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Local Traffic Numbers From Zillow - August 2009

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Zillow

We’ve all heard there’s “no such thing as a national weather forecast” when trying to explain that real estate is local. Most real estate websites only post their national traffic numbers. While there is some value to seeing this number, it is also important to know how much of that traffic is happening in your area so you can spend your time and resources accordingly.

From a top line perspective, Zillow had its second highest traffic month ever in August, attracting over 8.8 million unique users to the site (64% YOY increase).  These people looked at 129,616,597 pages of information!

 zilllow august 2009 traffic

 

But what does this huge traffic number mean to you?  Here are statistics for the top metro areas in the country:

 

Zillow Traffic Number For August 2009

Now that we've established there are a lot of people coming to the site, the next question is how to leverage this audience and make sure they are seeing your name and your listings. Here are the most basic things you need to make sure you are doing on Zillow.

1) Market yourself - Make sure you profile is completely filled out (now can include a link to your active rain blog!)

2) Market your listings - You can do this through a Broker feed, a syndication service, or post them manually.

3) Market your expertise - Sign up to recieve alerts whenever someone posts a question in your area.  Great way to position yourself as a local expert.

For a complete list of everything you can do on Zillow, and more ways you can interact with this audience, check out the post Zillow From A to Z.

 

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Matt Listro
National Credit Fixers - Matt Listro - Vernon, CT
Your Credit Repair Expert

Hi Sara: Wow zillow's numbers are growing fast - I will have to give them a look.

:)

Sep 21, 2009 11:45 AM
Brian Lee Burke
Kenna Real Estate - Lone Tree, CO
Broker & Advising Expert-Kenna Luxury Real Estate

We are smacking ourselves for not paying more attention to zillow - but now we are :). Working on all the things you mentioned :) Thanks. I need to go look at all your tutorials and links too to get most out of it. BTW - just got a prospect through Zillow :) ~Rita

Sep 21, 2009 12:49 PM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Sara, thank you for this.  I've had a profile on Zillow for a while but haven't updated it recently, as well as checked out the Advice section.  Much appreciated.

Sep 21, 2009 09:52 PM
#3
Tom Larkin
360World.com - Lexington, KY

Those are impressive stats! must take another look at what you are doing

Sep 22, 2009 01:10 AM
Dianne Bartlett
Brightside Realty, LLC - Austin, TX

Thanks for the great advice.  I'll check it out!

Sep 22, 2009 01:23 AM
Michael Myers
King-Rhodes & Associates - Cherokee Village, AR

Sara, Thanks for this. I haven't thought about Zillow for awhile. Will definitely give it another look.

Sep 22, 2009 01:55 AM
Tim Ludemann
Ochopee, FL

I had no idea zillow was getting hits like that...Thanks for the info!

Sep 22, 2009 04:48 AM
Christianne O'Malley
Dickson Realty - Reno, NV
Exceptional Service - Delivering Results in Reno!

I have had two short sale clients tell me that lenders are asking homeowners that are behind in their payments to use Zillow as a benchmark for what their home is worth. I have a short sale listing I will be taking in Sparks, Nevada next week and the Zestimate shows the house is worth about $35,000 more than the most recent comparables which are the last 90 days sales. For a home with a potential selling price of $220,000, a $35,000 swing is over 12%.

Zillow is still a great tool and I enjoy using the forums to answer questions for potential buyers. I am just keeping a close eye on your values until they are much tighter. A double digit error rate is still too high for me.

Sep 22, 2009 06:22 AM
Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573
MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME
Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

Power, building power and reach...and glad we are all on board Zillow!

Sep 22, 2009 08:28 AM
Martin Clement
KELLER WILLIAMS OTTAWA REALTY - Ottawa, ON
ClementMoore Real Estate Group

thanks Sara, I checked out zillow and to my suprise my listings are there??? I'll have to find out how they got there! I will follow your advice and improve my profile and check out the blog Zillow A to Z

Sep 22, 2009 08:52 AM
Sara Bonert
Zillow - Atlanta, GA
Real Estate Internet Marketing

Corinne (#7) - Good question, and it varies.  On many pages you can actually see counters.  For example, on all listing pages, on the Home Info page (left hand column) you'll see the view details there.  And on any Advice question, you'll find a view counter.  5.8 million of our visitors plan to buy or sell in the next 2 yrs, so I imagine a lot of them are looking at listing content.  The rest are probably more curious about the zestimates.  And about 1 million a month are actively seeking a loan in the next 6 months, so they would be interested in our mortgage center.  Here is a detailed look at the demo and psycho graphics of our audience.

Christianne (#9) - Well, glad they are just using it as a benchmark and not an official number!  In case you didn't know, we actually publish our accuracy numbers for all counties in the US.  Here is a link to our Accuracy Chart.

Martin (#11) - If you look in the contact info box on the listing, where ever the link for your listing is going is usually a good clue as to who is supplying the data.  In your case, KW sends us everything in the KWLS, so that should your listing source.

Sep 22, 2009 09:14 AM
Wayne L. Brown
Franklin Advantage Inc. - Alpine, CA

Sara

Nice and informative post.  This kind of info would be nice when we participate on Zillow.  Any chance that Zillow will iniciate a change so that we can access this type of info for our spcific areas?

Best Regards

Sep 22, 2009 11:48 AM
Shelly Whitworth
MorSystems.com - Carmel, CA

It's time to have another look at Zillow!
Impressive numbers for sure.

Shelly Whitworth

www.MorSystems.com

 

Sep 22, 2009 11:58 AM
Sara Bonert
Zillow - Atlanta, GA
Real Estate Internet Marketing

Thor (#13) - When you buy advertising on the site, we defiintely display this information because you only pay for the traffic in your zip code.  With regards to general traffic, local traffic numbers like this - either Spencer Rascoff or I post the number on our Active Rain blogs each month.  Spencer has a number of the previous month's on his blog.

Sep 22, 2009 12:23 PM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Thanks for sharing the numbers, Sara. Looks like most areas are up 40% and more. This also explains the housing slump in 'Unspecified'. :)

Sep 22, 2009 12:27 PM
Sal Antsipenka
Naples, FL

I am happy to say that I am my own Zillow now. My website generates over 100 good leads per month with conversion rate of 16%. Everything is in SEO - video, articles, blogs, press releases etc.

Sep 22, 2009 03:55 PM
JB Brookman
JB Brookman Photography - Franklin, TN
High School Senior Portrait Photographer

Sara- the numbers speak for themselves.  I will take some time this week to look at Zillow.  Thanks for the info.

Sep 28, 2009 07:40 PM
Susie Blackmon
Ocala, FL
Ocala, Horses, Western Wear, Horse Farms, Marketing

Wow! Great numbers. I need to check my profile... Thanks Sara.

Oct 01, 2009 07:27 AM