An analysis of how Malta-based real estate companies utilise search engine optimisation techniques as opposed to their British counterparts

Abstract

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO deals with the organic ranking of websites in the search results of a search engine. This branch of digital marketing seeks to understand how well optimised a site is with respect to the search engine’s algorithm. A well-optimised website is more likely to attain organic traffic, consequently increasing the chances of a higher revenue, hence having a huge impact on the business’ wellbeing. This study compares the efforts of real estate companies in Malta and the United Kingdom to implement SEO techniques. In addition to the comparison, a secondary research scope follows. This revolves around the correlation between SEO metrics and the placement of the companies’ sites in the search engine results. A total of ninety-nine websites are assessed, of which thirty-six belonged to the Maltese segment, and sixty-three belonged to the UK segment. Each website was tested for keywords and backlinks, two crucial metrics out of the many metrics that seem to determine SEO. Furthermore, a relative score was given to each site according to their placement in the search engine, referred to as SERP_Score. This score was compared against the counts of backlinks and keywords to test whether the greater the count of keywords and backlinks, the higher the SERP ranking. The results show that UK websites have a significantly larger number of keywords and backlinks than the Maltese websites. However, results indicate that Malta ranked higher than the UK in terms of how effective their SEO implementation has been, scoring 9.47 and 4.68, respectively. With the aim being to examine SEO techniques with respect to the ranking of the websites in the search engine results, the author seeks to clarify the importance of SEO to businesses within the real estate industry. From the research and results obtained through this dissertation, one can identify the need for more comparative research to analyse other SEO techniques and efforts across a broader range of industries and countries. This will only continue to highlight why and how SEO is an essential tool in today’s digital age.