This document provides an abstract for a research project that examined how search engine optimization elements affect the visibility of real estate websites in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The research involved developing optimized websites based on the Chambers SEO model for five real estate companies and comparing their visibility to the original websites over 27 days. A questionnaire was also used to identify 121 key search phrases. The results showed whether visibility improved or deteriorated for each company. A new optimized website that showed the best improvement was also compared to the one with the largest deterioration. This led to re-evaluating the Chambers model and identifying new elements, with the goal of developing an improved SEO model.

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ABSTRACT
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION ELEMENTS’ EFFECT ON WEBSITE VISIBILITY:
THE WESTERN CAPE REAL ESTATE SMME SECTOR
The primary objective of this research project was to determine whether search engine
optimisation elements as specified in the Chambers model, affect real estate website
visibility. In South Africa, real estate companies predominantly function as SMMEs and are
therefore as vulnerable to failure as any other SMME in the country. In order for SMMEs to
reduce the possibility of failure, they need to re-evaluate their use of the Internet, as it could
assist in their survival. The traditional company structure is no longer sufficient to ensure
market reward. The reality is that users are rapidly adapting to the technology available. The
Internet is fast becoming a communication, commerce and marketing medium that is
changing business globally.
Real estate SMMEs are unable to adapt to e-commerce in its purest form, however, they can
make effective use of e-marketing. Static websites are used for that specific purpose. A
marketing strategy is imperative to the survival of a company, whereby the firm is able to
create and maintain a competitive advantage in a cluttered marketplace. Regrettably, hosting
a website on the Internet is not enough. Searchers tend not to view search results beyond
the second page - 30 results at the most. It becomes evident that companies should ensure
that their own website ranks as high as possible on the search engine result page. This in
turn should sufficiently market the company. Search engine optimisation involves designing
or modifying websites in order to improve search engine result page ranking. The elements
as specified in the Chambers model are extensively elaborated on in the literature analysis.
The methodology consisted of two stages - a questionnaire and empirical experiments. A
quantitative research approach was adopted for both of these components. The primary
objective of the questionnaire was to obtain search phrases from the public when searching
for real estate online. The search phrases were then used in the experiments, testing the
visibility of predetermined websites, which were based on a pre- post- test control group
design methodology. In this instance, the before group consisted of five different websites
from five different real estate companies which have been hosted on the Internet for a
duration of no less than three months. The Chambers model was used in the development of
five new optimised websites, one for each company. The new websites were hosted on the
Internet for 27 days, in order to give search engines the opportunity to index them. The
results documented were then compared in order to draw a conclusion.
A total of 121 key search phrases were obtained. The results from the old and new websites
were applied to a process which produced a combination of results known as the ‘quality
factor’. The quality factor indicated either a visibility improvement or visibility deterioration
with regard to the old and new company’s website. In addition to this, this author compared

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the optimised website which obtained the best visibility improvement with the website that
obtained the highest deterioration in visibility. As a result, the elements specified in the
Chambers model were re-evaluated whereby new elements that had not been specified in
the original model were identified. Based on the new findings, this author developed a new
search engine optimisation model as a secondary objective in this thesis.