Google’s Matt Cutts addressed an audience in San Francisco earlier in August and promised that the next Penguin update will be big. In other words, Google will effectively make it even harder for low quality websites to rank for keywords on Google. Property and real estate companies will need, at the very least, to develop a winning content strategy.
It used to be the case that companies could pick from a group of keywords, build or buy in some backlinks and watch keywords rise to page one of Google.
However according to experts at Seoprofessor.co.uk, marketing executives are probably noticing this is no longer the case as competition for space on organic search results is heating up. It is now common knowledge in the SEO industry that advertising is taking up more space on search results, leaving less opportunity for companies to appear in those coveted page one positions.
So what can be done about it?
Brett Tudor, Managing Director of Seoprofessor.co.uk which specialised in providing internet marketing services for property companies, said: "The emphasis is turning more and more to developing a long term content strategy. Google will reward those websites that offer users a better experience with video, blogs and just as importantly social sharing.”
He continued: “Websites need to encourage people to engage with the brand and make comments on blogs rather than simply selling to them. This will keep people on websites longer than the suggested minimum of 1.30 seconds."
He concluded “There are simply no quick fixes anymore, only a commitment to offering a quality experience for website visitors."
Seoprofessor noted that Google is getting much better at eliminating low quality websites and rewarding those websites where good unique content is given prominence and the other search engines are following suit.
The company has highlighted the emergence of an important new area in SEO known as ‘Thematic Optimisation’. In simple terms this means posting regular fresh and importantly relevant content to websites.
Another factor for the property industry to consider is the growing influence of mobile Internet applications. The company suggests checking to see how a website displays on these platforms and consider developing apps to meet customer requirements.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor for PropertyGuru, said: “Anything that rewards websites for investing in quality journalism is a good thing. I’m constantly frustrated by the number of ‘cut-and-paste websites who effectively steal content for their own financial gain. Google’s efforts to punish these operators are very welcome.”
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