You are here: Home / News & Analysis / ThinkSpain tops Spanish portal list
ThinkSpain tops Spanish portal list
ThinkSpain are top of a Globaledge.co.uk study into the best-optimised
property portals covering Spain. They appear in the top 20 of Google (UK)’s natural search listings 82.5% of the time, ahead of
Kyero with 67.5%.
The Move Channel is the highest-placed non-Spanish portal appearing in 40% of searches, just ahead of
Primelocation.com on 37%.
The research, published today, is taken from search rankings in December 2007 and examines the natural search positions of portals on Google (UK) for 40 areas of Spain, for the most popular property-related search phrases used by British buyers when searching for Spanish property.
Surprisingly, SEO is not something
ThinkSpain take particularly seriously or invest huge sums of money in. This contrasts with
Kyero, which has recently employed an in-house SEO and according to Sales Director, Louise Hoskin, has “seen enquiry levels more than double on this time last year.”
So why does
ThinkSpain do so well? On Google, the best sites don’t always win. It’s the most referenced (linked) sites that come out on top.
ThinkSpain has focused its time on building a community of British expats in Spain. Its daily online news and the recently closed print title ThinkSpain Today have built an audience who rely on them for an English language interpretation of Spanish news and events. Some of their audience are bloggers and website owners who reference and link to them regularly. This gives it the edge.
In fact, both
Kyero and
ThinkSpain are well-referenced websites.
Kyero’s Spanish House Price Index gets regular coverage both in print and online and is one of the reasons it is so far ahead of
IWantaPropertyinSpain, in third place.
How will the market develop in future?
The
Spanish property portal market is a fascinating one. Spanish property phrases are some of the toughest to rank on due to the intensity of the competition. There will undoubtedly be new entrants, but the incumbents have a significant advantage.
Kyero believes the full benefits of its SEO activity have yet to be seen and expect to climb the rankings. They also launched a Danish language version in the autumn which opens up a new market to agents. “The people who are buying now are Scandinavians, more so than the UK. They’ve got money, and are keen to spend,” says Louise.
ThinkSpain has no immediate plans for multiple language versions but has plans to raise its game and improve its offering to English speakers.
ThinkSpain MD, Bernie Walker, says: “The web product has been largely ignored recently as other projects have taken up management time and attention.”
The big multiple country portals should not be discounted either.
Rightmove may not rank well on natural search but seems willing to spend whatever it takes to appear first in the paid listings for many popular Spanish phrases.
Primelocation.com has just re-launched its website and
The Move Channel has redevelopment plans in the pipeline. Spain may be in the doldrums at the moment but this is a lucrative market and the big guns will be fighting it out for buyers and, most importantly, your marketing budget.
Have your say
Have you tried any of the portals in this list? Did they work for you? Which ones do you think produce the best leads? Please let us know your thoughts? Make a
comment below or email us at
editor@globaledge.co.uk.
User Comments
Reference concerns regarding the number of enquires coming via property portals for Spanish property, anecdotally I can say this is probably around 30% down on a year ago but that enquiry levels certainly remain reasonable and justify the expense. As always there are better performing portals than others but as a general rule the advertising pays.
David Novi,
Novi Property Mallorca
I am a small portal and produce 100 leads for Spain and its islands per week. I supply leads on a free basis, with a commission structure. As much as I'm generating these leads, I see some agents lose the leads with average selling techniques. Some agents shut up shop and do a runner.
Selling property over the internet has a special technique; a skill is needed to keep both interest and the customer wanting more. All the agents I supply at the moment are good, but a few I had in December and January had been in the business for years, but all I saw was 'novice' written all over their techniques.
I'm an internet marketer, superceeding my knowledge of the property market. I'm preparing a 50 Step-by-Step Guide within the next few weeks, free for those who want to tweak their campaigns. Visit my contact page and type in campaign and I'll start sending you the course.
Phil
http://www.sale-property-spain.co.uk/contact.htm
Phil,
Sale-Property-Spain
We have just started using TS again as they gave us a decent deal but I am seeing the cupboard as very bare from them. Kyero is very good for us consistently but our viewed pages have dropped by over half in the last two weeks. Have they had some sun in the UK?
Libercasa we have just started using and we are yet to see anything. We get good enquiries from Spain Houses though. Lots of general but some very specific and leading to viewings. Nevertheless, Kyero is the best in my humble opinion.
Graham Hunt,
Valencia Property SL
We have been using Think Spain and Kyero for just over a month now. There is no doubt that Kyero provides more leads and of a better quality. The quality and detail of information available on the site must have a lot to do with this. We'll continue monitoring both portals but if things carry on as they are, I think we will only use Kyero in the future.
Justin Thompson,
La Costa Property Solutions
As a mortgage broker I get a trickle of leads from portal sites, and haven't noticed a drop in volume. It's never as good as Google Adwords but it does produce business for me.
Chris,
europamortgages.com
We are getting loads of hits over Libercasa, however it's sure not the English that are buying at the moment. We used to use Think Spain, but gave up on it at the begining of the year as it was not bringing anything in.
Lynda Javori,
Casa-finders
Our clients receive better leads from Kyero from Scandinavian and Northern European countries than from the UK market. The thing is that the number of leads from the UK for houses in the Costa del Sol is very low at the moment.
Fabienne Meric,
Activ Marketing Consultants
Kyero.com - We have been using Kyero since November last year. Until three weeks ago we were getting plenty of enquiries for our properties on the Costa Blanca. Now we are very lucky to receive 3 a day. I would be interested to see if any other agents in the Costa Blanca are having any similar problems? And can recommend a new portal that works!
JOHN TREAGUST,
www.CostaBlanaLive.co.uk
Interesting list. I wonder how these sites rank on international Google sites such as google.de and google.ru for searches in the local language.
In a very dead market like the current UK one - this would be an as (if not more) important factor.
Soren Jensen,
Not Web Design
Over the last three months we have used both Kyero and Think Spain. We have aprox 100 properties on both websites. The leads we receive are of much better quality from Kyero than from Think Spain. I believe the reason for this is that Kyero does give a lot more property information and pictures. Also Think Spain are more expensive if using the monthly payment plan. John Treagust owner www.costablancalive.co.uk
John Treagust,
www.costablancalive.co.uk
My experience says that the one producing best leads is Kyero.
Kind Regards
Eva
Eva,
Royal Costa Inmobiliaria
Palm Tree Properties, have used both Think Spain and Kyero. We have found Kyero an amazing advertising tool! In the last 3 months we have seen over double the enquiries and they are not just weak leads. These clients are viewing. Think Spain, has been a good contender, but far less leads, higher price for sdvertising and there is only 1 picture allowed and no direct contact with the Real Estate Agent. Yes they are popular, but we stopped advertising because Kyero is giving us very good leads.
Suzy Dowdeswell,
Palm Tree Properties
We use both Kyero and Think Spain. The leads are much better quality from Kyero. We think this may be because Kyero enables us to add much more information and pictures. This does stop the "General Enquiry" that we mostly receive from Think Spain. We have just discontinued our contract with TS but will continue to advertise with Kyero as it is very profitable!
John Treagust,
www.CostaBlanaLive.co.uk / .es
Kyero provides us with a daily stream of well-focused leads from the UK, Holland, France, Scandinavia, plus lots of enquiries from Spanish clients, with a significant increase in the number of leads over the last 6 months or so. Jeff Greensmith, Fincas Direct, Tarragona
Jeff Greensmith,
Fincas Direct