I TAKE THE LIBERTY OF POSTING THIS OPEN LETTER RECEIVED ON MY EMAIL TODAT 09.27.14
It concerns all Real Estate agents at KELLER WILLIAMS in Las Vegas (and I supposed all agents that use MARKET LEADER generic websites) Not only because interfere with our business but also because MARKET LEADER keep this situation unresolved for more than 2 - 3mo. and is not willing to do anything about it! they are vage, unprofessional and uncooperative.
EVERYONE WITH A MARKET LEADER WEBSIDE SHOULD CHECK THE RANKING ON GOOGLE SEARCH
Good Evening KW,
Recently, I have noticed that the amount of leads I was getting as a result of my SEO (search engine optimization) work has practically dissappeared. Yesterday afternoon, while investigating the problem, I noticed that my website was no long included in the indexes for major searches engines, such as Google. What this means is that my website will never show up in any search results on the internet.
I thought this problem was isolated to myself due to heavy inter-linking or content issues, but after further investigation this morning, we have confirmed that it is affecting almost every single eEdge website account at Keller Williams (100,000+). If it hasn't affected you, it will in time, only because the search engines have not recently crawled your website pages. I believe the problem has been going on for at least 2-3 month, possibly longer. I have no idea how this hasn't come to the attention of at least one other KW's agent in the country to date, but nontheless, we are aware of the problem now.
I have been in contact with Market Leader, but I have been getting mixed answers/resolutions today. One representative has indicated it is Google's fault, while another is telling us they are working on resolving the situation.
The problem appears to be with a file called "Robots.txt". This file is not accessible by end users like ourselves, but only by Market Leader. The file gives instructions to internet spiders/crawlers as to where to place out websites with regards to search engine results. From what I have seen so far today, the file had specific instructions to spiders/crawlers to NOT include our websites in search engine results. The file instructions were obviously changed at some point in the past few months.
Regardless of the outcome, for those of you who have worked to have your page rank higher on search engine results, that work is most likely been lost forever. For most of us, that work dates back to the launch of eEdge in April of 2011.
With the weekend almost upon us, I do not expect an resolution from Market Leader until sometime next week. It is on their radar, but I encourage you to call their technical support line and complain. If no one can find your website on the internet, you are losing money!
On a more positive note, a few of us will be hiking Raintree and Mummy Springs at Mount Charleston tomorrow morning. We will be meeting in the Smith's parking lot on N Durango, just south of the 95 at 5:30AM, SHARP. The weather will be chilly and there is a slight chance of rain, so if you plan to come, dress accordingly.
As I receive additional updates with regards to Market Leader, I will share them with the office accordingly. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the slighly cooler tempartures.
Yours in Real Estate,
REALTOR®
Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada 89117
And here is the answer I received from Technical Support
Arina, We have absolutely nothing to do with your search engine ranking. The content on your website, as well as the amount of time you have had your domain are both contributing factors to your SEO. If you have any questions of why you are no longer ranked as high, I would suggest contacting Google. We have made zero changes to your domain within our domain registrar. The only thing that could have affected your SEO in a negative way is your editing of the website. If you are still concerned, I am more than happy to transfer this domain to your ownership. If you are still concerned about this, I am more than happy to transfer the domain ownership to you. Like I said, I can assure you that we have not made any changes and any further questions should be directed to a search engine. Thank you. Nate Proulx | Operation Specialist Market Leader, Inc. | www.Marketleader.com natep@Marketleader.com | (877) 732-7519
Nothing in this email is constructive or helpfull but contrary is dismissive and unprofessional
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