DIY for estate agents: the search engine test

Estate agents, did you know that you could test how your website performs in Google? Remembering that Google has 91-92% of the search engine market in the UK, this test could radically change the amount of leads that come through your estate agency website.

The trick to this test is to put yourself in the mind of a property searcher. They will sit down at a computer and start with their preferred search engine. From there, they will type in the most logical phrase that they think will provide them with the best results.

In other words, the property searcher won't type in 'web design for estate agents', so that they can visit their local estate agent's website, instead they will try localised search with particular keywords. This will include a range of terms such as:

* 'Estate agent in...'
* 'Letting agent in...'
* 'Property for sale in...'
* 'Property to rent in...'
* 'Two bedroom house for sale in...'
* 'Flat to let in...'
* Detached house for sale in...'

From there, the property searcher will be provided with the top 10 links that match their search. Ideally estate agents need to be as high as possible for these terms because property searchers will more likely use the links that are higher up in Google. Typically users do not go past page 3.

Troy Stanley, Resource Techniques CTO comments, 'Estate agents need to gravely reconsider their Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and position in Google if they are past page three. Page one, position one on Google, if at all possible, is the best place for estate agents to provide maximum amount of traffic to their website.'

'Currently 98% of our websites are on page one of Google from our SEO techniques. This combined with industry leading website designs, will give our customers the maximum amount of leads from the internet.'

Are you interested in web design? Read our recent article 'A well designed website is a weapon of mass consumption' or 'This will make you change the way you think about website design'.

You can contact us on 0208 457 4777 or via our Twitter and Facebook page.

Estate agents, SEO services are not just for Christmas

SEO services are easily forgotten once they are implemented.

Clients of SEO services end up forgetting the work that SEO service providers do, but it isn't their fault.

For those that are unsure, search engine optimisation or SEO is the process of changing a website so that it will appear higher in Google's search results. The reason why web site designers would like their website higher in Google is that the higher up a website is in Goole's search results, the more likely people are to access their website.

SEO is a very important starting point for company websites or websites that are looking to make money as web site designers need people to access the web site. Without SEO, members of the public won't be able to find your website unless the website designer or estate agent pays for PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Per-Per-Click literally makes the website owner pay money every time a member of the public clicks on an advert that relates to the search term that they're looking for.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques, says 'Pay-Per-Click is useful for infantile websites. They provide a good initial boost of visitors but it is expensive and will not be able to support the long term goals of your website. The best way is to get a reliable source of new and returning visitors is to use the latest white hat SEO techniques.'.

Once SEO has been implemented for a website, the web site designer or SEO services provider should continue to monitor the website's SEO progress and adjust the website design or add more content accordingly. What tends to happen is that estate agents will have either never checked their website or stop checking their position in search engines.

Troy Stanley says 'this is not their fault. Estate agents are very busy people and some estate agents may not have the technical knowledge needed to check up on the SEO of their websites.'

There are two ways that estate agents can overcome this:

Firstly estate agents can ask their SEO service provider for a weekly or monthly PDF report on the website's progress. In this report there should be not only search engine placements and search terms used but also the progress from last month.

Secondly estate agents can check themselves. Think about the search terms that people will use to access your website and type them into a search engine. Note down the results and then talk the SEO service provider. Ask them for the search terms they optimise for and compare notes. Opening these lines of communication will increase the SEO service that estate agents receive and in turn provide estate agents with more business.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques says 'Estate agents need to work closely with website developers to ensure that their websites will be high enough in search engines to generate organic visitors.'

Resource Techniques provides ultimate website design for estate agents, IT services for property professionals and the latest SEO services for estate agents. Visit our contact us page or for more information check out ‘estate agents, are social networks replacing email?'