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The West Country is steeped in rich history, from the ancient stone circles of Avebury to the medieval charm of Exeter’s cathedral. Its vibrant culture celebrates festivals, like Glastonbury, and the maritime heritage of coastal towns such as Plymouth and Falmouth, making it a desirable place to live.
Understanding how search results evolve helps agencies stay competitive in the changing market. We’ve been tracking search trends across the West Country for years, gathering insights from towns, counties, and postcodes to see how agencies perform for popular searches like “estate agents in Totnes.”
With Roar, our digital marketing partner, we’ve been keeping a close eye on search trends across the West Country and beyond. Every month, we track what shows up in search results for thousands of towns, counties, and postcodes across the UK, giving us a real sense of how agencies compete for searches like “estate agency in Cornwall,” “value my house in Plymouth,” or “how much is my house worth in Exeter?”
By doing this, we’ve built up a solid understanding of how estate agents in the West Country are being found on Google. We can dive deep into the specifics for places like Devon and Somerset or as drilled down as the town, such as Honiton, or even a specific postcode, so we know exactly what’s working and where there are growth opportunities.
On a national scale, it’s no surprise that big players like Rightmove and Zoopla dominate the search results—they’ve got the reach to show up pretty much anywhere in the UK. Locally, though, we see Your Move holding its ground with a great balance of organic search rankings and map listings. Online players like On The Market and Yopa are also getting plenty of visibility, leaning heavily on paid advertising. And, of course, larger chains like Hamptons continue to be strong competitors, thanks to their extensive branch networks and intelligent marketing.
In the West Country, there are plenty of large agencies in the rankings, as well regionally focused agents and local independents who are leveraging paid search to increase their online presence and stand out in a competitive landscape.
One standout performer in our October data set is Martin & Co, which covers 41 searches across 34 locations. Their strategic use of paid search ensures they stay visible to potential clients actively searching for property services in these areas.
Bradleys Estate Agents, a well-known name in the West Country, is another strong player. With coverage of 30 searches across 26 locations, they are committed to maintaining a solid presence in the digital space, especially through paid efforts, with location-specific campaigns and smart audience targeting.
The data highlights how agencies across the West Country are using paid search as a powerful tool to enhance their visibility. These efforts are crucial for increasing visibility, especially in competitive property markets where local expertise and presence make a significant difference.
By investing in paid strategies, these agencies are positioning themselves to better engage with potential clients, drive more enquiries, and stay competitive in the evolving online landscape.
Please just get in touch and we'll be delighted to show how your agency performs in these rankings.
Let's take a closer look at Totnes as an example, to see how different types of agencies perform at a deeper level.
The data for this analysis provides a snapshot of estate agents' performance in the paid search space, focusing on two key locations with this postcode. Although fewer searches are covered in comparison to larger regions, there’s still competition to secure visibility.
Marchand Petit rank highly, covering two searches across one location, demonstrating their strategic focus on ensuring visibility through paid search. Their higher-than-average position shows that this well-established agency is effectively leveraging its paid campaigns to stay relevant in these areas.
Miller Countrywide also maintains a strong PPC presence, covering two searches with solid average positions, showing how even with limited reach, paid search can still generate meaningful visibility.
Smaller players like Complete Property each cover one paid search with respectable average positions, suggesting that smaller, more localised efforts in paid search can still lead to high visibility, particularly when focusing on niche areas or specific search terms.
This data highlights the effectiveness of paid search strategies for both large and small agencies. By focusing on well-targeted, high-intent keywords, these agencies are able to maintain visibility in competitive markets and generate quality leads in such a small area. Even agencies covering fewer searches can gain a strong position by tailoring their paid search campaigns to their local market, ensuring that their ads reach the most relevant audience.
Basic PPC practices are fundamental to any successful paid media strategy, and we cover these in detail in other posts. Once you've nailed down the essentials—such as conducting thorough keyword research, crafting compelling ad copy, and setting up targeted campaigns—it’s time to focus on optimising your strategy to attract more qualified leads. The key here is refining your ads to target specific, high-intent search terms that align closely with the services you offer and what your potential clients are searching for.
Bidding on a term like "estate agents in Exeter" can drive relevant and valuable traffic when done right. Success in this area comes from running well-structured campaigns, using tailored landing pages, and creating dynamic ads that resonate with local property seekers.
At the same time, it's essential to continuously fine-tune key PPC elements such as Quality Score, ad extensions, and budget allocation. You should also focus on enhancing your overall digital presence with remarketing and display ads. By doing so, you signal to Google that your ads are not only relevant but provide a great user experience, which in turn can improve your ad positioning and reduce cost-per-click.
The simple answer is: continually. Optimising your PPC campaigns is an ongoing process to ensure you stay competitive and adapt to changes in the market. However, it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. That’s why we often recommend partnering with a digital marketing agency to develop and refine your PPC strategy over time, especially when launching new campaigns or updating your website.
For those using Homeflow sites, these offer excellent integration with PPC tools to ensure your campaigns are precisely targeted and capable of capturing leads effectively. As your website evolves, you can easily adjust your PPC strategy to align with new content and services. If your campaigns are already up and running, making small, regular adjustments to improve targeting and performance is a smart approach.
AI, particularly generative tools like ChatGPT, is transforming the way users search for information, shifting preferences away from traditional search engines towards platforms that offer quick, concise answers. This change has the potential to impact the effectiveness of classic search ranking strategies, making it crucial for businesses to adapt.
To optimise for AI-driven responses, it’s increasingly important to focus on producing high-quality, context-rich content that aligns with AI algorithms and natural language processing models. These tools are designed to understand user queries in a more conversational way, so ensuring your content is both informative and naturally written is key.
For instance, asking ChatGPT “Who is the best estate agent in Bristol?” may yield different results each time, highlighting the fluidity of AI-generated responses. This unpredictability reinforces the need to stay on top of AI trends and continually refine your content strategy to maintain visibility.
Google’s AI, Gemini, aims to deliver more sophisticated, context-aware search results, better interpreting user intent to provide highly personalised answers. This evolution could mean more accurate search results, reducing the need for users to sift through multiple pages to find what they need.
As AI continues to advance, businesses will need to evolve their digital marketing strategies to ensure they remain relevant and visible in this ever-changing search environment.
By following these steps, you’ll enhance your visibility, draw in more clients, and stay ahead of the competition in your area.
