In the world of estate agency, online visibility is key. Estate agents are constantly seeking ways to stand out and capture the attention of potential clients. A powerful strategy that often gets overlooked is the addition of area guides into your estate agency website.
Area guides provide valuable information to your audience. They can also help to boost your SEO ranking and enhance your chances of being discovered by prospective buyers or sellers looking for a valuation on their property in specific locations.
What is an area guide?
Area guides are pieces of informative content that delve into the details of specific locations, towns, or regions. These guides enhance basic property listings by providing potential buyers with a better understanding of the areas in which they may be interested. From local amenities and schools to community events, gyms and clubs, guides can offer a prospective buyer a useful insight into a location.
The advantages of area guides
Consider a scenario where a potential buyer performs a search in Google for “estate agent in Warwick“. If your website features an informative guide for Warwick, it increases the likelihood of your website appearing in search results for these terms. Here’s how:
Targeted keywords and local SEO
By incorporating relevant keywords related to the area throughout your guide, you signal to search engines that your website is a valuable resource for individuals interested in properties in that specific location. This in turn improves your website’s performance in local search results.
It establishes authority
Area guides demonstrate your expertise and authority in the estate agency market. When search engines recognise your website as a reliable source of information about specific areas, they are more likely to rank your site higher in search results.
Not only does it prove to search engines you know about the area, but it also boosts your credibility with users too.
Increased backlinks
Quality backlinks are crucial for SEO and area guides provide an excellent opportunity to attract them. When other local businesses or websites reference and link to your guides, it strengthens your website’s authority and contributes to higher search rankings.
They’re really useful for potential buyers and renters moving to the area
If someone is looking to relocate to an area that you cover, for work for example, and don’t already have the local knowledge, this is a great way to sell the area to them.
Creating effective area guides
To maximize the SEO benefits of area guides, consider the following tips:
Conduct thorough research: Ensure that your guides are thoroughly researched and provide accurate, up-to-date information about the localities or towns in question.
Make them visually attractive: Incorporate high-quality images, maps, and even videos to make your area guides visually appealing and engaging.
Keep them updated: Keep your guides current by regularly updating them with any changes or developments in the area.
Examples of great area guides
So, we’ve discussed what area guides are and the benefits they can bring to your online presence. Now lets take a look at some examples of estate agents who have really nailed it.
Andrews
Andrews Property Group have 50 offices across Southern England. That’s a lot of areas to cover but they do it well, showcasing their knowledge and expertise of these locations. Andrews offer a vast library of visually pleasing, detailed and informative area guides. They also rank well too!
Sheldon Bosley Knight
Sheldon Bosley Knight make great use of area guides. They present their guides in a nice carousel format on their homepage which is clean and offers great usability. Each area guide is cleverly interlinked with the office in that location and offers a wealth of local information. This approach allows the agency to really showcase their relevance and expertise within the area in question. They also rank highly for a search of ‘Estate Agent Leamington Spa’, which returns a result to their area guide for the area. The proof is in the pudding.
Michael Anthony
Michael Anthony are another great example of an agent making great use of area guides. They offer a vast collection of visually engaging and well written area guides that showcase their knowledge and expertise of the local areas they cover. Once again, their guides rank highly for a search of areas within their remit. This, again demonstrates the significance of this strategy for improving your google rankings.
If you’re looking to increase your website’s performance, area guides are a great way to do it. In addition, they’re informative for buyers and are a useful way to demonstrate your local knowledge to potential buyers. Why not give it a go and add some to your agency website?
