Introduction
Organic visibility in search engines is your secret weapon. But it isn’t very secret anymore. Despite that, you’d be surprised by how many agencies aren’t taking full advantage of local SEO to rank highly in their area.
Looking into the online exposure of various estate agencies throughout Kent and the South East, we can see who is playing the game and which agencies might need to boost their SEO efforts. Throughout this article we highlight some helpful tips for increasing your own agency rankings.
Methodology for Assessing Agency Rankings in Kent
How We Rank Agencies
With our partners Roar, a digital marketing agency specialising in data and location marketing, we’ve been monitoring a wide variety of relevant paid and organic search results for estate agencies across 4,000 towns, counties, and postcodes in the UK every month over the last few years. For every one of these locations, we record which agencies appear in search results for a host of keyword searches such as “estate agency in Kent”, “value my house Canterbury” or “how much is my house worth in Dover?”.
This means we’ve built a comprehensive data picture over the past few years, helping us understand how different estate agencies across the country can be found on Google, and we’re able to drill down to investigate the data in Kent specifically.
At the national level, Rightmove and Zoopla dominate with a massive organic presence, due largely to their online nature and nationwide approach (meaning they can be visible in any UK location). Your Move is the agency with the most widespread exposure on Google, benefiting from both a strong organic presence and backed up by map listings, then On The Market and Yopa appear, with a slightly greater dependence on paid exposure. Beyond that, there are well known chains with large branch networks who do really well, as you’d expect at an overall national level, such as Hamptons.
Kent Organic Rankings
In Kent, we observed a significant volume of searches amounting to 140,720 across 104 locations, underscoring the competitive landscape for estate agents aiming to establish a strong organic presence in the county.
Among these players, it’s evident that those with a comprehensive SEO strategy are covering a broad range of locations, ensuring they capture the attention of potential clients across the county. However, this doesn’t mean smaller or regional agencies are left behind.
For instance, agencies like Miles and Barr and Robinson Jackson have managed to secure a solid organic presence. These regional players leverage their deep local knowledge and personalised customer service, which can be a significant advantage in targeting specific areas where larger competitors may not have the same local heritage and long-term expertise.
For estate agencies operating in Kent, it’s crucial to understand these dynamics. While competing directly with larger national brands across all areas might be challenging, there are still substantial opportunities to rank highly in more targeted, localised searches. By focusing on hyper-local SEO strategies, creating content that resonates with the local community, and optimising for niche, long-tail keywords, smaller agencies can achieve significant visibility and draw in potential clients looking for more tailored services.
We can offer a free, detailed, personalised report for your agency, helping you understand how you currently compare with your competitors in Kent. Whether at the town level, county-wide, or even down to specific postcodes, this insight will allow you to refine your SEO strategy and enhance your visibility in the most relevant areas for your business. Please just get in touch and we’ll be delighted to help.
Domain Authority in SEO Explained
Your domain authority is an index out of 100 that tells search engines how trustworthy your site is. It’s vital for understanding how likely your agency is going to rank on Google.
It can be measured by tools like SEO Moz, SEMRush, and Ahrefs, and largely depends on the quantity and quality of other websites linking to your site. A higher domain authority results in better visibility and higher rankings, as search engines perceive your site as more secure and of better quality.
Several factors can contribute to this, including a strong backlink profile, valuable and relevant content that naturally attracts links, maintaining a robust social media presence, optimising on-page SEO elements such as meta tags and URL structures, and ensuring a user-friendly website experience with fast loading times and mobile responsiveness.
But why is this important for your agency’s ranking in the Kent area or in your local town?
It’s because smaller, local agencies can’t compete on a national scale with the big players or portals. However, they can and do win the battle for local search results by having a strong domain authority and implementing effective local SEO tactics.
With a well-optimised homepage, a smaller agency can rank highly in their local area for those highly localised searches, bringing in relevant traffic and leads.
Websites with higher domain authority are able to rank well for competitive keywords or with fewer backlinks, as Google and other search engines recognise that they are high-quality sites that can be trusted. Therefore, a good place to start when trying to improve your organic ranking is by enhancing your domain authority.
A Closer Look: Canterbury
Let’s take a closer look at Canterbury, a beautiful and historic city in the South East as an example, to see how different types of agencies perform at a deeper level.
Local winners:
In Canterbury, we identified 1,780 searches from 2 main locations, illustrating the competitive landscape for estate agents in this area. Your Move stands out with the highest visibility, covering 8 searches across 1 location, highlighting its effective SEO strategy. Strutt & Parker, and Rightmove, both cover 7 searches in the same location.
Local agencies like Miles and Barr also perform well, managing to secure significant visibility with 7 searches in 1 location. This demonstrates that local knowledge and a focused SEO strategy can effectively compete with larger, national players.
It’s noteworthy that smaller agencies, such as Godwin Curtis, maintain a strong presence, emphasising the importance of local SEO tactics and a user-friendly website. Reinforcing the notion that with the right strategy, smaller agencies can achieve high rankings in local search results, bringing in quality traffic and potential clients.
The Role of SEO in Ranking
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Basic SEO practices are essential, which we explore in detail in other dedicated posts. Once you’ve established the basics like content marketing, crafting meta descriptions, and setting titles, it’s time to delve into long-tail SEO to draw in more targeted traffic. This approach focuses on optimising for specific, less frequent search terms that align closely with your agency’s offerings and the needs of your potential customers.
For instance, by optimising for a term like “3-bedroom flat in Chatham” you can drive significant traffic when executed properly. This can be achieved through blog posts, local area guides, or in-depth content that ranks well in on-page search results.
In parallel, it’s essential to fine-tune technical SEO aspects such as site speed and mobile responsiveness, while also building a robust backlink profile. These combined efforts signal to Google that your content is not only relevant but also of high quality, ultimately boosting your domain authority and improving your overall search rankings
When should I optimise my site for search engines?
The sooner the better.
The short answer is that you should continually optimise your site for search engines and new updates but this can be a huge task and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We usually recommend that you should create and work through your SEO strategy with an agency all the time, but also in advance of and during a website build.
Homeflow sites have all the necessary tools to ensure your site ranks highly and can house optimised content. Once you are updating your old content for the new site you can implement all the new keywords and meta descriptions. However, if you are already operating your website, then making regular small changes that impact SEO is a sound strategy.
Steps for Understanding and Improving Your Rankings
1. Request a Company Report: Analyse your firm’s performance, identifying strong and weak areas within your company intelligence report. You can also see how your competitors are performing in your area too. (You can request analysis on your agency here).
2. Check Your Domain Authority: Use tools to see where you stand and how easy it will be to improve your ranking.
3. Optimise Technical SEO: Ensure your meta titles and URL structures are optimised.
4. Consult with Experts: Book a free consultation with Homeflow to analyse your paid and organic rankings and provide actionable insights to improve your digital marketing strategy. Whether that’s an updated website, performance marketing techniques or a custom strategy based on your specific needs.
By following these steps, you can enhance your visibility, attract more clients, and stay ahead of the competition in Kent.
For personalised assistance and free, actionable insights for your agency in your town or on a specific branch, please reach out to us here or via the form below.