Is Google a Scraper Site?
This is why we need an open MLS. A site that allows you to post your listing and do what you want with the feed. NO NAR involved. It would be just like Trulia or Zillow but without valuation or questions just listings. You could pay $10-15/month and list what you want, branded virtual tours. pics, etc.
Anybody want help me start it?
Is Google a Scraper site?
If not then why is NAR lumping Google and all search engines together in the same policy?
On this post you wil read the conversation Morgan Carey had with Chris Niersbach concerning this policy.
If you don't know what I am talking about, then you need to read the following posts and get a grasp of this issue before us. Colleen and Joe Lane posted on it this week, and it was featured. But, only 45 comments??????
The issue began on Agent Genius with this post.
You need to go read this post and then come back so you have a grasp of the issue. Go ahead I will wait.
Folks this is a Critical Issue, the rule is outdated, and needs to be changed immediately. It in a nutshell prevents us from having our listings indexed by Google and other search engines yet allows the 3rd party vendors to take our data, sell it back to use in many cases and not allow us to promote our listings or any other listing through our IDX sites.
My goal when I list a home is to GET AS MUCH EXPOSURE FOR MY SELLERS AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.
I don't care if I am a Keller Williams agent and my listing is on another site, I want it there. Consumers come to us through many portals, the more the merrier.
I want that house sold.
I want Google to index them.
Now my IDX site is framed so I don't get indexed per listings but I don't want 3rd party vendors, who don't belong to NAR and don't have to follow the rules have an unfair advantage. I certainly don't want Realtor.com to be able to do what we can't do which is index them according to how they choose, and not allow Realtors to do so.
Do you ?
Do you want Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow ranking higher than you in SERPS because of an old antiquated NAR, MLS rule created in 2005? Shouldn't we all have an equal advantage in the indexing of our data if we want it?
The MLS Forum will be held The MLS Forum will be next Thursday, May 14, 2009 beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Regency Ballroom, Lower Level, Omni Shoreham Hotel.
Jay Thompson and Paula Henry have been asked to speak before the committee. If you are going to NAR Mid-Year attend this meeting. You can also contact Chris Niersbach at: cniersbach@realtors.org and express your views.
This comment is from Morgan's blog on his response to Mr. Niersbach at NAR.
The "NEW" arguement here seems to be that Google (a search engine) is being lumped in as a scraper site - and our contention is that Google is NOT a scraper site, rather a technology (just like a browser) with a significant user base with which the public access websites. Google simply tells the user where to go - they are not creating web pages of their own out of the data they index. I am sorry, but I just simply do not see how NAR could consider a search engine to fit under the same designation as a "scraper site"
Here is the defination of a Scraper Site from Wikipedia: A scraper site is a website that copies all of its content from other websites using web scraping.[1] No part of a scraper site is original.[citation needed] A search engine is not a scraper site:[citation needed] sites such as Yahoo and Google gather content from other websites and index it so that the index can be searched with keywords. Search engines then display snippets of the original site content in response to a user's search.
My favorite part of the discussion is from the Zebra, Daniel Rothamel, "the fact that REALTOR.com uses the same data that brokers use, from the same source (the MLS of the local association), but are not required to adhere to the same rules, is UNCONSCIONABLE. It is completely indefensible. The fact that our National Association controls the use of its data by its paying members, but not by a private company, is a disgrace."
So to answer my own question?
No, Google is not a scraper site and this rule needs to be changed so our listings can be indexed.
***********************************************************
Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com
Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.
Thinking of selling your home?
Comments (0)Subscribe to CommentsComment