SEO audits for real estate agencies

Real estate agency sites are well built and badly described. None we audited was in poor shape, but the details that decide which agency a vendor finds first are often missing.

Note: this is one of our smaller samples. The figures indicate a direction rather than a precise measurement.

What we found

Across 31 agency websites found by searches for 'real estate', the average was 83.9 and half scored 87 or better. Not one scored under 60; among trades with 30 or more audited sites, only law firms can say the same. It is a small sample, so read the figures as a direction rather than a measurement.

Title tags were the most common fault, on 14 of the 31 sites, followed by images without alt text on 12. Agency sites carry a lot of photography, property shots, suburb images and agent portraits, and the alt text is often left empty or set to a file name.

Ten sites had no structured data at all and 9 had no H1 heading. For a business whose value is local knowledge, that leaves search engines guessing at which suburbs the agency covers and whether it sells, leases or manages.

Every fault, and how often

Half the sites scored 87 or more. By band: 71% scored 80 to 100, 29% 60 to 79, 0% 40 to 59 and 0% under 40. Of the businesses these searches found, 18.4% had no website at all.

Measured October 2026 from ppclift's own audits of sites found by searches for ‘real estate’, each website counted once however many searches found it; sites that could not be read are left out, the same way as the research post. Points are out of the 100-point score.

Sample finding

All 6 agency sites without Open Graph tags also had no structured data, against 10 of the 31 overall. When a listing or an appraisal page is shared, in a message, on social media or in a group chat, those are the sites that turn up as a bare link, and they are also the ones a search engine has to read without any help.

What a typical site is missing

A site at the median of 87 is most likely losing its points to the title tag (4 points, 14 of 31 sites), alt text (6 points, 12 sites) and structured data (8 points, 10 sites). The fix is mostly naming: titles that say 'Real estate agent in [suburb]' rather than the agency's name alone, alt text that describes the property or the street, and RealEstateAgent markup stating the address, the agents and the areas served.

How to pitch it

• Sell the appraisal page, not the home page. Vendors search for 'property appraisal' plus a suburb, and a page built for that search is where an agency wins listings.
• Suburb pages are the long-term asset: one page per area the agency works, with its own title and local commentary, beats a single 'Areas we cover' list.
• Leave HTTPS and mobile out of it. Only 2 of the 31 sites failed HTTPS and none lacked a viewport tag, so the conversation is about content and metadata.

Questions about real estate agents

Do agencies need their own SEO if their listings are on the big portals?

The portals rank for the listings; the agency's own site has to rank for the agency. Searches such as 'real estate agent' plus a suburb, 'property management' or 'sell my house' are where an agency's own pages compete, and on 14 of the 31 sites the title tag was not doing that job.

What structured data should an agency site have?

RealEstateAgent markup for the business itself, with address, phone and the areas it serves, and markup for individual agents where they have their own pages. Ten of the 31 sites had none of any kind.

Which pages matter most?

The appraisal page, the property management page and one page per suburb served. Those match what vendors and landlords search for, and each needs its own title and description rather than the agency name repeated.

Is there anything to fix on a site that already scores in the high 80s?

Usually the naming. Nine of the 31 sites had no H1 heading and 6 were missing a meta description, so a well-built site can still be telling search engines very little about which suburbs and services it is for.

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