Established on May 16, 2000, Rightmove launched 🚀 its online platform, rightmove.co.uk, in July of the same year. The company’s initial purpose was to serve as a comprehensive property portal, collectively listing properties from its founding shareholders: Countrywide plc, Halifax, Royal & Sun Alliance, and Connells.
In 2006, Rightmove transitioned to a publicly traded entity, listing on the London Stock Exchange with an opening share price of approximately £3.90. By May 2025, the share price had appreciated to over £7.60, representing an increase of approximately 95%.
This demonstrable success, particularly beneficial for institutional investors including BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc., and Legal & General, underscores the company’s financial performance. Nevertheless, the imperative to satisfy shareholder expectations for consistent year-on-year growth, irrespective of prevailing market conditions, remains paramount. Consequently, Rightmove continues to implement price increases without concurrently enhancing the exposure offered to its paying clientele.
What’s the deal? 🤝
Rightmove’s basic listing packages start at over £1,000 per month per branch, with multi-branch agencies facing charges ten times that amount. This pricing structure is set to continue its upward trajectory.
The reality for many landlords and agencies is a sense of obligation to advertise on the platform. However, without committing to additional payments for enhanced listings, the probability of their properties appearing on the initial pages of Rightmove’s generic search results is significantly diminished.
This situation parallels Google search behaviour, where only about 8% of users venture beyond the first page of results, with engagement rapidly declining thereafter; the third page is largely considered a “dead zone.” While it is true that potential home buyers or tenants may browse a few pages, they quickly lose patience if they cannot locate suitable properties within a few clicks.
Listing Strategy: The Vicious Cycle of Exposure 📡
One might assume that avoiding Rightmove’s enhanced listing packages is a clever move – a strategy to outmanoeuvre the system by daily price adjustments or painstaking manual uploads, perhaps even leveraging Rightmove’s costly API for direct feeds from CRM systems or agency websites. However, this approach often presents unforeseen challenges.
The Illusion of ‘Featured Property’ 👓
Some advertisers, perhaps less discerning, choose to pay for the “Featured Property” option, under the misconception that a specific listing will gain greater visibility. In practice, this space is shared among numerous other advertisers, creating an experience akin to easyJet’s Speedy Boarding. Passengers who believe they are part of an exclusive group soon discover that a substantial portion of travellers are also in the priority queue.
To illustrate this, observe Rightmove’s listing gallery: note the “Featured Property,” then refresh the page. You will find that the property changes. Repeat the process, and it will change again. Regrettably, the primary beneficiaries of the “Featured Property” option are the shareholders.
Price Reduction: A Double-Edged Sword 💷
The psychology of a buyer differs significantly from that of a renter when it comes to price reductions. For a property sale, a reduction (e.g., from £299,000 to £289,000, eventually selling at £280,000) typically carries no negative connotation. In contrast, a rental reduction often signals a problem. Prospective tenants, whether rightly or wrongly, perceive an issue, leading them to bypass the listing and leaving the property ‘on the shelf’.
The ‘Rules’ and Their Circumvention 📃
Rightmove’s listing rules are clear: for rental properties, unless you have a Build-to-Rent (BTR) package – see below, you cannot re-list the same property within 14 days of it being let. Despite this, advertisers frequently attempt to circumvent these rules by manipulating property names and addresses. This “fools” the algorithm into classifying the property as a new listing, temporarily pushing it to the first page of results. However, this advantage is short-lived, often disappearing within minutes as numerous other users employ the same “hack.”
Compete or Be Consumed 🦈
It’s not uncommon to find landlords who dedicate significant resources to the mind-numbing task of daily listing, re-listing, tweaking, and reducing prices solely to achieve first-page exposure. Similarly, many agencies are known to use these “hacks” without apparent repercussion. Rightmove, it seems, turns a blind eye, as these tactics keep the “till ringing,” ensuring continued shareholder satisfaction with little regard for the end-user experience.
For a modest agency or those managing a small portfolio, competing against these “rule-breakers” becomes an insurmountable challenge. Driven by desperation or naiveté, they often resort to listing on other national property portals. Regrettably, many of these platforms operate on similar principles to Rightmove, making sustained exposure an equally arduous, if not impossible, endeavour.
Build-to-Rent (BTR): The Alleged Priority 🚨
With the significant growth of the Build-to-Rent (BTR) sector, it is unsurprising that Rightmove has introduced a specialised BTR listing package. This package not only highlights listings but also offers a more expansive and visually distinct presentation compared to standard listings.
Despite the typical BTR development offering a range of apartment types to rent (studio, one, two, and three-bedroom units), these properties are often highly uniform, particularly within a purpose-built complex. Crucially, BTR operators are allegedly granted the unique ability to continuously re-list their properties – minute by minute, hour by hour – with some APIs configured for non-stop listing feeds
This mechanism explains the consistent prominence of BTR properties on the first, second, and even third pages of Rightmove’s search results. Unless an advertiser operates within the BTR model and commands a budget at least double that of a standard package, effective competition becomes virtually impossible. The competitive landscape doesn’t end there, as even BTR operators are engaged in a continuous battle for supremacy, constantly trying to push each other out of prime listing positions.
The Chicken or the Egg: Rightmove’s Flawed Journey 🐔 🥚
It’s a no-brainer: without a tenant audience, you’re toast. Yet, Rightmove’s customer journey is riddled with flaws that make finding a rental a frustrating experience.
First off, most users are scrolling on their phones during a quick break or commute, so speed is crucial. But when faced with a mountain of mixed-bag properties, finding that “dream rental” feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. Unless you’re a rocket scientist capable of navigating an excessive filter menu, getting the results you want is a real challenge.
Then there’s the alert system. As a mystery shopper, we found that even after setting up an alert for specific criteria, you’ll often receive the same property you viewed yesterday, simply re-listed under a slightly different address or flat number. This happens because landlords or agents are “bending the rules” with a well-known “hack.”
The Advertiser’s Dilemma 🤔
Here’s the final nail in the coffin for advertisers: Have you ever wondered why Rightmove doesn’t allow backlinks to a landlord’s website? It’s a trap. Rightmove wants users to stay on their platform, which isn’t unusual. However, user research clearly shows that most consumers want to learn more about a landlord before committing to a viewing or inquiry, just like someone using Booking.com would look up a hotel’s website for more details.
This is where it gets bad: imagine an ideal tenant sees your listing and clicks for more details, but there’s no web link. If they want to see more, they hit the back arrow, which takes them back to the listing gallery. In the time they’ve viewed your property, the gallery has refreshed, presenting them with a new showcase of choices, and now your competitors are back in the mix. Your chances of holding onto that initial interest quickly disappear.
Consider alternative advertising and new standards
