Patch Builder is not basic SEO
SEO is how you get found when somebody types into Google. They search "estate agents in Fareham", they get a list, and the job is to be near the top of it. That still matters and we still do it.
GEO is how you get named when somebody asks an AI instead. They ask ChatGPT who the best agents in their town are, and it answers in a short paragraph naming two or three firms. If you are not one of them, you are not in the conversation. There is no page two to be on.
This is not only about ChatGPT. Google now puts its own AI answer at the top of the page, above the links. So even people searching the old way often read an answer before they ever reach a list of websites.
Ranking gets you into the list. Being named gets you into the answer.
The two jobs are related, but they are not the same, and most agency websites are built for neither. Being named rewards different things: clear facts an AI can repeat and check, straight answers to the questions vendors actually ask, the same details about your agency everywhere it appears online, and being mentioned in the places these tools read.
What we do each month
- Write and publish a page for a town you want, with real substance in it: streets, prices, what selling there is actually like.
- Make the agency easy for an AI to describe and hard to get wrong: the same facts, in the same words, wherever it looks.
- Answer the questions vendors ask out loud, so your website is the one worth quoting.
- Keep the site fast and clean, which both Google and the AI tools prefer.
- Every three months, tell you what it produced: valuations booked, not clicks.
One honest word. Nobody can promise an AI will name you, any more than anyone could ever promise first place on Google, and you should be wary of anybody who says they can. What we can do is make your agency the easiest one in town to name, and then check whether it is happening.
How it compares
Most of this market is rented rather than bought. The going rate is a monthly licence on a two or three year agreement, and at the end of it the website still is not yours. Some of those are good products, and for a new agency finding its feet they are the right answer.
The difference here is what you hold at the end. You own the site from launch, the monthly is optional, and the only thing keeping you is whether the work is any good. We have put every published price in the market, with a link to the company's own page, on one page: what an estate agency website costs.
Questions
Why do you publish a price when nobody else does?
Because the alternative wastes a morning each. If £10,000 is not the right number for your agency this year, you should be able to find that out in ten seconds rather than on a second call.
What makes a project £10,000 and not £18,000?
Scale and complexity. One office, one patch and a straightforward property search sits at the bottom of the range. Several branches, lettings as well as sales, a large search, or anything that has to talk to other systems moves it up. We tell you where you sit before you commit to anything.
Am I tied in?
No. The build is a one off fee and the website is yours. Hosting after the first year is £99 a month with thirty days' notice, and you can take the site elsewhere whenever you like.
What does the £99 a month actually include?
Hosting, the certificate, backups, the site kept up to date, and any changes you want made: new pages, new copy, new pictures, a new member of staff, a campaign for the weekend. Not a queue and not a ticket system. You ask, we do it.
What is not in the price?
Photography and video, if the agency needs new pictures and does not have them. A property feed from your CRM, if your provider charges for one. The domain name. We tell you about all of it up front, because a surprise at invoice stage is a bad way to start.
What is GEO, and how is it different from SEO?
SEO is about ranking in a list of results. GEO, generative engine optimisation, is about being named when somebody asks an assistant like ChatGPT or Google's AI answers who the best agents in a town are. The assistant replies with a paragraph naming two or three firms, so there is no page two to be on. It rewards plain checkable facts, structured data, one consistent identity everywhere, and pages that answer the question a vendor actually asked. That work is included in Patch Builder.
Do I need Patch Builder as well as hosting?
No. Patch Builder includes hosting and changes, so it replaces the £99 a month rather than sitting on top of it. Take it if you want the agency to keep taking ground in the patch. If you just want the website looked after, the £99 is all you need.
What is one agency per patch?
We only build for one agency in a given town or patch. If we are already working with an agent near you we will say so on the first call. It is the only way the work stays worth having.
Tell us about the agency. If it is not a fit, we will say so quickly.