of clicks.

| Page type | Share of clicks | Share of impressions | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home page | 40.9% | 16.2% | 8.4% | 19.8 |
| Community pages (one per community) | 44.5% | 54.8% | 2.7% | 10.2 |
| Company, careers and owner services | 5.8% | 12.3% | 1.6% | 4.4 |
| Availability, floor plans and directories | 3.2% | 5.3% | 2.0% | 7.7 |
| Resident pages (portal, renewals) | 3.1% | 0.4% | 27.0% | 4.3 |
| Contact and tour pages | 1.7% | 4.4% | 1.3% | 5.0 |
| Gallery, amenities and program pages | 0.3% | 1.7% | 0.6% | 13.2 |
| Neighborhood and area pages | 0.2% | 2.0% | 0.4% | 16.3 |
| Blog posts and guides | 0.2% | 2.8% | 0.2% | 11.7 |
| Other (legal, accessibility, archives) | under 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 11.7 |

Resident pages are a small share but clicked through at 27 percent: most people who search for them already live there and want the portal.

## How much apartment search happens on phones?

Most of the clicks. Phones produced 63 percent of clicks and 53 percent of impressions, and phone searchers clicked through at 5.2 percent against 3.4 percent on desktop. Desktop impressions also sat lower on the page, at an average position of 18.1 against 7.9 on phones.

| Device | Share of clicks | Share of impressions | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 62.8% | 52.7% | 5.2% | 7.9 |
| Desktop | 36.3% | 46.7% | 3.4% | 18.1 |
| Tablet | 0.9% | 0.6% | 6.4% | 7.8 |

## Do renters search in long questions yet?

Rarely, so far. Searches of eight words or more, about the length of a question typed to an AI assistant, were 0.5 percent of impressions and 0.1 percent of clicks. Three and four word searches did most of the work, with 72 percent of clicks.

| Search length | Share of clicks | Share of impressions | CTR | Average position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 words | 21.0% | 29.8% | 2.4% | 11.5 |
| 3 to 4 words | 71.7% | 60.0% | 4.0% | 11.3 |
| 5 to 7 words | 7.3% | 9.6% | 2.5% | 19.6 |
| 8 words or more | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 15.1 |

The long searches that did appear read like prompts: which neighborhoods suit a renter, which communities answer maintenance requests quickly. They are a small share today. They are also the questions an [answer engine](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/answer-engine-optimization/) picks a source for, so a page that answers them plainly is worth having before the share grows.

## How do you compare your own community against this?

Pull the same numbers from your own Search Console, over the same 90 days, and read them against each other rather than one at a time.

1. **Set the window.** In Search Console, open Performance, choose the last 3 months, and turn on clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position.
2. **Split out name searches.** Add a query filter for queries not containing your community's name, then again for your management company's name. What is left is your non-branded search.
3. **Compare the split.** Here, name searches were 88 percent of clicks. A much higher share means the site mostly catches people who already know it.
4. **Check your pages.** On the Pages tab, see whether floor plan and community pages earn impressions, or whether the home page carries everything.
5. **Check the device split.** On the Devices tab, compare your phone share of clicks with the 63 percent here, and test the pages that earn them on a phone.

Then read the pattern:

- **High CTR on a low impression count.** You are most likely measuring name demand: people who already knew the place. Worth having, and it isn't growth.
- **Lower CTR on impressions in the tens of thousands.** You rank past your own name, into searches where you are one of ten options. A harder position, with more upside in it.
- **Low impressions and low CTR.** The site probably does not rank reliably for its own name. Fix that before anything else.
- **Average position worse while clicks rose.** Check whether you now appear for more searches. New searches far down page two drag the average down while total clicks climb.

## Why do apartment websites resist comparison?

Apartment websites resist comparison because they differ in four ways: template or rebuilt site, unit count and market, page type, and audience. Pooled figures hide those differences, so weigh any apartment search benchmark against them, the October 2026 one included.

- **Template sites against rebuilt ones.** A platform's template site keeps listings in one place. A rebuild can give every community and floor plan its own page. The two are different sites for search, even at the same unit count.
- **Unit count and market.** Unit count and market change what a site can earn: a 40-unit building in a small town and a 300-unit property in a large city are not a fair match, however neatly the numbers line up.
- **Page type.** Page type changes click-through rate: a floor plan page and a contact page earn very different rates, so one average for a whole site hides what an operator wants to know.
- **Audience.** A management company's site speaks to owners, residents and job seekers as well as renters. A single community's site mostly speaks to renters.

## How should you cite this benchmark?

Use the line below and link to this page, so a reader can check the window and the method.

"Kihan Marketing, Apartment Website Search Benchmark, October 2026, kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/multifamily-search-benchmark/" Citation for this page

## Method and limits

- **Sample.** The sample is four apartment websites Kihan Marketing works on: two single-community sites and two management company sites that give each community its own page. The community figures cover the 236 community pages on those two management company sites.
- **Source and window.** Google Search Console, Search Analytics, web search only, final data, for the 90 days from July 17 to October 14, 2026. The window ends two days before the data was pulled, so no partial day is counted.
- **Pooled.** Shares and rates are pooled across the four sites, so a larger site weighs more. Medians and quartiles describe community pages, not websites.
- **Branded searches.** A search counts as branded when it names the community, its management company or someone at the company, matched against each site's own name, its community page names and close misspellings. A misspelling the match misses counts as non-branded, so the branded share is a floor. Street addresses are their own group.
- **Reported searches.** Reported searches are the 60 percent of clicks that came with a search Google reported, because Google withholds rare searches. The search type and search length tables cover only those. The pooled rates, pages and devices cover every click.
- **Left out.** Pages unrelated to renting, 0.5 percent of impressions, are excluded.
- **Anonymized.** No site, community, company or place is named, and no figure is one site's alone: the page publishes shares, pooled rates, medians and quartiles, with no totals, minimums, maximums or single-site values.
- **Rounding.** Shares and rates are rounded to one decimal place, and the medians and quartiles of clicks and impressions to whole numbers.
- **Refreshed.** The benchmark is refreshed every quarter, with the same script and the same rules.

Want your own Search Console read against these figures? That is part of a [marketing audit](https://kihanmarketing.com/marketing-audit/). For how search works across a portfolio and for a single building, see [property management SEO](https://kihanmarketing.com/property-management-marketing/property-management-seo/), and for the leasing side, [lease-up](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/lease-up/) and [search intent](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/search-intent/) in the glossary.

## Keep reading

- [Multifamily SEO](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/multifamily-seo/): A page for every floor plan, amenity copy that says something, and pages a crawler can read.
- [SEO vs Google Ads for Apartments](https://kihanmarketing.com/multifamily-marketing/seo-vs-google-ads/): Which channel an apartment community needs, in lease-up and after.
- [Property Management SEO](https://kihanmarketing.com/property-management-marketing/property-management-seo/): SEO that brings owners to your management company and renters to your communities.
- [Lease-Up](https://kihanmarketing.com/glossary/lease-up/): The period a new apartment community leases its units for the first time.
- [Free Marketing Audit](https://kihanmarketing.com/marketing-audit/): We read your Search Console and show which positions are close enough to move.