The Challenge

When Total Realty first came to me back in 2019, they already had some good starting positions with some solid page 1 and page 2 rankings, but were not hitting the Top 3 results that drive the lion’s share of organic search traffic – particularly on competitive real estate keywords where Google Ad competition is fierce and the ads eat a large percentage of the click share. They were growing strongly in their first few locations and were also looking to expand and open new offices.

We needed to deploy a strategy that would efficiently build rankings across existing locations, while also building overall domain authority to make it easier to rank additional branch locations as they were added down the road. This case study demonstrates clearly why long term planning is critical for maneuvering into a position where it becomes difficult for competitors to dislodge #1 rankings.

Top 3 Rankings

Across All 9 Primary Location ‘Real Estate Agents’ Keywords

The business currently holds Top 3 Google organic rankings for the ‘real estate agents + location’ term for all 9 of its office locations, with 7 out of 9 in the #1 position.

Outranking

National Competitors with 25+ Year Old Domains

Winning these spots required climbing over multiple well-known national brands like Harcourts, Grenadier and Ray White, who already had very strong domains that in some cases had been established in Google for 25 years or more.

$27.3k/mo

Saved On Advertising

‘Organic Traffic Value’ is a measure of what it would cost the client to buy the same traffic from the same keywords via Google Ads. In the case of Total Realty, their organic traffic value is currently equivalent to approximately $27.3k/month worth of paid Google Ad spend – a testament to the long term power of SEO.

The Process

At the beginning of the campaign, Total Realty was already taking market share quickly in their existing locations with a strong offer and had a lot of momentum from positive client reviews. However, we had some big challenges, with several big national brands with long-established, high authority domains to catch up to and overtake. This kind of situation requires a careful split between dedicating resources to areas where quick wins can be achieved on specific keywords, and making long term investments in building domain authority that would allow for a) ranking #1 on highly competitive terms and b) achieving faster rankings on new locations as the business expanded.

  • Building domain authority to win competitive keywords and make ranking new locations easier. This was a critical step given the starting position of the client’s website (mid to low page 1 on several must-win keywords), and the plans to add additional locations later on. A focus on building domain authority was essential to give the domain enough “power” to outrank big competitors with strong and long-established link profiles. This approach also meant that as new locations were added, the domain authority flowing through to these new pages resulted in much faster rankings for new target areas.

  • A strong focus on winning the ‘real estate agents + location’ term for each location. When faced with competitive markets, many SEO agencies opt for a ‘long tail’ approach – they avoid tackling hard keywords head on in favour of trying to find easier, low-volume, low-competition terms. This is usually more a reflection of the agency’s limited ranking abilities than what makes sense as a strategy for the client. In this case it was clear that achieving top rankings on the main ‘real estate agents + location’ search term for every location was a mission-critical before shifting any resources towards the long tail.

  • Using news website links to drive authority. When competing in difficult markets, often the top competitors will be holding the top rankings due to a relatively small number of super high authority links. In this case, a mass link building campaign of low and medium quality links will not work. These top-end competitor links must be matched or beaten or the client will never outrank these competitors. Many SEO agencies can’t or won’t go to the lengths required to develop the editorial relationships needed to get these links, and this is why they often get stuck with #4 or #5 rankings on hard keywords but cannot break into number 1 positions, where high ROI for the client can be achieved.

Strong Google rankings reinforce brand image

While the primary purpose of SEO is to directly drive traffic and sales, there is a secondary function that emerges over long periods – whether people admit it or not, there is a psychological effect to high search visibility:  “If they’re so prominent on Google, they must be good at what they do.”

Traffic

Strong rankings & reviews feed back into conversion rates

This is especially powerful when combined with strong Google reviews, as in Total Realty’s case (4.9 stars across 682 reviews). This helps to build brand and create a positive long-term feedback loop between keyword rankings and brand image, which also improves conversion rates.

Sales Chart

Let’s Talk Business

Tom McSherry

SEO & Google Ads Strategist
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