Opinion: Why do agents neglect their own websites in favour of the portals?

| Simon Schnieders

Ever since they launched, the influence of Rightmove and Zoopla on the public has been undeniable.

Indeed, in 2014, eight out of ten home owners said they would bypass estate agents altogether if they could list their homes directly on both sites.

Agents have mixed feelings about the portals, given that it is their own inventory that powers them.

However, have estate agents developed an over-dependence on the likes of Rightmove and Zoopla at the expense of optimising their own websites?

For over a decade now Google has prioritised small local businesses within its search results underneath or alongside map results.

Since the Venice update in 2012, Google has understood generic queries such as “estate agents” to be deserving of localised results based on the user location.

The Pigeon update then came along in July 2014 to see more traditional SEO signals (primarily links) give more sensible weighting to the local results as opposed to distance from centre of the user’s location.

A further update was implemented in August 2015 which saw Google’s “Local Pack” change from showing seven results at a time to just three – suggesting to the user that the top results were the most trustworthy.

However, this required businesses to more aggressively optimise their local landing pages in order to stand a chance of being featured.

Nevertheless, Google is giving local estate agents a huge advantage over aggregate sites and they could be wasting this opportunity by not investing in their own websites and improving their SEO presence.

What’s more, it has been suggested that, despite Zoopla and Rightmove receiving a lion’s share of traffic, users aren’t going to these sites directly and are instead searching terms such as “houses for sale in Exeter” or “estate agents in Exeter” to at least get whole of market coverage.

Again, this is giving local estate agents a great advantage.

My own firm, Blue Array, looked at a random sample of over 400 estate agency websites to assess their basic SEO strategies to give an indication on how the industry is performing as a whole.

Of the estate agents’ websites we examined, 91/100 had optimised their sites for mobile, which is excellent, but many had made some elementary mistakes.

For example, 34% of the websites we inspected had duplicate versions of their home pages. Whilst there is no penalty for having duplicate content on your website, unless it appears to be deliberately trying to manipulate search engine results, it does potentially split the link power of inbound efforts and internal links.

In addition to duplicate content, we found that 35% of estate agent websites had unoptimised meta descriptions which could result in a poor click-through rate.

Essentially, a meta description is a brief summary of your content that appears on Google to entice a user to click through to your website and it’s a great place to highlight your value proposition.

However, all is not lost and there are some simple steps that estate agents can do to ensure they’re not so wholly reliant on portals or aggregator sites and instead drive organic traffic to their own websites.

  1. Optimise your ‘My Google Business’ page

Google determines a business’s local ranking through using the information provided on the company’s ‘Google My Business Page’.

It’s vital that a business has a Google+ Business page and tells it as much about the business as it can to ensure visibility within local SERPS.

First and foremost the most vital information that needs to be correct is a business’s NAP details (Name, Address and Phone Number), as these details are one of the key factors that impact rank listings.

Google uses this information to help determine the business’s proximity to the user and uses citation analysis (the presence of this NAP data) on trusted third party sites to validify the business.

  1. Localise landing pages

Another way an estate agent can improve their localised search rankings is through optimising all of their landing pages with relevant, geographical keywords.

Companies should first of all be including their NAP details on all their landing pages to boost positionings.

These companies should not just be optimising their landing pages with NAP details, but they also need to be localising their content.

This includes titles, labelling of pictures and sharing of local goings on in the area they do business.

For example, an estate agent in Reading should be ensuring that they are incorporating local keyword elements into both new and existing content.

Businesses need to research their audiences and build their content around this. They can do this by writing content around particular subjects relevant to their area, promoting events nearby or writing about local suppliers.

  1. Stay mobile

Whilst many of the estate agent websites we examined had optimised their websites for mobiles, it’s important they realise that these localised updates are continually being created and changed to coincide with mobile devices.

Mobile devices automatically use localised results (all searches on Google Mobile are deemed of local intent) and, with the increased use of mobile search, Google will keep the updates coming in order to optimise its search engine to provide relevant content.

Businesses need to ensure they have a mobile-friendly website and an SEO strategy that suits both their desktop website and mobile version. A key here is to keep up to date with how users are utilising mobile search and the keywords they’re using to find estate agents’ websites.

Whilst portal platforms such as Zoopla and Rightmove and aggregators such as Nestoria have revolutionised the property industry, estate agents should not be overlooking their own websites.

Conclusion

With Google giving priority to smaller businesses, now is the time to look at your own website to see how you might be able to increase its Google ranking.

Making just a few changes could increase organic traffic to your website and generate sales leads without the dependency on property aggregators’ and portals’ SEO efforts.

The author is a former head of SEO at Zoopla, Mail Online and Yell. He is founder of Blue Array, an SEO agency that specialises in large-scale SEO

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12 Comments

  1. Chris Wood
    March 31, 2017 at 07:01

    An excellent and interesting article. Thanks you

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  2. Property Personnel
    March 31, 2017 at 07:58

    A great read that applies to all businesses, not just estate agents. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Blue
    March 31, 2017 at 07:59

    Personally, I place as much, if not more, importance on Facebook than I do my own website. It is about the availability and accessibility of relevant traffic combined with the credibility of transparency. Nothing will ever go viral on my own website.

    Report
    1. Keyser Söze
      March 31, 2017 at 11:31

      Be very careful with Facebook Business pages. On average only 16% of a Business page followers will see the posts in their feed.
      Facebook made this change a while back to encourage people to do more sponsored posts.

      Report
  4. AgentPink92
    March 31, 2017 at 08:00

    Personally I am more than happy at the poor optimisation of estate agents websites in my area as it has allowed me to have the dominant position in the local SERPS.

    Part of the result is that a significant proportion of my valuations and sales come directly from my site.

    However, the split between SERPS and PPC visits is hugely in favour of PPC as PPC ads appear above SERPS and local listings.

    Plus, because Google have increasingly made PPC ads similar, but more prominent, than SERPS results we are all increasingly clicking PPC ads, often without realising it. Add in the fact that Google have ruthlessly eliminated PPC ads which don’t provide at least as good a user experience, if not better, than SERPS and the days of searchers deliberately avoiding PPC ads are almost gone.

    Another issue with SERPS is that, almost inevitably, Rightmove and Zoopla will have the top positions for almost any searches including “estate agents in X town” or “property for sale in X town” which means that at best a local agents SERPS position will be 3 but often more like 4-10. Even position 3 in SERPS can actually mean you are in position TEN (and half way down a Google page) below 4 PPC ads, 3 local listings and the 2 portals.

    And, being 10th on a Google page is only marginally better than having the 10th best market share in your area.

    So, is the answer gaining the top page positions in PPC?

    Well it was …

    But these positions, especially for “estate agents in X town” searches are now dominated by the major onliners like PB, House Simple and Emoov with bucketloads of investor cash to throw around. As a result my PPC costs have almost quadrupled in the past year and I get less visits to my site; the result is my site visit cost has increased five fold.

    However, because I have doubled my site conversion for valuation leads, which of course gives me extra revenue, I can maintain my PPC campaign and compete with the big spenders.

    In summary, it’s a great article by Simon but the reality is;

    a) unless you do SERPS optimisation in house you will have to pay an SEO company and either way there are no guarantees that you will get one of the coveted first page positions for the search queries you target. Remember, other agents in your area will be trying to do exactly the same, and the more who heed Simon’s advice the harder the competition gets.

    b) PPC can guarantee you a top of the page position, but at a price per click that is only going one way, up. Very few agents (or businesses in general) have the experience to run a PPC campaign themselves and outsourcing to a PPC company is highly risky as most are very inefficient at what they do as their resources are spread too thin across multiple accounts to give the real depth of PPC management required.

     

     

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    1. inthefield
      March 31, 2017 at 08:20

      Agentpink92, you’re hired!

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      1. J1
        March 31, 2017 at 09:59

        Excellent
        I have been researching this very topic as I am launching my own new agency this coming month
        One expert quoted me £25,000 for a first year campaign combining PPC and SEO
        Knowing which way to go is impossible, therefore spreading advertising spend across various mediums with slightly different offerings will allow me to gauge the results, or at least I hope it will
        Facebook is getting its act together and is excellent value

        Report
  5. Mark Walker
    March 31, 2017 at 10:06

    I don’t use Google, I use Rummage4.it 😉

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    1. Robert May
      March 31, 2017 at 16:39

       but only on the days when we are allowed internet access. At times its almost as if someone doesn’t want us doing what we do.

      Report
  6. MrC83
    March 31, 2017 at 11:27

    This is the most informative article I’ve read on PIE in ages.  Lets hope plenty of agents implement the actions you recommend.

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  7. PropertyStream17
    March 31, 2017 at 12:44

    Great article! The digital age has brought us many wonderful things….an era where you can Sky+ your favourite shows when you’re working late, an era where you can check the weather forecast up to 2-weeks in advance (I wouldn’t trust it, we are in Britain after all!) and an era where providers and consumers are more connected than ever before.

    The digital world has not only affected people in their everyday life, it’s shaped how we do business. Some are slower to embrace the changes as they come and others grab the opportunities with both hands and revolutionise the industry. Estate agents, as a whole, have been skeptical about digital, with the industry media heavily reporting on the debate regarding online vs high street, when in reality the vast majority of high street agents already have an online presence!

    At Property Stream we love everything digital, so we’ve taken a look at 5 estate agents who we think are embracing it in all its glory…
    Countrywide: Acknowledging the changing needs of the market, Countrywide are set to trial a fixed fee hybrid service where customers receive valuations in person but can then manage viewings and offers online in 3 of its stores. If the trial goes successfully it’s likely to expand across more branches. Countrywide have acknowledged a potential opportunity from competitors who are online only and by trialling a hybrid option they are making themselves more competitive.

    Belvoir: Belvoir are in the top spot for their social media efforts. On Twitter, each Belvoir branch is set up individually in addition to an overall Belvoir account. Regular and engaging content is posted online and whilst each individual account has their own personality, the marketing messages are consistent throughout creating a cohesive brand identity.
    EweMove: You can’t mention estate agents embracing digital without thinking of EweMove. Growing from 1 to 99 franchises in less than 4 years, EweMove embrace everything digital from their optimised website to videos, social media and digital marketing, it’s hardly surprising they have been so successful.

    Chestertons: Another estate agent who are embracing the digital is Chestertons. With their online ‘Stamp Duty Calculator’ tool, they have really taken a topical issue and created a marketing tool to bring leads to their website. Their research and insights section of the website is a gold mine and has helped them to establish themselves at the forefront of the industry.

    Reeds Rains: Finally, Reeds Rains are another estate agent embracing digital. They have understood the importance of sharing quality content with their audience which is why their blog section is filled with timely, topical and informative content.

    It’s the time for smaller agencies to embrace digital. You don’t have to be one of the big guns to innovate with technology and something to help you stand out doesn’t have to cost the earth. We are always on the look out to partner with agents with big ideas, as we did with EweMove when they came to us as a start up. If any of you have an idea you would like to discuss call us on 0161 672 7820 or email hello@propertystream.co

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  8. AgentV
    March 31, 2017 at 12:49

    Anyone know how to make the print function on this story work?

    Report
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