Residential People hires Rightmove's former Head of SEO

Free to list property portal Residential People has announced the recruitment of Rightmove's Head of SEO to spearhead the emerging portals marketing activities. 

Joining Residential People as the Director of Acquisition, Farhaad Saleh is arguably at the top of his game in building website traffic and has also previously worked at online fashion retailer Boohoo as well as EGi Group (Property Link and Estates Gazette). 

Commenting on his appointment and elaborating further on the reasons for leaving Rightmove, Farhaad said:

"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.

"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."

At Rightmove, Farhaad was responsible for all of Rightmove's SEO activities for the last three and a half years and is greatly respected throughout the industry when it comes to building high-volume online traffic. 

In Farhaad's new role at Residential People, he will have oversight of all marketing at Residential People and its commercial property platform, Commercial People.

In addition to the terrific growth potential offered by Residential People, Farhaad also highlighted the unique, and enormous opportunity afforded by working with an emerging company. 

Farhaad adds:

"As a relatively independent company, we are flexible, allowing us to make faster decisions and adapt to market opportunities as they appear, ensuring that we are always ready to meet the needs of both agents and the general public.

"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. So when Christopher May approached me and shared his vision for Residential People, it was an easy decision."

Residential People welcomes Farhaad onboard and looks forward to working with him as the company continues to break into a market currently monopolised by the big two portals and to help create an alternative platform for agents. 

The free to list portal, which is currently home to over 5,000 agents, has set out an aggressive plan to increase their presence in the UK, UAE, and a variety of other markets as its business continues to grow. 

Ryosuke Watanabe, Head of SEO at Residential People and former Head of SEO for commercial property platform, Movehut, said:

"I am excited to be working in the team as Farhaad will bring a wealth of experience and help to drive forward the platform we have already built, our pledge to agents is to help them in achieving good quality enquiries as to be a viable alternative to some of the other portals, and we are thrilled that Farhaad sees our proposition compelling enough to come and join the team."

Residential People currently has over one million listings and are also planning on operating across a variety of territories, including the Middle East and many more in the near future.

Residential People are continuing to grow their presence in the market, and further strategic appointments will be announced in due course.

SOURCE Residential People