Now You See It - No You Don't

OK here we go.

What do listings, consumers and Google all have in common?  I hope you guessed it - the answer is search.

As it relates to doing business with at least 90% of all consumers searching for real estate, the key to doing business is ONLY about search.  Today search is everything in real estate. 

Period.

Consumers and especially real estate buyers don't care about brand, company or even the agent - they are searching for the home that meets their needs and requirements - and in real estate that means being able to search for one product - listings.

So here comes the zinger.

A quick inspection of the majority of all franchise, broker and agent real estate sites reveals vastly over cluttered offerings containing everything but lacking an effective means to direct consumers to the listing they are searching for on the site.  Now I know what you are saying - that isn't true I have search on my site - but it is true.  The problem relates to the degree of search that consumers want and can't experience on the majority of the industry's real estate sites but CAN get now on Google.

How do I define "effective search"?  In one word, Google.

The vast majority of all real estate searches begin on Google and then Bing and Yahoo follow.  Google is without doubt the largest real estate web site in the world.  Number two?  YouTube.  Google directs consumers to other relevant places to find the details related to what the consumer is searching for on Google.

If you think I am wrong and you believe that your search functionality is truly as effective as Google try this two step exercise.

First, pick a listing contained in the listing database on your site and type in the same address into the Google search bar on the Google site.  Ideally, pick one of your own listings.  Now see where the Google search results direct you to find that listing.  If the listings on your site do not appear on the first page of Google's search results - you lose big time.

And the winners are?  Those that do because they are seen as more relevant to Google and because they have optimized their web sites, listing content and search index to be ranked higher in Google's organic search results.

Second, go to Google and type in a typical consumer search query made on Google for a home search.  Type in your city name, your state, 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a hot tub.  Now take note the search results.  A whole list of listings that match that search criteria and links to places to find out more details.  Then type the same search criteria into your site and note the search results - you are lucky if you can get past the error messages and the common no listings matching your search criteria can be found messages.

Tilt.

The problem with the majority of the current brokerage industry sites is that the content on the site is irrelevant in big search - at the Google, Bing and Yahoo level where everything begins.  Listings on your site are not recognized or seen in big search as the source for the listings therefore you don't get the consumer traffic directed to your site.

Why is this?

Among other very key technology issues a good part of the answer is why Google doesn't need to prompt consumers by ghosting into the search box the directions of type in "address, city, state, zip or MLS number".  Search is not limited by anything and using more words to define your search is the consumer's prefered means to secure a higher quality search result.  But not on real estate sites!

So now for the waste.

Beyond the loss of search directed buyer business for those who are fortunate enough to have salable listings these days - my calculations currently estimate that more than $175 million per year is now being wasted on outdated, ineffective search functionality framed on templated franchise, broker and agent brochure web sites.

Time to reFresh the industry's local search strategies, its user expereinces and most of all its web site vendors?  I think so.  In fact way past that time.  You decide.  Better yet, do something about it.

Now you see it = huge opportunity in search.  No you don't = the current total lack of a quality search experience on most a franchise, broker and agent real estate domains.

More later.

P. S.  Try the second search effectiveness test above on the newly announced and revamped http://www.c21.com/ site.  Oops,  Houston we have a problem - errors!