New property website has to conquer Google – Bottom Line
ONTHEMARKET.com, the new property website from the Agents’ Mutual group of estate agents, launched this week with an apparent threat to the “duopoly” of Rightmove and Zoopla.
Zoopla, as the less well-visited of the two, seemed in danger as one of the requirements of OnTheMarket.com meant participating agents could only list on one other rival.
Its share price had been on a downward trajectory ever since investors first got wind of the new player in the market. But now it is on the rise again.
Part of the reason for the bounce is likely to be down to analysts dismissing the launch as overhyped, but it could be because it’s currently tough to find OnTheMarket.com online unless you seek it out.
To win in online property search you must win on Google, as that is where the majority of prospective buyers begin house-hunting – so the best search engine optimisation (SEO) is key. To illustrate that point, try searching for “two bedroom flats for sale Camden”. Rightmove and Zoopla top the list, unsurprisingly, but the issue for Agents’ Mutual is that its new site does not even appear on page one, the bare minimum to have people clicking through.
It’s early days, and gaining a foothold in search rankings takes time, but the estate agents’ site is up against two seasoned experts.
Simon Schnieders, formerly Zoopla’s head of SEO, says the prize for topping these rankings is big, with about 60 per cent of all property portal traffic beginning on a search page.
OnTheMarket.com is clearly taking this challenge seriously and insists that “SEO has been at the heart of our business from day one of the website build”. “Bearing in mind we launched 72 hours ago, it is fair to say this is a longer term game,” says the site’s chief exec Ian Springett, adding that it is “also investing in producing high-quality unique editorial content which is shareable across social media channels”
With a “multi-million pound” advertising campaign hitting TV, press and digital media on Sunday there is a big push coming from OnTheMarket. But only time will tell if it’ll win in the only place that matters – on Google.