This is a paid review.

Tradewinds Realty provides specializes in Nova Scotia real estate.

They currently sit at #1 on the Google SERPs for "nova scotia real estate", and #4 for "halifax nova scotia real estate", and #1 for "nova scotia canada real estate", which are 1, 2, and 3 on the list of popular search terms for these keywords.

But Nova Scotia is a big place, and I'm guessing potential home buyers conduct their searches more locally. So I left out the words "nova scotia" and just Googled stuff like, "halifax real estate" or "lunenburg real estate" or "yarmouth real estate".

I found that Tradewinds' website did not appear for the "halifax" or "yarmouth" searches, but it did show up at #1 for the "lunenburg" search. Then I noticed that Tradewinds' homepage has the word "lunenburg" on it. That may explain why it appears on Google for that search.

Tradewinds does indeed have dedicated pages for these community-oriented searches, but those pages are two clicks away from the homepage (clicking on the "Our Properties" link). I'd recommend adding links for 10 of its most popular community pages to its homepage, to help boost their appearance on Google. These links can be indented below the Our Properties link.

Their individual community pages can be enhanced as well. For example, take a look at their Halifax real estate page.

The TITLE tag should say, "Halifax Real Estate Listings", instead it just says, "Properties by Area: Halifax". Adding the words, "real estate" to the TITLE tag should help it rank better on Google for local searches.

Tradewinds can help its community pages even more by adding the words "real estate" to the query string in the URL. In the case the URL of their Halifax page is as follows...

http://www.tradewindsrealty.com/cgi-bin/listings.cgi?area=Halifax%20&%20Area

I'd recommend renaming "Halifax & Area" in the query string to "Halifax Area Real Estate". Add "Real Estate" to the query string to all community pages. This will help it rank higher on Google for these specific searches.

While the META keywords and description tag is present on the homepage, it's missing from the community pages. Adding unique META tags for each community page, will help those pages rank higher on Google.

Each property featured on Tradewinds' website has its own dedicated URL. This is good. But each page is not well optimized. For example, here is a home for sale named, "Simply Enchanting".

If someone were searching Google for the phrase, "simply enchanting halifax" this property shows up at #2. But who in heck searches for that?

I recommend using more relevant keywords to name each property page. Instead of "Simply Enchanting", call it "South Halifax Home for Sale". If you have two or more homes in South Halifax, variate the names: "South Halifax House for Sale", or "South Halifax Charming Property", etc.

On a usability standpoint, Tradewinds' website removed the underline on their links. I recommend keeping the underlines on links. People tend to click on links more often when they see the underlines.

Another usability tip is that right now the homepage has the following welcome message, "Welcome to SeaNovaScotia.com". This is confusing on a real estate website. It should instead say, "Welcome to Tradewinds Realty, Inc.", with a sub-phrase of "Nova Scotia Real Estate Services". That will encourage potential clients to stay on the website.

Another thing on the homepage, use photos of homes. Right now, the homepage randomly displays images of Nova Scotia's landscape, making it feel more like a vacation and travel website.

Tradewind's "Nova Scotia Real Estate Blog" is hosted on the same domain name, which is a great way to host a blog. It helps disperse PageRank to the whole website. But the blog is poorly updated. The last article is from a year ago. To make a blog work for you, it has to be kept current. Post a minimum of three new articles per week.

On the blog itself, Tradewinds' should have links on the sidebar to its key real estate pages, such as its community pages (Halifax Properties, Lunenburg Properties, etc.). Doing this will disperse more PageRank value into those pages.

Labels: Website Review