While Active Rain is for professionals in the real estate community, most consumers use sites like Trulia. Recently Trulia added a "feature" called recommendations. This allows past customers to say something nice about the Realtor that assisted them with a purchase or sale.
Well I recently noticed that some agents are "working the system" by asking other Realtors for recommendations. So they fly up the ranks, past agents that are actually helping people and answering questions. Has anyone else noticed that now that recommendations are a part of the site ranking that some agents are just trading favors with other agents? I looked at one agent that shot past me overnight, it seems and most of his recommendations are from other agents. How can this be? Shouldn't a recommendation be from a past client??
While I see the value of a positive reveiw from another agent, surely the review of a past client should hold more weight? Do you think Trulia should revamp this system and perhaps add a section for a lesser amount of points for a peer review? Do you think its fair for all reviews to carry the same value, if so why?
Personally I am not a fan of "paid placement, so I do not use the Trulia Pro option of paying to rank higher. Paying to be on the top of the page does not prove that you are the superior Realtor or have more knowledge, it just means you write a check every month to be listed on top. I got where I am by actually helping consumers with answers about specific properties or the buying process. I think organic results are superior to getting there by spending money every month. What are your thoughts?
Thanks for adding your two cents!
Comments(3)