A real estate case study showing why user experience is the new golden gun of good SEO

Our Internet Marketing manager Luke just reminded me to watch this brilliant video from SEOmoz about some of Google’s latest algorithm changes. In a nutshell, the ‘old’ style of putting the heaviest importance on keyword placement is out and optimising the user experience is in.

Google uses Chrome, their toolbar and Android to gather data on what pages people stay longest on, click through to and interact with. That data is now factored heavily into search results and it’s game changing. Have a look at this vid for a brilliant five-minute explanation if you haven’t already – it’s really important to consider all of these factors when constructing content for the web.

Improving the user experience 

One site we’ve been working on lately which really embodies all those factors is for a Brisbane property development called The Milton, by FKP. Yuki and the design team have done a brilliant job adding some great new videos to the home page and the investment info section and Luke’s guidance has seen that site absolutely kill it in Google. Video content does wonder for keeping people on the page, and that’s a huge factor in ranking highly – not to mention good design, strong calls to action and enjoyable user experience.

Also read our blog post on 5 User Experience Tips for Your Website

Two years ago, getting the site to rank might have been an exercise in politely stuffing keywords into title tags and writing body copy which mentioned ‘Brisbane real estate’ everywhere. Now the focus is (thankfully) on making sure the user experience is fun, interactive and remarkable – remarkable is what we’ve always been about.

Combined with some smart social media marketing which reaches out to bloggers directly and to real estate agents through LinkedIn, and a solid PR effort from the team at Pro Media, these SEO results mean the client is chalking up some solid sales figures which make referrals from realestate.com.au look, quite frankly, embarrassing!

What about you? Have you noticed changes in ranking since Google’s latest update which are obviously down to user experience? Does your site take advantage of the changes?

Do you need digital help?

We’d love to hear from you if you’re keen to talk about a project or just get some ideas about cost. 

e-CBD is located on the Gold Coast and has an open door policy, so if you’d like to visit our office and meet with us to discuss your project, we’d love to have you! Please call us to make an appointment on 07 5531 3810.

Level 1, Suite 2, 175 Ferry Road, Southport QLD 4215