Prepared for Marc Hunter, Managing Director, Latitude Homes

Getting the regions back.

Then growing from there.

Our answers to your questions, and exactly what we’d do next to turn search back into genuine enquiries for Latitude and its franchisees.

Joseph Marinovic & Dan McCarthy
Fabric Digital · September 2026

Use the arrow keys or click to move through the slides

Latitude Homes01 / 22

Your email, 28 September

You asked. Here’s every answer.

You asked us to focus on what Latitude should do from here, so that’s what this is. All seven questions are answered, plus how we’d balance AI search and how we’d make it all about enquiries. Click any question to jump straight to it.

Your questions02 / 22

The short version

Four steps. One goal: more enquiries.

Protect what’s left, first

Before we do anything else, redirect the removed regional pages so the rankings they still hold carry across instead of disappearing.

A focused audit

The first job in month one, inside the starting hours. No separate audit fee. A clear plan, not an 80 page report.

Rebuild the regions

A real page for every region your franchisees cover, built to turn a local search into a local enquiry.

Grow, with Google Ads included

30 hours a month, month to month. Google Ads management free. Reported on enquiries first.

The short version03 / 22

Where things stand

The whole picture, in one slide.

You’d rather focus on what happens next, and so would we. So this is the only slide on it.

60→3

local searches ranking. September 2024 vs now, same 60 searches.

regional pages were removed in the rebuild. 15 now show “page not found” and 12 redirect to one generic page.

15,170

searches a month that used to find Latitude in the regions.

Before: /location/canterbury-region

Now: /find-your-local-team

The cause is simple, so the fix is too. No regional pages means Google has nothing local to show. Put real regional pages back and the rankings have somewhere to return to.

Where things stand04 / 22

The good news

All of this is recoverable.

Nothing here was lost to a competitor or a Google update. The pages were removed. Where a real page still exists, Latitude still ranks near the top:

kitset homes nz2,900/mo#2

house plans1,300/mo#3

house plans nz1,300/mo#3

flat pack1,300/mo#7

house design1,000/mo#12

latitude homes1,300/mo#1

Northland shows the fix working by accident. On 21 September house and land packages northland came back into Google’s top 100, simply because a real Northland showhome page exists. Nobody optimised it.

latitudehomes.co.nz/house-plans · ranking top 3

latitudehomes.co.nz/showhomes/northland-showhome

Where things stand05 / 22

→

The plan

What we’re going to do

Your seven questions, answered in order, and exactly how we’d turn search back into genuine enquiries for Latitude and every franchisee.

The plan06 / 22

Q1You asked: “what you would recommend as the next step from an SEO perspective”

Protect the rankings before we do anything else.

Before anything else

Redirect the 27 removed regional pages

We’ll hand your developer a ready to go redirect map, pointing every removed page at the closest live page. A few hours of work.

Why now: removed pages still hold #1 for home and land packages tauranga, and #3 for house and land packages franklin and taupo. The longer they stay broken, the more of that slips away.

Then, in month one

A focused SEO recovery audit

A full picture of what’s working, what’s broken and what will bring in enquiries. It ends with a prioritised, costed plan for the next 12 months.

Why an audit: the rebuild changed a lot more than regional pages. We want every decision after this to be based on Latitude’s own data, not guesswork.

Question 107 / 22

Q2You asked: “whether you believe a full SEO audit is required and, if so, what that audit would cover”

Yes. But a focused one, built around enquiries.

Not an 80 page report you’ll never read. Eight areas that matter for a national builder with regional franchises:

Migration and redirects

Every old page, every dead link and every redirect checked and mapped.

Regional page structure

The right page for each of your 18 franchise regions, and the towns inside them.

Technical health

A full crawl: indexing, sitemap, speed, mobile and structured data.

Commercial search map

The searches that lead to enquiries, by region and by product.

Enquiry tracking

Forms, calls, showhome bookings and plan downloads tracked properly in GA4.

Google Business Profiles

Every franchise and showhome listing on Google Maps, checked and consistent.

AI and zero-click search

Where Latitude shows up in Google’s AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT.

Competitors

Where GJ Gardner, Signature, Jennian and others win locally, and why.

Question 208 / 22

Q3You asked: “what information or access you would need from us, such as Google Analytics, Search Console or any other platforms”

What we’d need from you.

Google Search Console Most important

Shows exactly what Google sees: real clicks, searches and every broken page. The single most useful thing you can give us.

Google Analytics 4 Most important

Viewer access. Dan sent our access address through on 11 September, so this could be a two minute job.

Google Business Profiles

Manager access to each franchise and showhome listing.

Website or developer contact

For the redirects and the new regional pages.

Google Ads, read only

The searches that already convert, so SEO and ads work together instead of competing.

Enquiries by source and region

Even a simple monthly export, so we can tie search to real enquiries.

Your franchise areas

Which towns each franchisee covers, so every regional page targets the right places.

We already have Latitude back in our Semrush tracking, so we’ve got history from mid September to measure from.

Question 309 / 22

Q5You asked: “what you would expect the audit to deliver in terms of findings and recommendations”

The audit

No separate fee

It’s the first job in the starting hours

Delivered within 3 weeks of access

Includes the redirect map and tracking set up. Not just a report. Pricing is on slide .

Every finding comes with the fix.

A prioritised fix list: what, why, who does it and the likely impact
The complete redirect map, ready for your developer
A blueprint for every regional page: structure, template and content brief
A commercial search map, by region and by product
Enquiry tracking set up in GA4, not just recommended
A review of every Google Business Profile
Your starting point in AI and zero-click search
A 12 month roadmap against the monthly hours
A walkthrough with Joseph and Dan, in person or online

Question 510 / 22

Q6You asked: “which areas you would prioritise first, particularly around regional search visibility, removed or redirected pages and commercially important search terms”

What we’d do first, and why.

Removed and redirected pages

removed pagesFirst

Before we do anything else, redirect the 27 removed regional pages. The fastest, cheapest win on the list.

Regional search visibility

regionalMonths 1 to 3

A real page for each region, highest value first: Christchurch, Wellington and Kapiti, Hamilton and Waikato, Invercargill and Southland, Auckland. Local team, showhome, house and land listings, plans, reviews and a map on every one.

Commercially important searches

commercialMonths 2 to 4

Win back house and land packages, new build homes nz and home builders nz. House and land gets a proper hub page that links to every region.

Google Business Profiles

localMonths 1 to 3

Every franchise and showhome listing complete and consistent. This is where calls and direction requests come from.

Grow

growthMonth 4 on

Content for people close to building: cost to build, house and land vs building, kitset vs full build. Plus AI search.

Question 611 / 22

The opportunity

Where the biggest wins are.

15,170

searches a month to win back across the franchise regions. This is the order we’d rebuild them in:

1Christchurch and Canterbury

6,690

2Wellington and Kapiti

1,550

3Hamilton and Waikato

1,430

4Invercargill and Southland

1,350

5Auckland

1,120

6Taranaki

750

Every one is someone looking for a builder in their town. Rebuild the page and the local franchisee gets a shot at them again.

Searches to win backRankings to protect firstLatitude franchise region

The opportunity12 / 22

Rebuilding the regions

What a new regional page looks like.

Its own address and title

Ideally back at its old address, so the ranking history comes straight back.

Local team and office

Who to talk to, where they are and when they’re open.

Showhome and live listings

House and land packages in that region, pulled from what you already have.

Local questions answered

Build costs, sections, timeframes. This is what AI search quotes.

Enquiry straight to the franchisee

One form, routed to the right team, tracked as a lead.

One page per region, 18 in total, highest value first. The same template, with genuinely local content on every one.

Regional pages13 / 22

Commercially important searches

Winning back the money searches.

Search	Per month	Today	The page that wins it
house and land packages	720	#34	A proper house and land hub, linking every region
house and land	590	#35	The same hub
custom home builders hamilton	1,600	#27	Hamilton and Waikato page
new home builders christchurch nz	1,300	#17	Christchurch and Canterbury page
home builders	480	#20	Home page, backed by the regional pages
new build homes nz	170	#11	Home page and a new build guide
home and land packages tauranga	140	#1	Protect first: Tauranga page back at its old address

5,000

searches a month in these seven alone. Most already sit on page two or three, which is the fastest ground to make up.

/house-plans: a real page, ranking top 3

The money searches14 / 22

+You asked: “how you would approach the balance between traditional organic search, regional/local SEO and the changes we are now seeing through AI-driven and zero-click search”

One set of work. Three places it pays off.

Local and regional

50%of effort, first 6 months

Where Latitude has lost the most, and where enquiries go straight to a franchisee. Regional pages plus Google Business Profiles.

Traditional search

30%of effort, first 6 months

The national money searches: house and land, house plans, new build homes and kitset homes. The foundation everything else sits on.

AI and zero-click

20%of effort, first 6 months

AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT pull from the same pages. Latitude already shows in AI Overviews for house plans nz and show homes.

“At least 70% of what we do for SEO carries over to AI search.”We add a few simple extras on top: structured data, question and answer content, and consistent business details everywhere AI looks.

Zero-click isn’t zero value

A call or a directions request from Google Maps is an enquiry, even if nobody visits the website. We track those too.

And building a home isn’t a zero-click decision. People still click through to plans, packages and showhomes before they get in touch.

Traditional, local and AI search15 / 22

+You asked: “Our main focus is not rankings for the sake of rankings. We want to understand what work is most likely to generate genuine enquiries and qualified sales opportunities.”

We agree. Rankings only matter if they bring in people ready to build.

How we pick what to work on

Every search we target is chosen because the person searching is looking to build or buy. house and land packages christchurch beats house ideas every time.

How we report

Your monthly report leads with enquiries by region. Rankings come second, as an early sign of what’s coming.

How we work with your team

Alongside your marketing team, not against them. We use the ads data to find what converts, and they save budget wherever we rank.

Monthly report, example layout

Enquiries by regionForms and calls from search, split by franchise region

Showhome visits bookedThe strongest sign someone is ready to build

Plan and brochure downloadsPeople shortlisting a Latitude home

Calls and directions from Google MapsThe zero-click enquiries

Search vs adsHow many enquiries search brings in, and what they cost

Rankings, traffic and technical health sit underneath, as supporting detail.

Enquiries, not rankings16 / 22

Google Ads

Google Ads management, included.

$3,000 + GST to set up

$1,500 + GST a month

Free

with either SEO option

Ashleigh LehmannGoogle Ads Specialist

One set of research, two channels

The keyword work we do for SEO feeds straight into Ads. It makes no sense to bill you twice for the same research.

Campaigns built around the regions

Ads that match each franchise area, landing on the new regional pages.

Spend less where you rank

As organic rankings come back, ad budget moves to where it’s actually needed.

One report

Enquiries from search and ads, side by side, by region.

Google Ads, included17 / 22

The first 12 months

From recovery to growth.

Month 1

Protect and plan

Redirects live
Audit delivered and walked through
Enquiry tracking set up
Google Ads account reviewed

Months 2 to 3

Rebuild the big regions

Top five regional pages rebuilt
House and land hub page
Google Business Profiles cleaned up

Months 4 to 6

Finish the regions

Remaining regions rebuilt
Commercial content
AI search work

Months 7 to 12

Grow

New towns and franchise areas
Buyer guides for people close to building
Authority building
Turning more visits into enquiries

Honest timelines. Redirects protect rankings within weeks. New regional pages usually take two to four months to settle in Google, and enquiries follow the rankings. We’ll be upfront at every step, that’s how SEO actually works.

The first 12 months18 / 22

Q4You asked: “what the cost would be for the audit”

Q7You asked: “what your ongoing monthly SEO fee would be if we decided to proceed beyond the audit”

Two ways to start. The same plan either way.

Recommended

Option 1

Faster start

Starting month50 hours, includes the audit

$6,250+ GST

Ongoing30 hours a month

$3,750+ GST / month

Google Ads management~~$3,000 setup, $1,500 a month~~

Free

The extra 10 hours go straight into the first regional pages, starting with Christchurch.

Option 2

Standard start

Starting month40 hours, includes the audit

$5,000+ GST

Ongoing30 hours a month

$3,750+ GST / month

Google Ads management~~$3,000 setup, $1,500 a month~~

Free

Audit, redirects, tracking and the regional page blueprint in month one.

Every month includes Regional pages built and optimised Content for enquiry searches Technical fixes Google Business Profiles Authority building AI search visibility Monthly report, enquiries first Monthly catch up

Our rate is $125 + GST an hour. The audit sits inside the starting hours, so there’s no separate audit fee. Month to month, no lock in. We earn it each time.

Questions 4 and 719 / 22

Why Fabric

We’ve done this for Latitude before.

We built the peak

We took Latitude from 31 to all 60 local searches ranking, with 14 on page one, by September 2024.

We know the site’s history

Every old page, what it ranked for and where it should point now.

We spotted this first

And we’ve been tracking it every day since mid September.

SEO and Google Ads under one roof

A New Zealand team, month to month, no lock in. We earn it each time.

Joseph MarinovicManaging Director

Daniel McCarthyHead of SEO

Dani MoloneyClient Success Manager

Luke LeechSenior SEO Specialist

Ashleigh LehmannGoogle Ads Specialist

Madock WalkerSEO Specialist

Charmin BonesetterSEO Specialist

Why Fabric20 / 22

Next steps

Let’s get the regions back.

Pick option 1 or 2

We’ll start the day you do.

Send Search Console and GA4 access

The two that matter most.

A 15 minute kick off call

Whenever suits you.

Redirect map to your developer

Before we do anything else.

Joseph MarinovicManaging Director021 520 098 · joseph@fabricdigital.co.nz

Dan McCarthyHead of SEO0800 032 248 · daniel@fabricdigital.co.nz

Next steps21 / 22

About the numbers

Where everything in this deck comes from.

September 2024 positions

Fabric Digital SEO report for Latitude Homes, 2 September 2024 (latitudehomes.co.nz column, 15 August snapshot). Competitor columns excluded.

March 2023 starting point

Fabric Digital all time SEO report, 13 October 2023.

September 2026 positions

Semrush Position Tracking and the Semrush New Zealand index, 9, 21 and 28 September 2026.

Page status

Live checks of latitudehomes.co.nz and its sitemap, 28 September 2026. Before screenshots from the Internet Archive, February 2026.

Search volumes

Semrush New Zealand monthly averages.

Rankings move day to day and vary by location and device. Search Console access would let us replace estimates with Google’s own numbers, which is one more reason it’s first on the access list.

About the numbers22 / 22