STAIGE
16 June 2026 · 5 min read

The listing that stands out: how to win the clicks

Your listing competes with hundreds of others in the same feed. How to optimise photos, order and first impression on a property portal — and what actually makes buyers click.

On a property portal, buyers scroll through a feed where each home gets one photo and two lines. If you don't win the click there, the rest of the listing doesn't matter. Here's what decides it — and how to optimise what you can influence.

The lead photo is 80% of the job

The lead photo should show the home's best room, furnished and in its best light — usually the living room or a kitchen with space. An empty or cluttered room as the lead photo is an own goal: it's the home's face in the feed.

The photo order tells a story

  • 1. The best room (the click)
  • 2–3. Kitchen and living room (everyday life)
  • 4–5. Bedrooms (the calm)
  • 6+. Bathroom, details, balcony, floor plan
  • Last: façade and area — never first, they don't win the click

Furnished beats empty — every time

Empty rooms get fewer clicks and shorter viewing time in the listing. Is the home sold empty? Furnish the photos digitally and label them as digitally staged — buyers get both the feeling and the truth.

Before: bedroom photo tidied up digitally for a property listingBefore
After: bedroom photo tidied up digitally for a property listingAfter
The same photo, listing-ready: bed made, surfaces cleared, room unchanged.

Test a new lead photo if the listing stalls

Slow interest after a week? Before dropping the price: change the lead photo. A new style on the same room can give the listing a second life in the feed — and digitally the experiment costs a few cents instead of a reshoot.

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