Google isn’t just a search engine, they are the biggest website on the internet and the first place 99% of us go to search for something. This gives Google the power to tell online businesses what they should and shouldn’t be doing in order to get seen at the top of their search results.
To help your estate agency get seen online, we have put together our top recommendations that you must comply with in order to get noticed by Google:
Google search console, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools is a free web service by Google to allow companies to check their websites indexing status. If your website isn’t indexed by Google, you won’t be seen anywhere in their search results never mind on the first page.
When you’re looking to rank your property website higher in search engines, Google Search Console can prove to be an excellent resource for various website data:
View search queries – Within Google Search Console you can check your ‘Search Traffic’ results. Meaning, along with Google Analytics you can see what search queries people are typing in Google who visit your website, this could be search phrases such as ‘property for sale near me’ or ‘estate agent in Spain’.
Check links to your website – This is another useful reason you need Google Search Console, you can view which websites link to you. This means that you can check for any spammy links that could potentially damage your ranking ability, if you come across any you can tell Google not to associate your website with the found link.
If used correctly, Google Search console can drive 28% more search traffic to your website!
It should come as a given that security on your website is a must in order to keep your clients personal details safe. So how can you secure your website that also gets you higher in Google? By obtaining an SSL Certificate which will secure your websites domain. This will increase the users trust, meaning that you should receive more enquiries because the user will feel safer entering their personal details when requesting more information about properties.
An SSL Certificate creates a visible padlock on your website address and changes your URL from HTTP to HTTPS. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, which stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, with the ‘S’ standing for ‘secure’. This means that your data and identification between your browser and the website you visit is secured by an encryption. If you don’t obtain an SSL Certificate, this could affect the way you can obtain clients personal details on your website once the GDPR regulation comes into force on the 25th May.
Google are currently ranking HTTPS websites higher than non-HTTPS websites. If you carry out a Google search for ‘property for sale near me’ for example, you will notice that a lot of website URLs start with HTTPS. Securing your website couldn’t be any easier with property webmasters! So contact us today to find out how we can help secure your estate agency website.
Much like we are doing right now, you could write news/ blog articles that offers your users top tips, success stories or you could even talk about upcoming events. Google always emphasises that ‘content is king’ and if you have enough high quality content that’s beneficial for the user, you will rank better in search engines.
Don’t forget to optimise your article content!
Not only should you write quality content, you must make sure that it’s optimised in order to get on that first page of Google (and other major search engines). To do this you will need to make use of heading tags, imagery and metadata. If you need help with what these mean, check out our Digital Marketing page for more information
If your estate agency website is mobile friendly, it will give users a better experience when browsing properties on their mobile device. Did you know that over 50% of internet users browse on a mobile device? Therefore, making your website mobile responsive is essential.
In one word – Mobilegeddon. What is Mobilegeddon? Back in 2015 Google released their mobile-friendly algorithm that was designed to boost pages that are mobile friendly in Google’s search results, this was called Mobilegeddon. So if your website is not responsive on mobile devices, you are well behind the game.
If you haven’t already, you need to create a Google My Business listing, this makes it much easier for people to find your company on Google. As well as showing up in the search result, your company will appear at right hand side of Google with useful company information such as your opening hours, your website address, social media links and much more.
Nothing shows a prospect buyer how great your company is more than reviews and client testimonials! Clients can also review your business via Google My Business, so you can gain more reviews by simply asking clients to write a review on your Google Listing. Check out our video below explaining why a Google my business listing is important for Estate Agencies:
[youtube video=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/tZkCCNUJXr4?rel=0″ width=701 height=335]
You don’t just have to stop there! There is a lot your estate agency can do in order to succeed online and get noticed by Google.
Are your struggling to get noticed online and looking to rank higher in Google? Have no fear, Property Webmasters are here to give you an extra boost to your estate agency. Check out our Digital Marketing services to see how we can help you succeed online today>
By Ben Spowart
By Millie Taylor
By Ben Spowart