Portals own the buyers' searches
For “house for sale” followed by a town, the first page is made up of property portals. They gather far more properties than your shop window. Trying to beat them on that ground costs a lot for an uncertain result.
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SEO for estate agencies: valuation requests from sellers in your area.
Buyers go through property portals, and you already pay for your place there. Sellers, on the other hand, start somewhere else. Before handing over their house, they type “valuation”, the name of their neighbourhood or the name of an agency someone mentioned. That search is won with your website and your Google Business Profile. That's where I focus the work.
- Rattle your competitors.
- Overtake them.
- Protect you from their attacks.
15 years in SEO
4 books on SEO and GEO
200+ sites tracked every day
1M / month visits to my e-commerce site
They trusted me with their visibility
Darty
Eurofins
Cegid
EBP
CNP Assurances
Ingram MicroThe detail of this page
Seven results, only one local agency
A homeowner in Soyaux wants to know what his house is worth. He types his search and gets six portals, automated tools and networks. Your agency comes seventh. It's the only one that has sold in his street. Move it up.
- A valuation tool · valuation-1.exampleOnline house valuation in Soyaux
- A property portal · property-portal.exampleProperty prices in Soyaux
- A network of self-employed agents · agent-network.exampleValue your property in Soyaux with an adviser
- Another tool · property-value.exampleWhat's your house worth? Free valuation
- An agency comparison site · compare-agencies.exampleEstate agents in Soyaux
- A second portal · houses-for-sale.exampleHouses for sale in Soyaux
- Youyour-estate-agency.exampleHouse valuation in Soyaux: on-site visit and local salesAn adviser from the agency comes to you. Examples of recent sales in Soyaux, written response after the visit.
Your position: 7
Fig. 1. Seven results for a valuation. Only one has visited houses in the street. (The first six calculate a price remotely. Your agency is the only one that turns up.)
What this means for you. I give your valuation page what an automated tool lacks: a named adviser, local sales and reviews from homeowners.
What is SEO for an estate agency?
SEO for an estate agency covers the actions that make an agency visible on Google to homeowners and buyers in its area. It mainly targets sellers' searches: valuation, neighbourhood prices, choosing an agency. It relies on pages by commune or neighbourhood, your recent sales and a well-maintained Google Business Profile. The result shows in the valuation requests received directly.
The problem
What weighs on independent agencies.
Online valuations capture sellers
A homeowner who types “house valuation” first lands on automated tools. They leave their number, which is then offered to several agencies. You pay for a contact that competitors call the same day.
Networks of self-employed agents cover the communes
Advisers attached to national networks publish a lot, commune by commune. An agency established for twenty years can end up behind them, because its website doesn't mention a single neighbourhood.
An audit, for real
What I spot in thirty seconds on an estate agency's website.
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
https://votre-agence-immo.exemple
YOUR AGENCYBuy · Rent · The agency · Contact
Bring your property projects to life
Buying, selling, renting: a team that listens, to support you at every step.
See our propertiesFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
- 1A page title with no town and no service“Home | Property” locates nothing. “Estate agency in Cognac: house valuations and sales” says where you are and what you offer.
- 2The word “Sell” is missing from the menuBuy and rent are there, sell is not. An owner who wants a valuation doesn't know where to click.
- 3A promise every agency makes“Bring your projects to life” says nothing about your area or your properties. Write the towns where you sell and what you sell there.
- 4A villa with a pool that isn't in your windowThat photo comes from somewhere else and locals can tell. A house you sold in the neighbourhood says more.
- 5Three listings, no property soldThe listings are already on the property portals. Your recent sales, on the other hand, can only be seen on your site.
What your customers type
What sellers and buyers in your area type.
Six example searches: four from owners, two from buyers. They illustrate the method. The real list for your area is built during the audit.
- 1“house valuation” followed by the name of their town
- This is the search of a seller who has made up their mind. Automated tools rank ahead. Your valuation page needs to explain what a visit adds to an online calculation, and say who comes out.
- 2“price per m²” followed by the name of a neighbourhood
- They're doing their research, sometimes a year before selling. A neighbourhood page, built on your sales and your observations, gets you known early. I only include data whose source you can state.
- 3“estate agent” followed by their town, then “reviews”
- They've been given two or three names and they're comparing. They read the Google Business Profile, the reviews and the team page. Everything there has to be consistent: names, photos, area covered.
- 4“selling a house after an inheritance”
- Their situation is unusual and they have practical questions. A clear article that describes the steps on the agency side and refers to the notary for the legal side shows them you know this kind of case.
- 5“house with garden” followed by the name of a village
- A buyer this specific doesn't always find that level of detail on a portal. One page per area, with your current properties and those sold recently, can rank for this search.
- 6“property management” followed by their town, then “fees”
- This is a landlord looking for a manager for several years. A management page says what you take care of, how you report back and how your fees are calculated.
What works
The five levers of an estate agency.
The valuation page
This is the page that matters for winning instructions. It introduces the person who visits, the method, the response time and a short form. I add two or three explained valuations, to show what a local eye picks up and a tool misses.
The area pages
A seller wants an agency that knows their street. I write one page per town or neighbourhood where you have actually sold: types of property, what buyers expect, recent sales. A page with no sale behind it doesn't get published.
Sold properties
Most agency websites delete a listing on the day of signing. That's a loss, because a sold property is your proof. I keep these pages online, marked “sold”, with the neighbourhood and the time it took to sell when you agree to share it.
The Google Business Profile and seller reviews
Buyer reviews are nice; seller reviews bring in properties. An owner who describes the valuation, the viewings and the negotiation answers the next owner's questions. I set up the review request at the right moment, after signing.
Agents with a face
People hand their house to a person. One page per agent, with their photo, area and sales, reassures the seller. It also helps Google and AI tools understand who does what in the agency.
What costs dearly
The mistakes I keep finding on estate agency websites.
A website that is just a catalogue of listings
The listings are already on the portals, where they are more visible. Without advice pages or area pages, your site has nothing Google can't find elsewhere.
The same listing text everywhere
A listing copied word for word onto five sites does nothing for yours. A slightly fuller version on your site, with the neighbourhood described, gives Google a reason to show you.
A “Free valuation” button that opens twelve fields
The seller hasn't decided yet. If they have to give the floor area, year of construction and land registry reference before speaking to anyone, they close the page. A name, an address and a phone number are enough.
Mandatory professional information nowhere to be found
Fees, information about the agency and its agents: your profession requires specific disclosures. I don't write them for you; I check they are easy to find.
The method
What I put in place for an estate agency.
The work follows four stages. It starts with sellers, because they are the ones who fill your window.
- Sellers. A rebuilt valuation page, with a short form and a named contact.
- Areas. One page per neighbourhood or town where you have sales to show.
- Proof. Sold properties kept online, seller reviews requested, agent profiles.
- The tally. Every month, the valuation requests received, by area and by source.
One-minute test
Is SEO right for you?
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
What it brings in
SEO you can count in euros.
A ranking doesn't pay a salary. What counts is what it brings: enquiries, customers, revenue. Move your page up and see what it could bring in.
Example assumptions, open to challenge: 500 searches a month for a valuation in your area, 3% of visitors make a request, one request in three signs (this varies a lot from one trade to another), €7,000 per client. Click-through rates by position are rough orders of magnitude, and they have been shifting since Google started showing AI answers above the results. Rerun the calculation with your own figures
What your page could bring in
Ticket no. 10th · worked example- Searchesper month, for a valuation in your area
- 500
- Estimated visitsclick-through rate: 1.5%
- 0
- Potential enquiries3% of visitors
- 0
- Possible customersone enquiry in three
- 0
Possible revenue€0
Close to home
Property in Charente.
The Charente market is made up of two towns, Angoulême and Cognac, and a countryside of villages and hamlets where properties vary a great deal from one commune to the next. The portals show listings there without saying anything about the places. An agency that describes its areas therefore has something to write that those sites don't. The Newp agency is itself based in Charente.
Angoulême, neighbourhood by neighbourhood
The plateau, the banks of the Charente, the residential estates and the communes of the urban area aren't searched for with the same words. One page per area, written with your sales, answers the seller who wants to know whether you know theirs.
Cognac and the vineyard estates
Around Cognac, properties range from town houses to estates with outbuildings in the middle of the vines. A buyer who doesn't live in the region starts by searching online. If you handle these properties, a dedicated page makes sense, with an English version if your clientele justifies it.
Village houses to renovate
An old stone house in a village is searched for with the name of the commune and the words “to renovate”. Its buyer has questions about budget and tradespeople. An agency that answers them on its website wins their trust before the first viewing.
Beyond Google
What AI changes for an estate agency.
Today, an owner asks an AI like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral their whole question: “I want to sell a village house with a garden near Angoulême, which agency knows this type of property and how does the valuation work?”. The answer describes the process, gives preparation tips and sometimes names a few agencies.
The AI doesn't read your listings one by one. It remembers the agencies whose area and type of property are clearly described, on their website and elsewhere: Google Business Profile, reviews, local press, agent pages. An agency that writes “old houses in the villages west of Angoulême, recent sales detailed” gives it something to name it by. I work on this description with you and check that it is the same everywhere.
Question asked to an AII want to sell an old house near Angoulême. Which agency can give it a serious valuation?
Answer
Three possible answers for this valuation:
- Our client— independent agency: on-site valuation by a named agent, recent sales of old houses detailed by commune, seller reviews.
- — online valuation tool, price range calculated without a visit.
- — national network of self-employed agents, agent not specified.
Agency websiteGoogle Business ProfileLocal press
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
Three agency situations.
The three agencies below don't exist. I made them up to show where I would start in each case.
An independent town-centre agency
It has four agents and buys seller leads from a valuation website.
- Rebuild the valuation page with a three-field form.
- Publish a page for each neighbourhood where it has sold this year.
- Ask every seller for a review after signing.
An agency based in a village
It knows every house in the area, and its website doesn't name a single commune.
- Write one page per commune covered, with the properties sold.
- Complete the Google Business Profile: area, photos of the agency, opening hours.
- Write a guide for buyers of a house to renovate.
An agency growing its property management
Sales are going well; management is still little known.
- Create a property management page separate from sales.
- Explain the report sent to the owner and how often it goes out.
- Add management to the services on the Google Business Profile.
In practice
What you get.
- A clear valuation page, with a short form and a named contact
- A page for each area where you have sales to show
- Your sold properties kept online, with their neighbourhood
- A profile per agent: photo, area, recent sales
- Monthly tracking of valuation requests, by area and by source
Pricing
How much does an SEO consultant cost?
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
- The size of the site: ten pages or ten thousand
- The competition on your queries
- What you can do in-house, and what needs producing for you
- The pace you want
Fancy a game?
Insert a coin.
A brochure website that hasn't changed in ten years is a set of undead pages. Grab the piece, slide it into the slot, and watch them fall.
Slide it into the machine
ZOMBIE SERP
INSERT COINSLIDE THE COIN INTO THE SLOT
Credit: 0
Fig. 4. Sixteen seconds. Five of the undead, including an article from 2014.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
Your SEO consultant: a business owner, not just an SEO.
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
SEO and estate agencies: your questions.
Should I stop paying for the listing portals?
No. They bring in buyers and your sellers want to see their property there. My work covers the other half of your business: bringing owners to you directly. You can then decide which subscription to keep.
Can we rank for “house for sale” followed by my town?
Rarely at the top, and I don't promise it. The portals are entrenched there. I prefer to target searches where a local agency has an edge: valuation, neighbourhood, a specific type of property, the agency's name.
I'm part of a network that provides the website. What can you do?
It depends on what the network lets you change. Your agency's Google Business Profile, your reviews and sometimes a few local pages remain in your hands. I look at that framework first, then tell you what is possible.
Should I show prices per square metre by neighbourhood?
Only if you can say where the figure comes from and when. A price without a source will be held against you at the first valuation. Your own sales, presented as examples, often say more.
Do reviews matter when people sell a house once in their life?
Yes, precisely. The seller has no experience and relies on other people's. A few detailed reviews from owners count for more than a long list of ratings without comments.
Should I keep sold properties online?
I recommend it, with the seller's agreement and without the exact address. The page shows that you sell in that neighbourhood. It also keeps attracting visitors looking for a similar property.
My agents change often. Do I need a page per person?
Yes, as long as it's kept up to date. A page removed properly is better than a profile left online two years after someone has left. We set up a simple routine together for arrivals and departures.
Is a property news blog any use?
General articles on interest rates or tax are already written everywhere. What helps are your answers to local questions: selling a house with a large plot, an occupied property, a house inherited by several heirs.
What can you write about mandates and the agency's obligations?
The bare minimum, and with your approval. I describe the way you work. You know the rules of your profession better than I do, and I don't publish a single legal sentence without your review.
How long before valuation requests come in?
Expect several months for area pages to take hold, and I don't commit to any figure. The Google Business Profile and the valuation page can be fixed quickly. The monthly report shows you what is moving.
See also
Other industries
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Support services
SEO consultant in Charente
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Book a callFig. 5. A K. (The landscape was missing one.)