Google Talks Real Estate
Filed Under: Technology
15 Comment(s)
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- From Tecnología Inmobiliaria: Google habla sobre el sector Inmobiliario | Oct 10, 2007
- From Links del día 10 Octubre 2007 » sarelinks | Oct 11, 2007
Galen | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
Great interview Joel.
Justin looks like Google’s Rich Barton.
Craig Mische | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
Interesting interview.
andrew | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
nice interview. your skills are going up! Keep at it.
Hawaii Life | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
I hope they don’t get 100% of the listings or buyer’s agents will have a hard time competing with Google.
Michael Price | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
It’s not surprising that they have identified the individual listings as valuable content. I would have pushed a bit harder to find out more about the studies they are conducting on real estate specific search habits. I find that very intriguing. Our own analytic efforts show that consumers are becoming much more specific in their criteria. They are using property and community specific queries.
Our clients are taking advantage of the “Google Juice” inherent in syndicating their listing content. The organic search results they are receiving is nothing short of astounding and as initiatives like Google’s universal search start to ramp up, it is becoming more important for RE professionals to make sure their listing content is showing up in as many places and forms as possible.
A good buyer’s agent need not be concerned about this. If I were primarily a buyer’s agent I would make sure I had content out there that complimented what is showing up in the organic results. I would be certain to demonstrate that I have a unique perspective and understanding of the communities and what the entire value proposition is to the service I provide. Finding the listings is only one small part of that gig. Maybe years down the road Web 3.0 will change that landscape, but until then I wouldn’t worry about Google replacing the buyer’s agent.
I second the improvement in your interviewing skills as well. Brad and his team made a smart move in hiring you.
Tara Jacobsen | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
As a Listing agent ANYTHING that I can do to increase the exposure of my listings is welcome! One question that I have is, I advertise in several different national magazines and also on my company websites, all who push out to google among other places. Is google checking the back end to make sure that they are being registered as one property or are there three entries? Thanks! Tara
John Schroeder | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
I third the motion (Can I do that?) that finding the listing is only a part of the process of buying a home. We all know that many more things are needed before finding the home and after finding the home before the process is complete.
Great interview Joel!!!
Michael Price | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
Tara,
That’s a great question and brings up an interesting conundrum for the likes of Google. Duplicate content is always an issue and I wonder myself how GoogleBase addresses the issue of different aggregation providers pushing listings into the overall GB database. For instance, the Houston Association of Realtors is one of the first (maybe the only, I’m not sure) MLS that makes it a practice to push listings to GoolgeBase. Perhaps Joel will bounce that question off of the folks at Google for us. As far as the results showing up in the overall Google search engine, I guess the company that does the best job of creating content relevant to the algorithms in place at that time will generate the best results. Cheers, ~MP
#1 Kansas City Real Estate Guy | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
I asked the question about multiple ads on properties showing up on Google Base. People much smarter than I told me that Google is starting to sort by zip code and map coordinates. Duplicates will be removed.
Joel Burslem | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
@#1 Kansas and Mike Price
I think the interesting question is which feed takes priority? The agent’s, broker’s or third parties… Who ultimately owns the data?
I’ll file that one away to ask in future.
hobokensbesthomes | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
Who owns the data is interesting but, more important, who controls the content? When I do a googlebase search on my town, I find many entries that shouldn’t be there and they often appear high up in the search results. Sort of like putting “Pam Anderson” into your website to get more hits. Problem is, searchers/buyers find it really annoying to sift through irrelevant results. I’d like to see how google manages this problem.
Spec Homes | Sep 21, 2007 | Reply
Geo-targeted vertical search results for micro real estate markets is the future of online listings.
Abbotsford Real Estate Agent | Sep 22, 2007 | Reply
Real estate is local, I think we are on the right track by optimizing for local neighborhoods, and share the listings on Google base.
Tulare Homes for Sale | Sep 23, 2007 | Reply
Interesting…Google also announced at Inman a partnership with The Real Estate Book to sell Ad Words. Basically, marketing reps for The Real Estate Book can also consult with agents in their Ad Word buys; putting a friendly face on the purchase of their Ad Word products
Google Marketing | Oct 28, 2007 | Reply
Well, no doubt about it, Google puts his eyes whenever the money is.