Specialists in the creation of new homes across the UK, the Vistry Group set their sights on not only dominating the development world but ranking at the top of the SERPs too. Operating under two names, Bovis Homes and Linden Homes, Vistry wanted to ensure their locations were targeting the right audience, bringing with them fresh leads and new buyers.  

The solution was clear, a localised SEO approach was needed. 

Results
112% YoY

increase in organic visibility for Linden Homes

279% YoY

increase in organic visibility for Bovis Homes

2,479 phrases

on page 1 of Google

Pos 3

‘New developments near me’ has gone from position 34 to position 3 YoY

Pos 4

‘New housing development near me’ has gone from position 12 to position 4 YoY

Top 2

all current focus locations on ranked in the top 2 pages of Google

Page 1

ranking for all historical focus locations on Google

Objectives

  • Rank for key phrases relating to new builds

  • Generate leads to increase appointment bookings

  • Increase rankings for priority locations

What we did

  • Keyword Research

    The housing market is a competitive industry and to rank at the top of the SERPs, you have to think smart. Looking at the data, it was clear that for Vistry to generate the results they wanted, keywords needed to be specific rather than general house-hunting terms, such as ‘houses for sale’. Deciding buyers typically fall into two categories, those wanting a new build and those not, we focused our keyword research on which ‘new build’ phrases would see us get to the top.

  • Localised SEO

    Taking our targeting one step further, we homed in on localised SEO, recognising that national rankings had little relevance for phrases that delivered such location specific search results. With Vistry Homes operating across the UK, our attention was on locations with clusters of developments where we could utilise localised SEO and drive leads. The aim was to rank for phrases such as “new builds” within our target locations, with a by product of also ranking for location specific phrases such as “new build Leeds”.

  • Tactical Outreach 

    With a myriad of locations across the UK and a limited budget, we had to think tactically when it came to link building. Analysing page optimisation and content, if a location was ranking in the top 5, the need for outreach was minimal. Looking across the multitude of developments, we focused on which were deemed more competitive and, therefore, needed to work harder to make it to the top. Using this strategy, we found clear areas we needed to optimise and utilise outreach to boost performance.