Trulia Widgets. Are they stealing your Google juice?

WidgetHi folks. I'm writing this post to send you guys over to Eric Bramlet's post over at http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/ titled Trulia Widgets: Truliamazing Trojan Horse(s) . Now folks.....I am far from being a techie and most of this stuff is over my head BUT from what I'm reading it looks like all these cute little Trulia widgets are swiping our Google Juice.

If you are wondering why Trulia is beating you out, for local Google SERP, this could be why. From what I understand, every time you place one of their widgets on your web site or blog you are basically telling Google that Trulia, not you, is the local real estate expert.

Did you know when you Google Poinciana real estate, Homes.com is number 1 and Trulia is number 2. My site, http://buypoinciana.com is number 3 and 4. My site http://poincianaproperties.com is number 7 and http://brokerbryant.com is number 10.

Fortunately, for me, I do own 40% of the SERP for that search. But why should I have to compete with Trulia and Homes.com? They are NOT experts on Poinciana real estate. In fact, you can't even find me when you click over to their sites and I belong to both Trulia and Homes.com. Actually, after extensive searching, you can find me. But that's only because I know where to look. The consumer doesn't have a chance in hell, of finding me, unless it's by luck. OR.....they can Google Poinciana Real Estate Expert and find me in the numbers 1 and 2 position! Bite me Trulia!! Oops....sorry....I couldn't resist.

My http://poincianaproperties.com site is hosted by Homes.com and has been for almost 9 years. I wonder why my profile and listings, when found directly through homes.com, is loaded with paid advertising? Seems like the $79 a month I have been paying for 9 years would keep that from happening.

My suggestion is to pop over and read Eric's post and then take the steps he has outlined to change the Trulia widget code. Or better yet....quit using ALL widgets. Have you ever looked to see how much crap widgets place on your computer? It's a whole bunch. Widgets are like spy ware. Not only are they stealing your Google juice but they are also spying on you!

Do you really think they give you these FREE widgets just because they are nice and want to help you? I don't believe that for one minute. Those FREE widgets are costing you. They are costing you business.

OK, that's it for me. You got anything to add?

***VISIT THE DIRECT SOURCE FOR POINCIANA REAL ESTATE BELOW*** 

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Bryant Tutas
Broker/Owner
Tutas Towne Realty, Inc
Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker
http://www.brokerbryant.com/
***The content of this blog is solely my opinion*** 

 

126 Comments on Trulia Widgets. Are they stealing your Google juice?

Reserved Parking For "The Lovely Wife"...TLW...ROAR!

Blog Boy...

How many times do I have to tell people nothing is REALLY FREE??

Sorry to holler...But gosh...Trojans and FREE go hand in hand.

P.S. I'll try not to mention that this Trulia thing pisses me off :) 

TLW...ROAR!

05/07/2008 02:59 PM by "The Lovely Wife"...Broker Bryant's Wife... (Co-Owner Tutas Towne Realty, Inc.)

Bryant - Personally, I hate widgets.  I can take a shower & choke down a cigarette before being able to log onto some people's blogs because of how long it takes for their blogs to load.   My guess as to why.....Widgets! Ok, now on to check out Eric's post...

05/07/2008 03:04 PM by Jason Sardi, Pennsylvania Mortgage Broker (First Choice Equity Group Inc.)

We are always hearing about adding this and that to our sites.  It just gets to be too much.  Less is often more. 

05/07/2008 03:05 PM by Karen Gentry>>Charlottesville, Virginia Real Estate Professional (RE/MAX Excellence-Charlottesville VA)

Bryant, I checked out your site. FYI:The green was bright.  Anyway, thank you for letting us know this little Trulia secret.  I need to make sure I do not have any of those widgets.  I wonder if I could come up with a widget that can give me everyone else's Google juice?

05/07/2008 03:07 PM by Jimmy McCall~Clarksville's Mortgage Consultant (Legacy Mortgage Services, Inc. ~ Clarksville, Tennessee)

Thanks for blogging about this over here.  We really need to get the word out about linking to Trulia.  Any time you post a Trulia widget, or any time you link to Trulia, you're telling Google that Trulia is the authority, and you're hurting yourself in the search engines.

05/07/2008 03:12 PM by Eric Bramlett (One Source Realty)

Bryant,

Thanks for pointing this out....I got rid of most of my widgets quite a few months back. 

Off to read Eric's post...

Jo 

05/07/2008 03:14 PM by Jo-Anne Smith-Belleville, Quinte and Prince Edward Region Real Estate, Ont. (Royal Lepage Proalliance Realty, Brokerage)

Eric, Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully this will send you some good traffic. I'm not a techie but I'm guessing all these links to our sites, in this post, is a very good thing.

Jimmy, Thank Eric for the Trulia info. I'm just feeding off of his post to give it more exposure. By the way my sites are all blue. What's the green? Am I missing something? 

Karen, I have always been a fan of less is more. Unless of course we are talking money.

Jason, I remember a while back when Brad Andersohn crashed his blog he had so many widgets!!!

TLW, Are you yelling at folks? I guess they best listen then!!!

05/07/2008 03:20 PM by Bryant Tutas-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc

BB,

Nothing is really free..only AR. I keep waking up from having bad dreams...the dreams of paying AR..hopefully that will never happen.

05/07/2008 03:21 PM by Neal Bloom-Realtor ® Assoc.-CRS-Weston FL (RE/MAX Premier Associates)

I don't know if it will do any good trying to spread the word about the evils of Trulia, Homesdotcom  and Realtordotcom. Your average Realtor is not very tech savvy in the first place and there is only space for ten of us on the top of each google results page. Your average Realtor (not us web nerds) may actually do better with these evil mega companies than trying to get their own sites to rank.

05/07/2008 03:22 PM by Michael Brown (The Brown & West Team @ OAA)

Bryant;

Great post and well said.  Thanks for keeping it in the public eye! Nicely done

 

Eric 

05/07/2008 03:25 PM by Eric Blackwell

Good job- keep up the good work educating all the real estate agents. 

05/07/2008 03:27 PM by Bob Lipply

Hmm, very very interesting. I'm happy I don't use any of their widgets. 

05/07/2008 03:28 PM by Robert Schwabe - Orange Park Real Estate (Coldwell Banker Tatum, Williams)

I don't understand the Trulia widget craze... why would you want to send your hard-earned leads to another website, especially one that doesn't retain your contact info?

When I click through on a Trulia widget listing in Los Angeles, CA, it shows me "Robert and Katrina" as the listing agents, but my info is nowhere to be found. I'm sure these are nice people, but if I send a buyer to them, I want to do it knowingly and with a referral agreement in place.

Use your IDX instead - it's not a freebie, but it does have the ability to capture prospect contact info. This is why you have a website anyways, isn't it?

 

05/07/2008 03:32 PM by Linda Slocum, Santa Clarita Realtor (RE/MAX of Santa Clarita in Valencia)

I was wondering how those sites get top ranking on so many key words, and I never thought about widgets being part of their strategy.  Thank you for providing me with my "Ahhh" moment of the day.  Luckily(?) I'm not that far evolved, so I hadn't experienced widget mania yet. 

05/07/2008 03:33 PM by Matt Moxhay Moorestown Real Estate (Prudential Fox & Roach)

Great post Bryant.  I guess its a good thing I never started with the widgets.  Trulia certainly seems to be a very hot topic these days. 

05/07/2008 03:35 PM by Morris County New Jersey (Realtor)

Good points Eric and Linda. Trulia is out to help Trulia. Every time you visit that site, add CONTENT to it by filling out Trulia answers, you are giving them credence as a real estate resource. Make no mistake, they are in business to make money and will do so by capturing customer leads that could have found YOUR site instead. As Brian points out, they are listed as an expert in his area which they aren't? Why? Because lots of agents spend time on their site giving them free original content and links which google really likes.

So get rid of your links to Trulia from your websites and blogs or you'll be competing with them (and losing) pretty soon if they aren't already. -Charles

05/07/2008 03:40 PM by Jacqulyn Richey - Las Vegas Real Estate (Prudential)

I've been telling folks this for years, but, HEY!  who listens to me?

Every time one of these jokers calls me and wants to sell me something, they always start off with "we can blah, blah for you". 

I keep telling them that all I want them to do is "Get out of my way".

No widgets for gadgets or other stuff for me.  Just good old fashioned SEO is all I need.  I'm everywhere.  From time to time, for some searches, one of my sites will even come up above Trulia or Homes.com. 

But, not often enough. 

05/07/2008 03:40 PM by Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Real Estate

Thanks for the heads up Bryant and Eric.  Anyone using Trulia's widgets should certainly remove them from their site ASAP!

They need us to provide them the listing data, and then they want us to link to them so they can rank well in Google...  all so they can sell you a featured advertising spot on their site.  Without your data and links they have nothing to sell!

05/07/2008 03:50 PM by Jim Olenbush - Cantera Real Estate, Inc.

Broker Bryant, Laurie Manny gave me such a warning a long time ago. WOW. Do you suggest I take off my sidebar listing widgget by Vflyer?

05/07/2008 04:30 PM by Camarillo CA Real Estate Agent/ Mana Tulberg (Beach View Real Estate)

Bryant - more and more I think it's important to focus on local market share with your website. I'm curious - do you get more traffic to BrokerBryant.com or poincianaproperties.com ?

05/07/2008 05:14 PM by Bo Buchanan, Oswego (Kettley, Oswego)

BB:

Great post!  Jason knocked off all my widgets a few weeks ago because of concerns like this. 

He also hasn't done the blog customizer for me because the project wasn't originally sanctioned by Active Rain.  It was more or less just done.  After it was launched...what could AR do?  Say, "NO!" to their members and look like the bad guy?  I think not. 

This is just all my thoughts and opinions BTW.  Nothing has been said to me about it...just what I think and why I won't be doing it.

05/07/2008 05:52 PM by Jessica Horton (Brio Realty)

I have always been leery about widgets...now I know why.  Funny though, when you search my area they aren't near the top of the results.  It's beyond me too:)

05/07/2008 05:52 PM by Lake Norman Real Estate ~ Diane Aurit (RE/MAX at the Lake)

Ignorance is Trulia blissful. Don't know how to load a widget, code a widget, starve a widget, nurse a widget, chase a widget ... I guess I'm good.

05/07/2008 06:18 PM by Andrew J. Lenza (ABR*GRI*MBA) Monmouth County NJ Real Estate Broker (Andrew J. Lenza Realty)

Unless Trulia secretly owns one of the widgets I have embedded, then I'm not doing them any favors. But that is really shady if that's what they're up to!

05/07/2008 06:32 PM by Lisa Hill (Daytona Beach REALTOR®) (Adams Cameron and Company)

Yep, Trulia is not giving away stuff for free, it might look like it, but far from it.

05/07/2008 06:46 PM by Kim Kelley (Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty)

I do not like these widgets anyway - I have only one, I think (LOL) and that is just a line up of my 5 most recent posts or something.

They are annoying, slow down page load, etc.  I don't go much for widgets. 

05/07/2008 06:51 PM by Lake Wallenpaupack Pike County PA Real Estate | Karen E Rice (WEICHERT, REALTORS® Paupack Group )

It would be nice to hear some fair & balanced rebuttal from the folks at Trulia before we go on a widget witch hunt...just my $.02 worth

05/07/2008 06:55 PM by Rich Jacobson ~ ActiveRain Community Builder (ActiveRain Corporation)

BB,

Great post!

I use widgetbox.com which helps with our G-Juice.

No complaints as of yet with placement,but will monitor more than before! 

05/07/2008 07:04 PM by Scott Daniels Florida Real Estate 2.0. Agents Earn 100% Commission. (Florida List For Less Realty, Inc.)

Broker Bryant very interesting....maybe I should have checked with the computer scientist.. I have trulia on my website..I have to pop over to the other post!  Thanks :)

05/07/2008 07:05 PM by Midori Miller-Daytona Beach Florida Real Estate Training (CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty)

BB, Thanks for explaining this to the people like me, not technical.  I have a couple of widgets, maybe I will fire them?  I just thought they dressed the page up a bit?  I don't have anything from Trulia.  Gonna go and clean up my act.

05/07/2008 07:07 PM by Audrey June-Forshey, GRI, Gaithersburg, MD (RE/MAX Realty Group)

BB,

 

Thanks for the post...I couldn't agree with you more. Nothing is free. 

05/07/2008 07:12 PM by Eric Egeland (Chicagoland Realtor / Broker) (Re/Max United)

Hi BB - I've read a number of posts this past week about the widgets, especially those from Trulia.  And Trulia people have chimed in on some of those blogs I read this week.  Their widgets do exactly as you've said they do, and some of those posts, and Eric's may have been one of them, have proven this to be true.

Regarding your Homes.com site - you should be able to go into your admin panel and turn all those ads off if you don't want them on there.

The customizing of blogs here that many have done has nothing to do with widgets, especially the kind written about in this post.  I haven't seen any widgets being used in either the backgrounds or the headers, so not sure why that was mentioned above in a comment.

All of those widgets given for 'free' by companies like Trulia aren't given away out of the goodness of their hearts.....

Ann

05/07/2008 07:17 PM by Portsmouth NH Real Estate ~ Ann Cummings (RE/MAX Coast to Coast - Portsmouth New Hampshire)

Eric Bramlett is right on top of this and it is true. Trulia wants you to think they love ya'll and they are here to help agents; Don't you believe that for a minute! It is posts like these that Eric has done that we should all be spreading like wildfire to other agents. Great Investigative Work Eric.

Bryant, thanks for pointing out that article. For the agents that don't believe Trulia is not our friend; Google some Trulia keywords and do a little reading from others. It's all over the net if you want to read it and learn.

By the way, Trulia is not the only 3rd party real estate provider out there trying to make money from your hard work, they are just one of the smarter ones.

05/07/2008 07:22 PM by Florence Oreogn Real Estate ~ Dennis Pease (RE/MAX Integrity)

I have been following the Bloodhound blog for days and completely dis-agree with most of the comments made.  I have been in the internet business for many years and know a lot about SEO and website rankings.  I am pretty confident that placing Trulia widgets on your site is not going to take away your Google juice or have a negative affect on your site ranking.  

Want to know why Trulia outranks most Agent sites?

1. Well constructed and properly optimized pages.

2. Continually changing content and new content added daily and hourly.  This makes Google want to come back again and again to index new Trulia pages.  This is also why AR and many other blogs do well in search engines.

3. Yes - they have lots of links back

Would you stop using AR because AR ranks well in search engines and above many Agent sites? 

How can you as a Realtor do better in search engines? 

Properly optimize your pages and continually add new content that relates to the area and listings you service.  I don't mean add a new page to your site once a month.  I mean add at least 1 to 2 new pages daily and focus those pages around your area or information about your listings.

Get quality, related links back to your site from blogs, online profile pages, social networks, etc.

Setup some live XML feeds on your site so the content continually changes.  Not Javascript feeds but true feeds that resolve as HTML content within your pages (website).

05/07/2008 07:24 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

That is why I never use those widgets on my website...why send consumers off my site? Also, IMO, they look like junk and clutterful...keep it simple is my motto :)

05/07/2008 07:36 PM by Barnett Associates Real Estate, LLC

Most widgets are either Flash based, Javascript based or in iframes.  Search engines don't index Flash, Javascript or iframes, which is another reason I am confident that widgets are not taking away your Google juice.  Trulia's map widget is in an iframe - see below for Trulia's map widget code.

<iframe style="border:none; padding:0px; width:340px; height:329px;" frameborder="0" width="340" height="329" scrolling="no" src="http://truliamap.trulia.com/truliamapapi/a=5fa9ac&u=fd63b6&sid=12&cv=2&v=map&d=source&lat=37.76&lng=-122.45&s=large&r=15&city=&state=">your browser not compatible</iframe>

So most widgets will have no affect on your "Google Juice".

05/07/2008 07:44 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

Thanks for the heads up and I will certainly be looking into these posts.

05/07/2008 07:47 PM by Pam Winterbauer ~ 2006 REALTOR® of the Year (Windermere Welcome Home)

Misty - What sites do you have ranking in competitive markets?

05/07/2008 07:48 PM by Rick

Rick - when you post here under a real account rather than anonymous, I will be more than happy to provide you samples.

05/07/2008 07:52 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

I guess I can create an account later tonight.  Will someone with a real account ask for proof of her expertise?  lol

05/07/2008 07:57 PM by Rick

Rick or whoever you are - it's not about me not wanting to prove to you my expertise.  I just don't like wasting my time responding to posts when the poster is not willing to show who he is.  If you took the time to look at my AR profile and the sites our company runs, you would be able to see the results we get in search engines.

05/07/2008 08:17 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

Misty, I'd love to know, too.  This is a fascinating topic and I am hoping to learn something before I start using widgets and the like.  Thanks!

05/07/2008 08:19 PM by Amanda Hall--Realtor, Fort Worth Texas (Hall Team Homes)

Hey Misty -

Just like I told you at BHB when you accused us of "blaming our poor rankings on Trulia," the bloggers bringing this to light predominantly have high ranking sites in competitive markets.  Personally, I'm top 5 for "austin real estate" and #1 for "austin condos."

Now...onto your flawed analysis:

  1. It's not about leaking PR.  PR Leak was a hot topic 5 years ago.  It doesn't hurt you to link out.  It DOES hurt you to link out to a direct competitor (like Trulia.)  Trulia is "stealing your Google juice" b/c people are unwittingly helping Trulia outrank them.
  2. You're correct that spiders skip flash, and the Trulia widget is flash.  Why don't you take a look at the widget again and tell me about the 2 hard coded links at the bottom of each widget?  What's that?  HTML?  Oh, right - the spiders do read that.

05/07/2008 08:28 PM by Eric Bramlett (One Source Realty)

I dont believe that any of these widgets don't have something that helps Trulia.

05/07/2008 08:31 PM by Russ Ravary-- Michigan Homes for sale-- Your local Real estate & Mortgage person (Remerica Hometown One)

So round 1 took place at BHB and round 2 has been moved here to AR?  Just checking.

05/07/2008 08:34 PM by Amanda Hall--Realtor, Fort Worth Texas (Hall Team Homes)

Eric - yes - I saw the hyperlink on the bottom of the Trulia widget.  A link on a widget back to Trulia is not going to take away rankings from an individual site.  Will it help Trulia overall?  Yes, it helps Trulia get link backs but this is only a very small part of why Trulia ranks well.  I have come across many Agent sites that out rank Trulia for their area and many of the sites that outrank Trulia even have Trulia widgets on them.

05/07/2008 08:37 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

I have to agree with Misty. She is one smart cookie. I know alot about SEO and internet marketing especially outside of our little real estate world. 

I don't like so many widgets because they slow down loading times for those who have dial up. I do use the important tracking ones like cluster maps and mybloglog stats. I also use the Vflyer widget because we get at least 3 buyer leads a week from that little thingy with my listings scrolling on my blog there!

I would not go for the cutesy stuff, the fluff, that is just distracting.

I have seen some AR blog pages with a higher than normal page rank who use Trulia and have their Trulia profile linking to their AR blog. That seemed to be the only difference in a link to their blog.

I don't like Trulia, homes.com, Zillow- for many other reasons but SEO not being one of them. I have them all beat in my market. Point 2 can not even get above me and that is where my website is! My AR blog even beats out my own point 2 website. It is all about making those google spiders love you and keep coming back to be fed some more.:)  

05/07/2008 08:39 PM by Nestor & Katerina Gasset, Realtors® Wellington Florida Luxury Homes (International Properties and Investments, Inc.)

Amanda - see our most recent results from http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/search-engine-exposure.php

We rank on page 1 for thousands of searches.  We even link to Trulia and other directories from time to time.  We allow others to place links on their profile pages back to their sites, etc. and it hasn't harmed our ranking. 

05/07/2008 08:43 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

Misty - 

It's a very large part of why they rank for local real estate terms.  Thousands of on topic links w/ keyword rich anchor text from highly topical websites will tend to make a site rank well.

Replying to your "how to beat Trulia" post.  Content added daily, alone, will NOT make you rank. Creating compelling content that others link to WILL help you rank.  It's the old, "if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it make a sound?"  You can add thousands of pages of fresh content, and if no one finds it compelling and links to you, it will do nothing.  I have friends who have successfully OWNED the serps for years with static sites.

The way to beat Trulia is to make sure that you DON'T link to them, and to make sure that more people DO link to you. 

And yes, please, I would like examples of competitive markets that you have managed to rank highly in. 

05/07/2008 08:44 PM by Eric Bramlett (One Source Realty)

Just saw your response above. Those are about as far from "competitive terms" as you can get.  If I titled a blog with any of those terms, it would outrank any of the corresponding pages.

05/07/2008 08:45 PM by Eric Bramlett (One Source Realty)

Great points.

Giving a 3rd party group like Trulia links from your sites - feeds a dragon that will ultimately come back and bite you.

Hopefully more people will realize that the Trulia widgets that are "free" - are simply too expensive to use and are costing them a LOT in the long run for search engine visibility.

 

Gelding the Trulia widgets with nofollows does a LOT to help stop the link juice that Trulia is stealing from everyone. 

05/07/2008 08:59 PM by Jon Karlen (RE/MAX Properties East)

Guys, google juice never gets stolen. Only when you link to a high percentage of questionable sites, you may become guilty by association. Got it? ;)

05/07/2008 09:05 PM by Mike Dammann (506 Properties Costa Rica, S.A.)

Logged out, but you got me thinking.  Every time, I've had a widget, it shows up pretty prominently on any Google Search.  Makes you want to be more prudent about what little gizmos are attached to sites we work so hard to maintain.  Thanks for the heads up...

05/07/2008 09:12 PM by Lola Audu

 Hi Bryant, as your better half said "nothing is REALLY FREE"... Nothing, nothing, nothing. Everything has a price, even if it isn't obvious. Why is it so difficult for people to get that concept?

05/07/2008 09:15 PM by The Blog Artist - marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing You)

I agree that there is no free lunch.... Trulia is a very smart company. They have to be receiving some benefit for allowing a widget to be used. I myself prefer the less is more route.

Best,

Scott 

05/07/2008 09:23 PM by Scott Cowan -Tacoma & Pierce County Area (Rainier Real Estate, Inc.)

Hi All!

For clarification, I suggest everyone here reads our blog post first before jumping to conclusions - Search Engines, Trulia and Googlygook. 

And, this is what I said previously:

"1. Yes, widgets help Trulia’s SEO
2. Yes, you can add nofollows, but if you are tinkering with the code anyway, it might be easier to just pull the links out
3. We get tons of requests for widgets from agents, so we build them and offer them for free.

No secrets, no Trojan horses, no malicious campaign. By the way…..interested traffic on Trulia is passed to your listings - not your competitor or some other IDX site - helping sellers sell their homes."

In addition, yes, our widget has links to Trulia to show the content attribution. However, many companies that offer widgets include links for content attribution as well. I won't name them but I see them on your sidebars all the time. It's not hard to guess you know.

By the way, the term Trojan Horse is usually associated with viruses, something we clearly do not do. 

Overall, we love everyone's feedback! And yes, we've been listening, as we always do.......................

Thank you,

Rudy

Social Media Guru at Trulia.com 

 

P.S. In case you did not hear, we won the 2008 People's Voice Webby Award yesterday :)

05/07/2008 09:25 PM by rudy bachraty (Trulia.com)

And so the reason I don't do bunches of widgets or have a bunch of outgoing stuff to OTHER sites ....  it takes away from me...the real estate agent :)  As for trojans and viruses ....I don't think that's the correct word for taking away....  we can only give away what we put on to begin with :)

I think I read all this right :)

05/07/2008 09:34 PM by Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman (RA), Hawaii Real Estate & Hawaii Relocation (Century 21 Liberty Homes -Mililani, Hawaii)

Good Post Bryant. I got an e-mail yesterday announcing that my local assoc. just partnered with Trulia giving them access to our MLS and listings. I am not happy about it & sent them a complaint with my opinion. But, I seriously don't think it will do any good. 

05/07/2008 09:34 PM by Jim Houlihan (Coldwell Banker)

Brian...great post and so much information so soak up! I"m bookmarking this to give it a good once over! Thanks for the info.

05/07/2008 09:37 PM by Huntsville, Alabama Real Estate Agent Elizabeth Ramsey Cooper (Remax Huntsville/Madison)

"Guys, google juice never gets stolen. Only when you link to a high percentage of questionable sites, you may become guilty by association."  Very True - well said

"Replying to your "how to beat Trulia" post.  Content added daily, alone, will NOT make you rank."  Very True - one thing alone will not make you rank.  Just like linking to Trulia from a Trulia widget will not take your rankings away.

"If I titled a blog with any of those terms, it would outrank any of the corresponding pages." This is probably true.  Why?  Because your blog is most likely updated often, has links back to it from other online pages and your blog has established a relationship with the serps.  Similar to ActiveRain.

One of the reasons I think more and more Realtors are blogging, using ActiveRain, creating hub pages, online flyers, squidoo pages, etc. is because they have figured out it helps establish quality, related links backs to their website and helps website rankings.

I am not advocating Trulia here and I see other points that people have made about Trulia but in regards to this particular topic, I just don't see the proof.  Yes, Trulia does outrank many Realtor websites but so do many blogs (even Active Rain does).  Should Realtors stop using AR and every other online resource that helps bring in leads and helps sell their listings because these other online resources outrank their site?

If I am a seller and you are my Realtor - I am less concerned about how your site ranks but more concerned on how much exposure you can get my property and how fast you can get it sold.

05/07/2008 09:48 PM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

That's why I haven't added many widgets. My husband warned me about doing that. There are some cute ones that I have added but not without researching first.

05/07/2008 09:55 PM by Christy Powers - Pooler, Savannah Real Estate Agent (Keller Williams Coastal Area Partners)

Great Post.  Thanks for pointing this out I will be reading more on this.

05/07/2008 10:02 PM by Rick Belben - Orlando Real Estate - Orlando Homes For Sale (Amerivest Realty of Central Florida)

Thanks for you info I agree we will look at our site and see what adjustments we need to make. Thanks again for the advice. 

05/07/2008 10:19 PM by Terry Westbrook ~ Realtor(R) Grand Rapids Mi Real Estate Ada/Cascade (Five Star Real Estate, LLC Grand Rapids , MI)

Thanks Bryant. I'll read that post. Nothing about underhandedness on the Internet surprises me anymore.

05/07/2008 10:40 PM by Portland Oregon Real Estate >> Wayne B. Pruner, GRI (Oregon First)

Oh wow, that is an interesting topic.  I did not know widgets affected us in that way.

05/07/2008 11:07 PM by Ryan Vivo, Realtor Solano County Gateway Realty (Gateway Realty)

I have saved those links Bryant. I will be reading all of this a bit later this evening. I had heard that all this free stuff that looks so cool costs us, I just didn't understand , how much. So we all best clean things up and clear out a lot of the tools that make us look so clever but actually may make us less often found in searches. Great Post and many thanks for this very useful information.

05/07/2008 11:19 PM by The Real Estate Text Book authored by William Johnson GRI CRS e-PRO (RE/MAX Associates)

Aloha Bryant,

Thank you for your informative post. I've heard rumors of widgets doing all sorts of nasty things covertly, however, it seems in your paticular situation it's more appearent. Watch out for the sticky widgets!

Peace,

05/07/2008 11:32 PM by Kimo Stowell (JDS Consulting Staging & Interiors)

Bryan, I've been drinking a lot of gogiberry juice, and every time I read about Trulia stealing Google Juice, I'm afraid they're sabotaging my diet!

05/07/2008 11:38 PM by Patricia Kennedy (Evers & Company)

BB, I have been hearing more about removing widgets from SEO posts for a while.  I did like Rudy's (social Media Guru at Trulia.com) comment in your post.  I think we really need a techy to explain the pros and cons... ARE WE GIVING AWAY OUR GOOGLE JUICE?  aj

05/07/2008 11:38 PM by Alan 'AJ' Nisen California Contra Costa Mortgage Officer (A Large Bank in America)

For this exact reason my business will not use them,

Thanks for the update.  Sometimes it is good to be extra cautious!

Tom Davis Realtor - DE

05/07/2008 11:38 PM by Delaware Real Estate :Dover Homes: Tom Davis : Delaware Real Estate Search:FREE (FREE: Home Search: Delaware: Harrington ERA Realty: DOVER:DE)

I have been involved in SEO for a decade.  I'm sorry Misty, but on this topic you really don't know what you are talking about.

Picking a random city... Chicago. OK I see Trulia's Chicago page is number 2 in the results for "Chicago Real Estate".  Not bad!  Now we look at the links pointing to Trulia's Chicago page.  I see that Chicago agents are linking to this page with the phrase "Chicago Real Estate"  See the bottom of the Trulia widget on this Chicago agent's page http://www.davenimick.com/myhomes.asp  Now Google sees that lots of Chicago real estate sites link to this Trulia page with the phrase "Chicago Real Estate", and Trulia does not link back to them.  It is not rocket science.  Google's algorithm takes note that the agents are voting for Trulia and endorsing it as the authority site for "Chicago Real Estate".

Now, the outgoing link from your site may not be hurting your site's "juice", but if you are currently ranking less than the number 2 spot you are being hurt.  Trulia is pushing your site down in the results by taking a spot ahead of you, and they are capturing visitors that you could be getting.  On top of that you may be sending your own visitors away to Trulia's site when they click the link.

Trulia does have a well designed site, and that helps.  But you also need incoming links and content to rank well... Both of those things are being provided by the agents!!  Now that you have uploaded your content and added your links to them, they will let you pay a monthly fee to feature your own listings! Isn't that great!?!  Thanks Trulia!

05/07/2008 11:44 PM by Jim Olenbush - Cantera Real Estate, Inc.

Some widgets are useful and even helpful....the rest are a waste of space, but I am concerned with the increasing number of big websites like Home.com that are stealing google juice and making it very difficult for individual Realtors to get at the top of the pile. Many of these are lead generators that put a pile of cash into a web site that merely "scrapes" our listing information and displays it (there must be a copyright law about this) and uses that lead to attract buyers/sellers. Then they sell said lead back with nothing more than an name phone or email  address which may or may not be real  for a ridiculously hefty fee.  All these "services" are a waste of space that adds an extra middle man and will only increase what it costs to do business.  This is nonsense as it offers no value to the consumer or the agent. 

05/07/2008 11:45 PM by Ruthmarie Hicks (Nelson-Vrooman GMAC)

I didn't know that about widgets but it sure makes sense!  I will have to read the blog you linked to.  Thanks for the info, I won't be using the Trulia widget, that's for sure!

05/07/2008 11:47 PM by Colorado Springs Realty Patricia Beck (Prudential Professional Realtors, GRI)

A lot of these sites are getting you to give them access to your content so they can rank higher.

05/07/2008 11:54 PM by Spokane Realtor - Rick Callaham (Team Quintana Real Estate)

Jim - links from Realtor sites or widgets to Trulia in itself is not making Trulia dominate the search engines.  That's only 1 small piece of the puzzle.  It's a combination of many things.  That combination of things is what many Realtors are lacking in their own sites.

Look at Realtor.com, Homes.com, Yahoo Real Estate and many of the other Real Estate specific directories that dominate the search engines and outrank many Realtor websites.  Hey even look at Active Rain that outranks many Realtor websites.  Do they have Real Estate widgets that are allowing them to dominate the search engines?  Or could it possibly be a combination of things that many Realtors are not putting in place within their own sites?

I am just not convinced that Trulia's widgets are what is allowing them to dominate the search engines.

05/08/2008 12:25 AM by Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC)

Brian, good information to know. I, too, have a Homes.com site........AND after they went "away" for a couple of weeks twice in one year (I think 2005 or 2006) I decided to garner more names and websites. This is an interesting discussion indeed. ;-)

Pepper

05/08/2008 12:28 AM by Mesa, Arizona Real Estate *** Teri Ellis, Broker, ABR,CRS,GRI,ePRO,MRE (Homes Arizona Real Estate LLC)

Just another reason I don't have a widget on my site besides the one to get my posts delivered to your e-mail inbox.

05/08/2008 12:56 AM by Todd Clark (Realtor), GRI (Washington Co, Beaverton, Oregon) (Kastings & Associates, Oregon)

Well, I read those posts and quite