For this local SEO (search engine optimization) assessment post, I am going to compare two real estate agent sites from the small town of Boyertown PA.
Herb Real Estate, Inc. |
Zuber Realty |
Neither of the companies are the size of ReMax or Century21, but are rather smaller independent regional real estate agents. Based upon the results, I am also betting that neither company has done much in the way of Search Marketing.
In our small town of Boyertown, much like any other small town, there are numerous real estate companies in the market. The reason, I chose these two real estate companies is because they are both in the BMBA, which is a local business organization that I belong.
2 Boyertown Real Estate Agencies – Zuber Realty vs Herb Real Estate Inc
General Site Info
| Site | Domain Age: | Site speed | Site Size |
| http://www.herbrealestate.com/ | 14yrs 7mo | 2.03 seconds | 1.3 MB |
| http://www.zuberrealty.com/ | 15 yrs, 4 mo | 3.87 seconds | 2.7 MB |
Sample Rankings in Google
| Keyword phrase | Google Rank Zuber | Google Rank Herb |
| gilbertsville realtor | 34 | 35 |
| gilbertsville pa realtor | 33 | 36 |
| gilbertsville pa real estate for sale | NF | 67 |
| pottstown pa real estate | 50 | 41 |
| pottstown real estate | 16 | 47 |
Social Media Integration
| Social Media Integration | Herb | Zuber |
| Profile Icons | Facebook only | 4 on every page |
| Sharing Buttons | 4 sharing icons at the bottom of every page | Sharing widget enables the sharing of listing pages and blog posts |
| Open Graph Code* | yes | yes |
| Facebook Fanpage | https://www.facebook.com/Herb-Real-Estate-Inc-183498658097/?ref=hl | https://www.facebook.com/ZuberRealty?_rdr=p |
| Facebook Likes | 384 likes | 125 likes |
*Open Graph code was originally used by Facebook to insure that sites were incorporated with the Facebook search function. So using Open Graph code, a webmaster can make sure that their site is showing up in the Facebook search results, and showing up how they want it to look. Other social media sites now use open graph code as well.
Glaring Issues for Herb Real Estate, Inc
Code Bloat and more
Glaring issues for Herb include massive code bloat for the site. Looking at the code of the site, I see way too much code that should be in external files. We thought it was kind of funny that the company that developed the site, Barcode Realty, left such an obvious thumb print in the code.
Social channels are limited to a Facebook Fanpage.
On page elements for SEO can definetly be improved to include the use of a blog, optimizing Title tags, and reduction of code bloat.
Glaring Issues for Zuber Realty
Title tags on all pages need to be optimized.
The Zuber Realty site was build using WordPress by Delos Incorporated of Collegeville. The site does have a blog,(title tag is above) with recently published blog posts by Connie Dolansky. However, I did notice that the Yoast SEO pluggin was installed, but I am not seeing any evidence of it being used.
Local SEO Citation Listings
| Local Citations | Herb | Zuber |
| Local Citation Scores | 75% | 78% |
Local Citations are listings on the web on sites like Facebook, Google+, Superpages, Bing etc. Listings include at least a company name, address, phone number, business hours, and company website at a minimum. Citations should be as consistent and accurate as possible.
Zuber Vs Herb
So after looking at all these items, which real estate site is better in regards to SEO?
Herb Real Estate, Inc. does appear to have a few optimized pages. The code of the site really needs to be worked on, possibly consolidated and placed on eternal files. Also, it does not use a blog as part of a content marketing program.
Zuber Realty is built in WordPress, but is just not utilizing all of WordPress and Yoast SEO features for optimum SEO results. It does have a blog, although it appears to have just begun to utilize the blog.
In my opinion as a professional SEO, Zuber Realty could out perform Herb Real Estate Inc in the local SEO target geographic markets provided some basic SEO practices are put into place.
What will working on their Local SEO do for them?
Both Zuber and Herb, if they were to start to use a few basic SEO tactics to increase their search results, could increase search results and increase the number of new real estate leads that they can generate for their realtors with pretty regular consistency.
