You run a real estate agency. You have signed with a visibility partner, or you are about to, so that sellers, landlords, buyers and renters find you online instead of the agency down the street or the big portals. The pitch was convincing. Three months in, one question keeps coming back: how do I know they are actually doing the work?
It is a fair question. In real estate you are used to judging on hard results: listings won, viewings booked, deals closed. You are right to expect the same clarity from the people working on your visibility. This guide sets out the three checks that matter, none of which require any technical knowledge.
The problem: work you cannot see
When you refit your office, you can see the result. When someone works on your online visibility, most of it happens out of sight. Plenty of agencies end up paying a monthly retainer without knowing exactly what was done, or whether it made any difference. Some providers are happy to leave it that way: vague reports, flattering screenshots, jargon nobody can follow, and always a good reason why results are just around the corner.
The fix is not to become an expert yourself. It is to insist on three simple things that any broker or agency owner can verify.
Check one: a dated report every week
A serious partner reports to you regularly, on a fixed schedule, on what was delivered. Not a slide deck once a quarter, not an update only when you chase: a dated report, every week, that says what went live and what moved.
Why dated? Because a dated report lets you compare one week with the next, spot a slowdown and confirm that what the contract promised was delivered on schedule. An undated report, or one that arrives whenever it suits the provider, is a warning sign.
In a few minutes, the report should tell you what was delivered that week, how your visibility is trending and anything that needs your attention. We go through the detail in what a weekly visibility report should show.
Check two: the numbers in your own Google tools
This is the most important check and the one most often skipped. The figures behind your visibility should be readable in your own Google tools, in particular a Search Console account that you own. Not only in a dashboard the provider built.
Search Console shows, among other things, how often your agency appeared in Google results and how many people clicked through. If your partner says visibility is improving, you should be able to see it there yourself. Make sure your agency owns the account and that the provider has access you can revoke at any time. If you ever switch partners, the history stays with you.
A provider who resists that transparency, or keeps control of your accounts, puts you in a dependent position. For a business built on trust, as real estate is, that is not acceptable.
Check three: the enquiries you receive
Visibility is only a means. What matters to an agency is enquiries: a homeowner asking for a valuation, a relocating family looking for a rental, an investor hunting for a property to add to a portfolio, a landlord who wants someone to manage several units. Your partner does not control what you do with those leads, but you need to be able to tell how many come from your online presence.
One habit is enough. Ask every new contact how they found you and write down the answer. Within a few months you will know exactly how many of your listings and clients come from being found online. That is the measure that tells you whether the investment pays.
What not to confuse
Keep in mind the difference between what a provider controls and what it does not. It controls what it delivers and how it measures, and that is where you should be uncompromising. It does not control what Google or an AI assistant decides, or the final choice your clients make. A provider who promises you a set number of listings, or the top spot on Google, is not being straight with you.
So judge delivery every week, trajectory every month and enquiries over several months. Before you sign, prepare the right questions with questions to ask before signing a 12-month visibility contract. For a checklist specific to agencies, read how a real estate agency should choose a visibility partner.
How Traffic Engine commits on measurement
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your agency visible when people search for a property or an agent, on Google and in AI assistant answers. The three checks in this guide are built into the offer: a dated report every week, results followed in your own Search Console, and a measured review at three months. The guarantee covers what Kolonell controls: whatever your plan includes goes live on schedule, or the following month is free.
Kolonell applied the approach to its own website first; the Search Console curves for kolonell.com are published on the offer page and refreshed daily. You start with a Visibility Audit at $750, deducted from the $1,650 setup if you go ahead within 30 days, then a monthly plan from $1,200. See the offer and its guarantees.
Your next step
If you already have a provider, ask them for three things this week: the latest dated report, owner access to your Search Console, and a list of what was delivered last month. How they respond will tell you a lot. If you do not have one yet, start with the free website score to see where you stand today.