Property portals: the 50 most powerful websites

Seattle-based internet marketing portal SEOMoz launched its new Trifecta Tool this week. It has the lofty aim of measuring the popularity and importance of any web page, blog or domain name on the internet. The tool uses a number of data sources including PageRank, inbound links volumes, the number of times you are mentioned in the news and traffic estimates from sources like Alexa.com and Compete.com.

The tool is meant to evaluate how important and notorious you are, with sites like Google and the BBC at the top of the scale and a small estate agency website at the bottom. We thought we’d put it to the test on 50 English-language property portals across the globe. Interestingly, some of the portals at the bottom of the list are outranked by overseas estate agency websites Assetz (29%), Property Frontiers (28%) and Overseas Property Centres (17%).

Big brands win

The top ten positions are filled with some of the biggest names in real estate in the US, UK and Australia. The presence of Globrix.com is perhaps the biggest surprise, given its relative youth. They don’t cover overseas property yet, but the figures show their free-entry-price business model could give the established UK portals a real run for their money in the UK domestic market as the hard times begin to pinch.

Top tip for expanding your internet presence

EscapeArtist.com is worthy of mention as it is not commonly used by overseas agents but has a great internet presence on Google.com for overseas terms (rather than Google.co.uk) and has a competitive pricing model. Once you get over the fact that it’s bloody ugly, it’s a good bet for reaching the North American market on the cheap.

Unexpected results

A potential issue with the tool is that it throws up some unexpected results. On traffic and notoriety, Rightmove.co.uk should outrank all its UK-based competitors. However, it is still well behind other members of the so-called “Big 4” in terms of link popularity which explains why it sits towards the bottom of the top 10.

Interpret with care

The table is a generic list and shouldn’t be used to evaluate the best portals for your marketing needs. The trick is to find portals that your customers are likely to use in their research. You may be interested in reading our independent property portal profiles (www.globaledge.co.uk/property-portals) and our portal marketing checklist if you require assistance choosing portal partners.