Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 20.01.2026 
Edward Bate Consulting has been shortlisted at the APAC Search Awards 2026, alongside client Harcourts, in the Best Use of Search – Real Estate & Property category for its SERP Real Estate Growth campaign.
The shortlist recognition highlights a long-term, large-scale SEO program delivered across one of Australasia’s most complex real estate networks, aimed at increasing non-brand visibility, organic traffic and high-intent property enquiries in a market dominated by major listing portals.
For both teams, the shortlist is recognition not only of results, but of persistence, collaboration and belief in search as a growth channel within a highly competitive industry.
The campaign: SERP Real Estate Growth
The SERP Real Estate Growth campaign was designed to improve non-brand organic performance across Harcourts’ digital footprint, supporting both the group website and individual franchise offices.
Key campaign objectives included:
- Increasing visibility for high-intent non-brand searches such as real estate agent + location and properties for sale or rent + location
- Driving more organic traffic to owned Harcourts platforms
- Increasing property enquiries, agent phone calls and appraisal requests
- Achieving year-on-year growth targets of at least 10 per cent across key metrics for an already well-established brand
The campaign was delivered as an ongoing SEO retainer, with a strong focus on scalable improvements rather than one-off tactical changes.
Strategy and execution at scale
Operating within a highly competitive landscape dominated by major property portals, the campaign focused on building locally relevant, user-first website experiences that better served search intent than generic listings alone.
Key initiatives included:
- Structuring and optimising For Sale and For Rent pages by suburb and region, incorporating median pricing, time-on-market data and dynamic internal linking
- Upgrading property listing templates to improve clarity around inspections, calls-to-action and structured data for improved search visibility
- Addressing significant technical SEO challenges, including crawl inefficiencies, indexing issues, parameter handling and legacy URLs
- Implementing consistent content frameworks across office, agent and service pages while allowing franchise-level flexibility
- Supporting rollout and adoption through internal documentation, CMS guidance and direct collaboration with dozens of franchise offices
The campaign required close stakeholder management, balancing the needs of a central digital team with the autonomy of individual offices across hundreds of locations.
Measurable results
Despite the complexity of the environment and limited execution bandwidth at times, the campaign delivered strong results:
- Non-brand clicks for real estate agent + location searches increased +180% YoY
- Non-brand clicks for properties for sale or rent + location queries grew +40% YoY
- Total organic visits increased by 22 per cent YoY
- Agent phone calls increased by 12 per cent YoY
- Property appraisal form submissions rose by 18 per cent YoY
- Keywords ranking in positions 1–3 doubled YoY
These outcomes exceeded the original year-on-year growth targets across all major performance indicators.
What the shortlist means
For Edward Bate Consulting, the APAC Search Awards shortlist is recognition of what can be achieved when SEO is approached as a long-term, strategic discipline — even within highly competitive, enterprise-scale environments.
“This shortlist recognises the complexity behind the work,” said Edward Bate. “Delivering meaningful SEO growth across a franchise network of this size requires patience, collaboration and trust. It’s rewarding to see that effort recognised on an APAC stage.”
For Harcourts, the recognition reinforces the value of continued investment in owned digital platforms.
“Being shortlisted validates our belief in search as a critical channel for long-term growth,” the Harcourts digital team said. “It reflects the work happening behind the scenes to improve how customers discover our brand, our offices and our people online.”
“Search is a critical channel for how customers discover Harcourts, our offices and our people,” said Lydia Jeffs, Product Owner at Harcourts. “This program reflects a long-term commitment to improving our digital platforms at scale, not just to drive traffic, but to deliver better experiences and measurable outcomes for our franchise network.”
Looking ahead
The SERP Real Estate Growth program continues to evolve, with further technical enhancements, content initiatives and localised improvements underway throughout the year ahead.
As search behaviour continues to change and competition intensifies, both teams remain focused on building digital experiences that serve customers first — while delivering measurable business outcomes.
The APAC Search Awards ceremony will be held in Sydney in February 2026, celebrating excellence and innovation across the Asia-Pacific search industry.
About Edward Bate Consulting
Edward Bate Consulting is a specialist SEO consultant focused on complex, enterprise-scale websites and search environments. With over a decade of experience, the business works closely with in-house teams and development partners to design SEO strategies that balance technical performance, user experience and commercial outcomes.
Rather than focusing on short-term gains, the consultancy specialises in scalable, sustainable search solutions — particularly in industries where competition, regulation and site complexity make SEO execution challenging.
You can find them at https://edwardbate.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardtbate/
About Harcourts
With origins dating back to 1888 in New Zealand, Harcourts is one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest real estate groups, operating across more than 600 franchise offices in the region.
The Harcourts digital ecosystem includes national brand websites, regional hubs and individual office sites, all of which play a role in supporting property discovery, agent visibility and lead generation.
Harcourts has made a long-term commitment to digital growth and believes strongly in the role of owned platforms — not just third-party portals — in supporting brand equity, customer experience and business performance.
You can find them at https://harcourts.net/au and https://www.linkedin.com/company/harcourts
