To the uninitiated, search engine optimisation (SEO) can seem incredibly complex. Experts will tell you it is a constantly changing discipline and requires a great deal of attention for it to work effectively.
Although individual tactics and strategies may vary depending on search engine algorithm updates, there are fundamental SEO guidelines that should be simple enough to adhere to, even for those with busy schedules.
Here are the golden rules your agency’s website needs to follow to guarantee that clients will still be hopping onto your site.
Create high quality content for users
Search engines favour sites with an abundance of original, authoritative and high-quality content. People are more likely to use a specific search engine if it gives them the best results, which means search engines such as Google will rank your website highly if you are contributing to those ‘best results’. Search engines are becoming more advanced and are able to index websites that have valuable content, making this rule an even more important one as algorithms evolve.
Real estate agencies are recommended to start a blog on their site with posts that provide genuine value to visitors such as local market news, insights and community initiatives your agency may be undertaking. Keep this up and your site will be ranked highly on Google. Agency websites should also appropriately label – or take down – sold or rented properties as it happens. Maintaining this as well as agency team profiles or additions will really show that you are active and gives potential clients updates.
Disown any irrelevant backlinks
Your agency or brand can look poorly to Google if you have a link to your domain on another website that is completely irrelevant. Search engines frown upon this, as you are unable to disassociate your domain with irrelevant websites, which can bring down your SEO efforts significantly.
For instance, having a link on an online store pointing to your domain may be seen as inappropriate as an audience looking for a pair of shoes may not find a real estate agency relevant. This shows how vital it is to not have your URL be hosted on unsuitable sites. Luckily, this can be easily solved through Google’s disavow tool that lets you upload a text file listing the sites you want to be dissociated from.
Ensure your website is user friendly
Despite algorithm changes, this golden rule will always be applicable, since having a website that provides a great user experience will always be favoured by search engines. Visitors are on your page to get the information they need, so ensure your website loads quickly and have users find what they’re looking for in as few clicks as possible.
Make sure the aesthetics are also presentable in order for users to stay on your page. Search engines will reward websites of high quality, and anything that improves the user experience, with a significant boost on its search results page.
