Digital marketing for estate agents and property firms.
Vendor leads, valuation requests and listing enquiries — from Meta Ads, Google Ads and local search, built for how property actually sells.
Why property is its own problem
Most marketing advice assumes a short path: someone sees an ad, wants the thing, buys it. Property does not work like that. A vendor thinks about selling for months before they ring anyone, compares three agents, and the whole thing turns on one decision worth thousands in commission.
That changes what you should be buying. The goal is not a sale this week — it is to be the agent they call when the thought becomes a decision. Campaigns built for instant conversions burn money in this sector; campaigns built for capture and follow-up do not.
You are also competing with the portals. In the UK, Rightmove and Zoopla own the buyer search; in the US, Zillow and Realtor.com do the same. Trying to outbid them for buyer traffic is a losing game. The money is on the vendor and landlord side, where the portals are weakest and where your commission actually comes from.
What a property account looks like
Valuation and vendor campaigns
- A free-valuation offer as the primary lead magnet, on its own landing page rather than a contact form buried on your site
- Meta lead forms for speed, with the enquiry pushed straight to your inbox and WhatsApp
- Postcode and neighbourhood targeting so you are not paying to reach areas you do not cover
- Google Search for high-intent terms: sell my house in [area], estate agents [area], house valuation [area]
Listing and buyer retargeting
- Retargeting for people who viewed a property page but did not enquire — the cheapest audience you own
- Dynamic catalogue ads that pull listings in automatically, so the ads update as stock changes
- Video and carousel formats for new instructions and open-house dates
Local search
Property is one of the strongest local SEO sectors there is, because almost every search carries a place name. That means a properly optimised Google Business Profile, consistent citations, a real review process, and a page for each area you genuinely serve — not one template with the town name swapped.
Negative keywords matter more here than almost anywhere
Property search terms attract enormous amounts of irrelevant traffic. Without a strict negative list you will pay for people looking for jobs at estate agencies, students researching coursework, and buyers when you want vendors. A typical starting list blocks:
- jobs, careers, salary, vacancy — recruitment traffic
- rent, to let, rental on sales campaigns, and the reverse on lettings
- free, cheap, DIY, how to — research traffic with no intent to instruct
- Competitor names, unless you are deliberately bidding on them
- Every town and postcode you do not cover
What to budget
| Focus | Sensible daily test budget |
|---|---|
| Lettings & landlord acquisition | £25–£50 · $30–$65 |
| Sales & valuation leads | £40–£90 · $50–$115 |
| New-build or developer launch | £80+ · $100+ |
USD figures are approximate conversions. These are starting points for a four-week test, not quotes. Work your own ceiling out from average commission and close rate on the budget page.
What I need from your side
- Someone who calls a valuation lead back within the hour. In property this single factor moves results more than targeting does.
- Your average commission and how many valuations turn into instructions.
- The areas you actually cover, by postcode or ZIP.
- Photos or video of real properties and real staff — stock imagery performs noticeably worse in this sector.
What property firms ask.
Do property leads cost more than other sectors?
Usually yes. Estate agency, lettings and new-build keywords are among the most competitive in both the UK and the US, and click costs reflect that. What makes it work is the value of a single completion — one instruction can be worth thousands, so a higher cost per lead is often still comfortably profitable.
How soon will I see instructions, not just enquiries?
Enquiries come first, often within the first fortnight. Instructions and completions follow the market’s own timeline — weeks or months, not days. Judging a property campaign purely on month one is the most common mistake I see.
Can you run ads for individual listings?
Yes. Listings work well as retargeting and as dynamic catalogue ads, where each property is pulled in automatically. But a single listing is a small audience; valuation and vendor-lead campaigns usually carry the account.
Do you work with lettings as well as sales?
Yes, though they behave very differently. Lettings is volume-led with fast cycles and cheaper leads; sales is slower with far higher value. They need separate campaigns and separate negative keyword lists.
Will you promise me a number of valuations?
No. Nobody honest will. What you get is a properly built account, disciplined testing, and a weekly report showing cost per valuation request so you can decide whether to scale or stop.
The parts that carry a property account.
Tell me your patch and your commission.
Those two numbers are enough for me to say whether paid traffic can work at your figures — before anyone quotes you anything.