10 Areas With Highest Foreclosure Rates + 2024 Google Ranking Factors

Latest real estate investor insights + a case study on how I increased my organic search results

Alex Z.
January 22, 2024

In 2023, foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose to 357,062, marking a 10% increase from 2022 and a substantial 136% surge from 2021. Despite this upward trend, the figures remained 28% below the pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019, showcasing a notable transformation in the housing market. Notably, the current foreclosure rates are significantly lower than the peak observed in 2010, which reached nearly 2.9 million.
New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio experienced the highest foreclosure rates, with New Jersey leading at 0.46% of housing units. Regional disparities were evident in metro areas like Cleveland, Ohio, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, which reported elevated foreclosure rates, underscoring variations in housing market stress across different areas.
Examining larger ZIP codes with 20,000 or more housing units revealed that Chicago, IL (60628), and Edinburg, TX (78542) topped the list with foreclosure rates of 1.46% and 1.25%, respectively. This data offers valuable insights into specific areas facing acute challenges in the housing market, providing a basis for potential market interventions and policy responses.

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Ranking Factors Analysis: Calculated correlation scores for various ranking factors, including both traditional factors and new approaches like word embeddings to measure page relevance to queries.
Domain Strength Evaluation: Assessed the strength of a domain using direct (branded) traffic and its correlation with search engine rankings.
Content Relevance and Quality: Emphasized the importance of content relevance and quality in influencing search engine rankings.
SEO Strategy Implications: Aims to inspire new marketing strategies and challenge established SEO concepts by providing insights into the multifaceted nature of search engine optimization.

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Decline in Customer Service Quality: Advertisers have reported a significant drop in the quality of customer service from Google Ads representatives. Issues include incorrect account suspensions, aggressive sales calls pushing automation, and a lack of knowledge about Google's own products, leading to frustration and disappointment among advertisers.
Communication and Support Challenges: Many advertisers have experienced difficulties in getting responses from Google Ads reps, with some reporting that their reps are unaware of recent updates or unable to assist with specific queries. This has resulted in delays and obstacles in implementing advertising strategies and resolving account issues.
Potential Shift to AI Support: Amidst the increasing complaints about customer service, Google is considering a major restructure of its ad sales unit and exploring the use of AI to enhance customer experience. However, there is no confirmed timeline for these improvements, and advertisers are encouraged to provide feedback through Google's Ads Help Center for any service-related issues.

I’ve used this feature on several of my Carrot websites the last 2 months and every single time I use it - the content ranks