Maybe I should not even ask...
Should your IDX be in an iframe or not?
spam from "Listingware" made me do it... made me ask today should your IDX be in an iframe or not?
" Check out Listingware's indexable IDX. Anyone using it? "
The comment was on Jeff Corbett's Indexable IDX Questions post from January 2010.
Back in early 2010 Jeff C. wrote:
"First things first…Why is this a big deal to begin with? IDX solutions are typically framed in to web/blogsites and offer little to no SEO value. An indexable IDX effectively creates separate posts for every listing, thus creating GOBS of real estate and general property related content that the Search Engines can’t help but crawl all over and index. "
We were discussing the question on Facebook a couple of days ago... kinda. There was a featured, public, post on ActiveRain that brought up the question...
IDX = Internet Data Exchange - The mechanism to let consumers search the MLS on a site
MLS = Multiple Listing Service (or Major League Soccer?)
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
...the ActiveRain post about IDX and SEO got unfeatured. The post which was public went Members Only and then disappeared all together... but the post on ActiveRain member Victoria Stankard's WordPress site is still available. I hope it is OK for me to post it here....
Choosing the right IDX/MLS solution for your real estate needs
I believe this is the same post that started a firestorm on ActiveRain. Or perhaps the missing ActiveRain post was slightly different. While I can not tell you what was in the comments....because it went MO.... and ultimately MIA , it got a lot of discussion. A lot of the discussion was not about indexable vs. non indexable... the comments got... let's say off topic.
MO = Members Only
MIA = Missing in Action
In her post on her WordPress site Victoria gives a thumbs up to IDX in an iframe. If I understand it correctly (and I asked the other day for clarification.... as a firestorm happened on ActiveRain) iframes are not indexable?
On her WordPress site Victoria wrote:
"3). IFRAME – This type of IDX solution has a bad rap, but the fact remains that when a broker creates links to specific links the searcher gets what they want, but also, that gives more SEO depth than publishing duplicate content. Do you really want the same search pages indexed that every other website has also created? That my friends is duplicate content and will NOT help your website rankings or search engine placement. One of the best ways to use Iframe is to write up some optimized content on the page or post, then embed the property search Iframe below it or simply link to the appropriate property search page WITHIN your own website that has iframe."
Is there a duplicate content problem?
Other SEO / marketing people seem to have a different opinion than Victoria about this question. Jon Hardison said something in a comment in another Members Only post that would lead me to believe that we (real estate agents ) should know the difference and be discussing it to make informed decisions. Since it was a Members Only post I can NOT tell you what Jon said but Indexable or not indexable that is the question... or isn't it? Is the question something else?
Disclosure Jon is husband of Inna, son-in-law of Jon Z and seems like he is qualified to discuss this and we are talking about WordPress blogs and SEO not choosing sides for a game of kick the can.
Photo credit thanks to Cuttlefish for allowing the top photo, "day 162: detroit, framed" to be shared. Thanks to ghentooo for allowing "framed Riebmann" to be shared. Both frame photos are licensed with a Creative Commons license which allows commercial use.
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