Commercial Agents, it’s all about Position! Position! Position! – Part 2

 

Last week, we talked about where your website ranks on all Search Engines. How this will have a bearing on your company’s business development and the perception the wider commercial property market has of your company.

We discussed the importance of a page 1 listing on these Search Engines. When a client, prospective or existing, types “chartered surveyors Luton” or “commercial property agents Chester” into Yahoo or Google for example your company should be listed within the first ten results.

Finally, we mentioned that the smallest commercial property practice, within the most competitive of markets could, with a little work and commitment, compete with the likes of Carter Jonas and Jones Lang LaSalle. Let’s find out how.

It’s all about SEO

High search engine rankings are down to SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, an on going process that, when done correctly, will put your company’s website at the top of any relevant ‘natural’ search. High rankings will make your company highly visible to the wider commercial property market and create the positive perception in the clients’ mind of a market leader.

SEO should go hand-in-hand with the design and development of a commercial property website, because it influences the architecture of your site along with the content and the way that that content is displayed.

Who does the SEO?

Ideally it should be an on going support service provided by your website designer, with content originated by you. Many design agencies will claim that they build you a fully optimized website, but that’s not the same as providing on-going support. This continued support is important for two reasons:

• Changes in Search Engine algorithm’s
• A changing commercial property market

What is current best practice for SEO on the day your new website went live, is very different when the website was six months old, but more of that later. And of course your market, competitors, clients and your own marketing goals are changing, evolving all the time. Your website and your SEO strategy needs to adapt to these changes.

The on-going SEO process

Search Engines use complex algorithms to categorise and rank literally millions of websites. Google’s algorithm for example, takes around 200 factors into account when it ranks your website.