The head of SEO at Rightmove has defected to a rival portal, Residential People.
Farhaad Saleh was responsible for all of Rightmove's SEO activities for the last three and a half years, and he now joins Residential People as the director of acquisition.
Saleh is described by his new employer as being “at the top of his game in building website traffic.” He has previously worked at Property Link and Estates Gazette, run by the EGi Group, and at online fashion retailer Boohoo.
"While I enjoyed my time with Rightmove, I feel that I took the brand as far as I could. I have always relished the opportunity to work with and grow an emerging brand” says Saleh.
"What appealed to me about Residential People was its potential for growth and the fact that as a global marketplace, we have a unique opportunity to provide properties to potentially millions of customers around the world."
In Farhaad's new role he will have oversight of all marketing at Residential People and its commercial property platform, Commercial People.
"One of the biggest concerns facing agents at the moment is their ever-increasing outlay on portal fees. At present, agents are forced to either pay the fees proposed to them by the big portals or face losing considerable custom as clients go elsewhere. I've always believed that agents shouldn't have to pay extortionate amounts just to list their properties” says Saleh.
Residential People is a free to list portal, which is currently home to over 5,000 agents.
It has set out an aggressive plan to increase its presence in the UK as well as in the UAE and other international markets.
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When something is free, you are the product. Never forget.
Rightmove and high fees, from an ex-employee - soon this Behemoth will realise that technology in the sector may well outstrip the legacy built model that is really just an auto trader online. Two pressures will come through, what the consumer wants from a website and what agents will pay for it.
No wonder there are now now many new portals coming into being, many with a free entry model, like all things you can only keep making successive profit if your customers are happy, when they are not they vote with their feet.
Interesting that his Linkedin cites him starting at Residential People in September, so not quite sure why this is breaking news?!
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