Estate Agents operate in a highly competitive online space, not only from other estate agents but the dominance of listing aggregators. The thing that separates an estate agent apart from a listing aggregator is the local area within which they operate and building a solid local SEO strategy, together with local data points.

 

Estate Agents and Schema

“Structured data markup” is a standard way to annotate your content so machines can understand it. When your web pages include structured data markup, Google (and other search engines) can use that data to index your content better, present it more prominently in search results, and surface it in new experiences like voice answers, maps, and Google Now.

Ways that estate agents can take advantage of structured data:

 

Single Location Estate Agents:

By a single location, I mean a single office location. In this instance the easiest way to have your structured data appear across all pages across the site, is to have your business details within the footer of the site, to which we add structured data. Crucially the area in which you operate will now be running across site.

 

 

Now that your business details are in the websites footer, we can use JSON-LD schema markup to annotate the businesses information.

The JSON-LD script below can be added to the websites footer.php file.

 

<script type='application/ld+json'> 
{
  "@context": "http://www.schema.org",
  "@type": "RealEstateAgent",
  "name": "Estate Agents Name",
  "url": "My Estate Agents Website",
  "sameAs": [
    "Linkedin Url",
    "Google Business Page",
    "Facebook Url",
    "Twitter Url"
  ],
  "logo": "Your Logo Url",
  "description": "A small descrption of your business, this needs to be visible on the page",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Address Line 1",
    "addressLocality": "Town, City",
    "addressRegion": "County",
    "postalCode": "Post Code"
  },
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "contactType": "Email",
    "telephone": "+44 tel number"
  }
}
 </script>

 

Test your implementation using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

 

Multi Location Estate Agents:

This is an estate agent group that has more then one office location. Location, City or Area pages should be listed in top line navigation. The individual estate agents location pages should then contain an introduction to that particular office, the area that they serve, particular services and of course that particular offices / locations address and contact details.

 

 

In this instance the sites page use organisation markup to denote that this is not a single location based business but an organisation.

This can be added to your header.php file

 

<script type='application/ld+json'> 
{
  "@context": "http://www.schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Estate Agents Brand Name",
  "url": "Main Domain Url",
  "sameAs": [
    "Main Google Business Page",
    "Main Facebook Url",
    "Main Twitter Url"
  ]
}
 </script>

 

Create unique detailed location pages, specific for that office and area.

 

 

The address information on this page can now have its own specific structured data. All business details should match the businesses Google Business Page details.

 

<script type='application/ld+json'> 
{
  "@context": "http://www.schema.org",
  "@type": "RealEstateAgent",
  "name": "Estate Agents Name",
  "url": "My Estate Agents Website",
  "sameAs": [
    "Linkedin Url",
    "Google Business Page",
    "Facebook Url",
    "Twitter Url"
  ],
  "logo": "Your Logo Url",
  "description": "A small descrption of your business, this needs to be visible on the page",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Address Line 1",
    "addressLocality": "Town, City",
    "addressRegion": "County",
    "postalCode": "Post Code"
  },
  "openingHours": "Tu, We, Th, Fr 09:00-18:00 Sa 09:00-16:00 Su 10:00-15:00",
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "contactType": "Email",
    "telephone": "+44 tel number"
  }
}
 </script>

 

Property Pages:

The structured data on property pages would be the Name, Address and Price

 

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "Place",
      "address": {
        "@type": "PostalAddress",
        "streetAddress": "Address Line 1",
    "addressLocality": "Town, City",
    "addressRegion": "County",
    "postalCode": "Post Code"
      },
      "name": "Name of Property"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Offer",
      "price": "300,000",
      "priceCurrency": "GBP"
     }
  ]
}
</script>

 

Update:

Estate Agent with Multiple Locations

<script type='application/ld+json'> 
{
"@context": {
"@vocab": "http://schema.org/"
},
"@graph": [
{
"@id": "http://www.your-domain.co.uk",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Priestley Lettings",
  "url": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk",
   "logo": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk/wp-content/themes/priestleylettings-theme-v2.0/assets/gfx/logo-clean.svg",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://twitter.com/priestleylets",
    "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIOufhb0vnvZikYOdglTiqA",
    "https://www.facebook.com/priestleylettings"
  ]
},
{
"@type": "RealEstateAgent",
   "parentOrganization": {
"name" : "Priestley Lettings"
},
"name": "Priestley Lettings Leeds",
"description": "Professional Rental and Student Lettings in Leeds",
    "image": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk/wp-content/themes/priestleylettings-theme-v2.0/assets/gfx/logo-clean.svg",
    "priceRange" : "Monthly - Weekly Rental",
  	"address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "3rd Floor Consort House, 12 South Parade",
    "addressLocality": "Leeds",
    "addressRegion": "West Yorkshire",
    "postalCode":"LS1 5QS"
    
  	},
  	
               "openingHours": [
              "Mon-Fri 09:00-17:30",
             "Sat 10:00-13:00"
],
    "telephone": "0113 222 4537",
     "url": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk",
    "hasMap": "https://goo.gl/maps/mchqCXAZkc22",
    "sameAs" : [
    "https://plus.google.com/103117019873540004218",
    "https://www.yell.com/biz/priestley-lettings-leeds-8708997/"
      ]
     },
     
  
{
"@type": "RealEstateAgent",
"parentOrganization": {
"name" : "Priestley Lettings"
},
"name": "Priestley Lettings Bradford",
"description": "Professional Rental and Student Lettings in Bradford",
    "image": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk/wp-content/themes/priestleylettings-theme-v2.0/assets/gfx/logo-clean.svg",
    "priceRange" : "Monthly - Weekly Rental",
  	"address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "57 Great Horton Road",
    "addressLocality": "Bradford",
    "addressRegion": "West Yorkshire",
    "postalCode":"BD7 1AZ
"
    
  	},
  	
               "openingHours": [
              "Mon-Fri 09:00-17:30",
             "Sat 10:00-13:00"
],
    "telephone": "01274 371 495",
     "url": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk",
    "hasMap": "https://goo.gl/maps/dDMywajxTZJ2",
    "sameAs" : [
    "https://plus.google.com/114358446381817509473",
    "http://www.zoopla.co.uk/find-agents/branch/priestley-lettings-bradford-32633/",
   "http://www.rightmove.co.uk/estate-agents/agent/Priestley-and-Co-Ltd/Bradford-77062.html",
   "https://www.primelocation.com/to-rent/branch/priestley-lettings-bradford-32633/"
 ]
 }
]
}
</script>

 

For Rental Properties

<script type='application/ld+json'>
{
   "@context": "http://schema.org/",
   "@type": "RentAction",
   "price": "£85 pppw",
   "priceSpecification": {
      "@type": "PriceSpecification",
      "priceCurrency": "GBP"
   },
   "name": "Quebec Street City Centre, Bradford",
   "actionStatus": {
      "@type": "ActionStatusType"
   },
   "agent": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk",
   "location": "https://priestleylettings.co.uk/property/inst-1237/",
   "object": "3-Bed Flat/Apartment",
   "startTime": "01-09-2017",
   "description": "Priestley Lettings are pleased to offer TO LET is this three bed luxury duplex penthouse apartment in the centre of Bradford. "
}
</script>

 

Build up your business citations for each unique business location.

 

Unique Property Page Details

Most estate agents copy and paste their property description to listing aggregators. The problem with this, is that your own property page is pushed down by the aggregators authority and all are competing to display the same property in the same space.

 

 

You can leverage a property with aggregators by using different property titles and descriptions, thereby targeting a wider variety of potential search terms.

Your own property pages can be enhanced with additional area information unique to the area and information. A great way to get an idea of local information is with Google Maps: Schools, stations, motorway access, restaurants, hospitals, property prices, etc.

 

 

Location Data with Adwords

An Estate Agents “bread and butter” is their locality, but very few estate agents using Adwords are incorporating their local google business page within their PPC campaigns in the form of location extensions.

 

 

• Location extensions encourage people to visit you in person.
• You can add multiple addresses by linking your account to Google My Business.
• On average, ads with location extensions see a 10% boost in click-through rate.
• You can target your ads around your business addresses.

 

 
If you are using Adwords, use all the location tools available to you.

 

Current Search Ranking Factors in Local SEO

 

1 City, County in Landing Page Title
2 Quality & Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
3 Quality & Authority of Inbound Links to Page
4 Physical Address in City of Search
5 Quality & Authority of Structured Citations
6 Product & Service Keyword in Website URL
7 Click-Through Rate from Search Results
8 City, County in Landing Page H1/H2 Tags
9 Consistency of Structured Citations
10 City, County in Most/All Website Title Tags
11 Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain
12 NAP Matching My Business Page
12 Geographic Keyword in Website URL
14 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain
15 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of  Links
16 Diversity of Inbound Links to Landing Page
17 Proximity of Address to the Point of Search
18 Quality & Authority of Unstructured Citations
19 Proper Category Associations
20 Quantity of Structured Citations
 

The more unique, original and useful your site is to users, the easier it becomes to gain trust and loyalty from those who want to know more about your expertise and the properties you have available.