We took MAF Properties from 22nd to 1st on Google, for all three keyphrases!
The Requirement
Broadly, the MAF Properties website had to achieve four things:
Reflect the high quality standards of the company.
Provide a comprehensive property search including Google Maps and Google's Street View technology.
Achieve a top 5 position in the Google search results.
Look great!
Unfortunately, items 3 and 4 don't often go together very well because search engines love lots of text content, but people visiting websites don't often like lots of text to wade through. Nevertheless, it is possible to achieve a balance, and this was our task.
What We Did
Firstly our partners at Phorm Design (once again) produced a great design incorporating all the functionality the site needed whilst reflecting the quality aspect as well as making it appealing to students. Once the design was agreed, we built the structure of the website, the navigation, and put the static pages in place. Next we designed and built a database which has no less than 40 searchable fields and then built the software around it to not only allow website visitors to use it and search on it, but also to allow MAF Properties to manage it.
Next came Google Maps. Firstly we set up a completely transparent geotagging service so that everytime a post code is entered for a new property, or a post code is changed for an existing property, we can obtain the latitude and longitude which the Google API needs to place a marker on a map. Once we had this mechanism in place, it was then just a matter of programming the Google API on the fly (as data comes out of the database), and using the Street Map API on the same page.
Whilst all this was going on, throughout the entire build, we had an eye on the search engine optimisation requirements. And the next task was to build some unique content both on and off-site and link it all in. This work is ongoing as we speak (May 2010), and MAF Properties are currently languishing around page 2 of the results for "Student Accommodation Sheffield". It's our intention to get them in the top three on page one, if not Number One! So watch this space.. Results Coming Soon...
The SEO Results
In February and March of 2010 the MAF Properties website was loitering around the top of page three for their most important key phrase "student accommodation sheffield". So they were 22nd in the results, and that key phrase is highly contested. However, using our now tried and tested techniques, they were 4th in August 2010 and they are now, at the time of writing (Febuary 2012), 1st, right up there at the top of page 1.
As you can see from the graph opposite, which is an extract from the summary sheet we send all our SEO customers, their position has steadily improved during the months we've been working on it. Not only that but we have taken two more of their key phrases from nowhere right to the number 1 spot too!! The second graph is presenting the steady holding of the number 1 spot for all key words in 2012 so far.
BREAKING NEWS!
Here we are in March 2011 and we've done it - MAF Properties are number 1 for the most hotly contested student accommadation phrase in Sheffield. Mine's a Guiness!
Firstly our partners at Phorm Design (once again) produced a great design incorporating all the functionality the site needed whilst reflecting the quality aspect as well as making it appealing to students. Once the design was agreed, we built the structure of the website, the navigation, and put the static pages in place. Next we designed and built a database which has no less than 40 searchable fields and then built the software around it to not only allow website visitors to use it and search on it, but also to allow MAF Properties to manage it.
