Google page ranking is intrinsically linked to a business’s success when it comes to promoting themselves to customers online. This is according to Ben Sellers, Co-Founder and CEO of Starberry, part of the nurtur.group, who adds that if an estate agent does not appear on page one of a Google search, they are missing out on large volumes of potential customers and leads.
“The aim of boosting Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is to ensure that you achieve the best possible ranking for your website in Google, bringing as much traffic and business to the site as possible. Page one ranking means visibility, and top visibility means more brand awareness and business,” says Sellers.
He notes that looking at the data, 30% of customers choose an estate agent who is within the first three positions on Google search. “The number one position generates a Click Through Rate (CTR) as high as 28%, the second position gets around 15%, while dropping to tenth position gets about 7% traffic only. That is a 13% drop between first and second, bearing in mind we are talking about agents who appear on page one, never mind those who are on page two and beyond. In fact, 99% of searchers click on one of the links on page one, and only around 25% even visit page two,” Sellers comments. “This data shows that if agents are not on top of their local SEO game, they are missing out on a massive opportunity to reach potential customers.”
Sellers says that agents could have a beautifully designed website with all the required elements to make it enticing to customers, such as videos, social icons, a full screen animated background with text overlays and a contact us page, but if the website is not optimised for search, no-one will ever see it or be able to find the business online.
He notes that to ensure online success, an estate agent’s website needs to comply with all the SEO guidelines, which includes extensive keyword research and analysis, SEO-friendly URLs, optimisation of titles and meta descriptions, proper outbound and internal link placement, no broken links, and image optimisation and keyword-rich content.
Sellers says that over the years Starberry has helped estate agents rank top on Google with a blend of effective SEO methods. “We know that getting consistent results takes more than just a good idea, it takes a solid strategy. We work closely with estate agents to create a local SEO strategy that’s tailored for the business and gets them where they need to be, which is on top of the search results. Through a comprehensive SEO strategy, we have seen first-hand how our customer’s organic traffic can increase. One of our premier estate agents in London increased organic traffic by 117% and generated 56% more leads. The strategy has vastly increased their ranking on Google, and they’re seeing more of their target customers than ever before,” he adds.
According to Sellers, the process starts with a thorough analysis of the business, its needs, and goals. “Once we have assessed a business, we create an actionable roadmap to help them achieve those goals with a focus on local citations and optimising Google My Business, recently renamed Google Business Profile for local SEO ranking,” he adds.
He continues saying that through local SEO, agents will increase local visibility through Google Business Profile accounts for their branches in different locations. It will also mean that the business will be seen by potential customers and gain more traffic from search queries about different services, property types, and locations.
Another important element to increasing ranking is large volumes of high-quality backlinks. “The top-ranked estate agent pages have 3.8 times more backlinks than lower ranking agents. Backlinks are one of the best ways to get a site to show up at the top of the rankings, but as mentioned, it is vital that they are excellent quality backlinks,” advises Sellers.
He notes that with the rise of Google’s mobile-first index, the need for Technical SEO has become more apparent than ever. “In our experience, estate agents who implement strong Technical SEO can achieve an impressive 250%+ increase in lead driving traffic. With well-planned optimisation, Starberry achieved an 85-page speed score and 54.47% faster page loading speed for estate agents on average. The most important thing to remember when considering Technical SEO is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, different components of a website may require different types of optimisation to ensure they perform well on search engines,” comments Sellers.
“Estate agents’ SEO is a game-winning strategy. It’s the way to get your website to the top of search engines, get more leads and grow your conversion rates and sales,” he concludes.
For more information contact Starberry on helpdesk@starberry.tv
