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Forget 2008, how did you rank in Google back in 2001?!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Globrix

The internet has become such an important part of our lives. We book our holidays with it, read the news with it, some of us even find our life partners with it! And lets face it, it's changed the world of real estate! But how many of us were saying "oh just look it up on Google" ten years ago?

Not many of us, because a decade ago Google was still all new and shiny, just launched to the world wide web and probably none the wiser that it would become the world's favourite website.

To celebrate Google's tenth birthday, they've brought back the 2001 version for us to play with.

Searching 'property blog' on the 2001 archive brings up 2,310 results (of which none are actually property blogs) compared with today's 13,600,000 results for property blog, most of which are pretty darn accurate.

ActiveRain must have just been the apple of Jon Washburn's eye back in 2001, as ActiveRain only got two results on old Google...and neither of these were property related ;-) Today, you're looking at 1,810,000 results for our favourite real estate blogging community.

Searching for 'Globrix' (the property search engine I work for here in the UK) in 2001 would have brought you, well, nothing. Search for Globrix today and there are around 762,000 results.

'Real estate' has always been a popular search term it seems, even in 2001 you could have found 11.5million results, but compare that to today's 624million results and you can see that the world of online real estate has come along way. Buyers are now spoilt for choice when looking for property for sale.

I have to say I was impressed to see that when googling myself (not as dirty as it sounds) on the 2001 version of Google I found two accurate results, one a review of BBC comedy The League of Gentleman and the other a review of a new Destiny's Child album...what an uber cool 14 year old I was, hmmmm.

Go search crazy on the old Google here, and sit back and think how of how far we've come in just seven years.

Audrey June-Forshey
RE/MAX Realty Services - Darnestown, MD
GRI, Gaithersburg, MD

That was interesting for sure.  Interesting how the first two pages were dominated, at least in my area, by corporate real estate sites, or more third party sites.  very cool.

Oct 01, 2008 03:20 AM
Jo Olson
HOMEFRONT Realty - Kettle Falls, WA
Retired - HOMEFRONT Realty @ LAKE Roosevelt

How fun! In 2001 I had been in real estate for 7 years, I can find my name on page one for being the President of the local high school PTSA - but no real estate mention. Today I fill the first 5 full pages of google for my name search. Wow - what a difference!

Oct 01, 2008 03:58 AM
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Agent - Rebecca Skane, Realtor®, e-PRO®
Keller Williams Coastal Realty - Portsmouth, NH

I think it is amazing thaht Active Rain was alive back then!

Oct 01, 2008 04:38 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Well, I came up as #7 for my own name, number #1 for my (then) business name, and #5 for "Virtual Office Assistant" (there were no results back then for "Real Estate Virtual Assistant" - now it says there are about 25,000 of us!)  Cool post!

Oct 01, 2008 04:58 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

What great information!!!  Thanks for pointing me to it and sharing those stats with the community!

Oct 01, 2008 05:08 AM
Pippa Mac
Chevaux Group Realtor, The Woodlands and Spring - The Woodlands, TX
The Woodlands TX Real Estate

Poppy ... that is funny .. thanks for sharing!  I didn't even know what Google was back then.

Oct 01, 2008 06:24 AM
Erika Paul
Hallmark Sotheby's International Realty - Hopkinton, MA

I certainly say "google it" more than I ever thought possible. Great post!! Can't wait to check out the old link. Thanks for sharing!

Oct 01, 2008 07:03 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Hey Poppy Great post, it was not clear to me how could I check out the old link to 2001? Could you enlighten me? Thank you in advance, Cheers, Endre p.s.: never mind I went back to your post and figured out:))Thanx

Oct 01, 2008 08:05 AM
Lola Audu
Lola Audu~Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI Real Estate - Grand Rapids, MI
Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI ~Welcome Home!

Poppy, this was fun!  I looked back and was able to take a peek at my first website.  What a difference a decade makes. :)  Thanks for the links and the memories...

Oct 01, 2008 09:19 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Results 1 - 10 of about 384 for missy caulk. (0.15 seconds)  in 2001

Results 1 - 10 of about 31,100 for missy caulk. (0.30 seconds)2009

Amazing, isn't it. Thanks for sharing this,  very cool.

Oct 01, 2008 10:21 AM
Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)

Poppy - I saw this mentioned on Twitter a few times yesterday, and I was astounded to see just how different the results really were seven years ago.  Most of the big players back then don't even exist now in my market.

Oct 01, 2008 10:27 AM
Joshua & Kathy Schmidt
ERA Henley Real Estate - Cabot, AR

Poppy,

     That is a pretty neat thing Google has done.  It is amazing the distance we have came in technology in just 7 years.  I have googled a few things about the local market and it is amazing the results.  I just had to check out what some of my brokers were doing 7 years ago.  Kind of funny!

Oct 01, 2008 11:57 AM
TIM MONCRIEF
Tim Monciref - Austin, TX
Over 2,000 homes sold…..

So where will we be in 5 years....10 years?  After such a major change in the industry over such a short period of time it is beyond comprehension where we will be in 10 years.  Maybe I will know by then how to blog.........

Oct 01, 2008 02:39 PM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Interesting look back, and a lot has changed since then. I'm already focusing on 2009, and looking forward to seeing the search results change early next year.

Oct 01, 2008 02:54 PM
Diane Bell, Hilton Head Real Estate, Bluffton
Charter 1 Real Estate, Hilton Head, Bluffton, SC - Hilton Head Island, SC

It's hard to believe Google's been around that long.  Well, as they say, time flies!

Oct 02, 2008 12:00 AM
Judy Greenberg
Compass - Long Grove, IL
Compass- Long Grove -Buffalo Grove

Google is awesome and always saves the day. The other day someone spiilled candle wax on an oriental rug and the first thing everyone in the room said was go google how to get rid of it. 

the answer- take a paper bag and place it over the wax and then iron it out.  It worked perfectly!

Oct 02, 2008 12:51 AM
Mike Schwiebert
INI Realty Investments, Inc. - Fleming Island, FL
904HomeStore.com

Hi Poppy,

Such a cool post. It is crazy to think back ten years and remember how many people did not even use computers. Then you think about PDAs and cell phones and people thought you were wealthy because you had the new Palm pilot. It is strange to think how we would have lived life today if we did not have the technology, but try to imagine how many of us would be able to function today without these luxuries... yikes!

When are you coming to get the key lime pie? :)

 

 

 

Oct 02, 2008 01:42 AM
C Tann-Starr
Tann Starr & Associates, Inc. - Palm Bay, FL

Mike S, too funny! You make great points. :-)

Oct 02, 2008 05:54 PM
Tony Sena
Shelter Realty, Inc - Henderson, NV
Broker/Property Manager

Out of the top 10 for my key words, only 1 site is still in the top 10 from 2001, I think that is pretty amazing!

Oct 02, 2008 06:03 PM
Dick & Sandy Beals
Wilmington Real Estate 4U Wilmington, NC - Wilmington, NC

Hi Poppy,

In 2001 we were #2 for the term Wilmington Real Estate....now it is #13, so tenure has kept us there, and SEO has not helped.  Same web site and provider now for the last 10 years....back to the drawing board.  Enjoy the new job!

Dick Beals

Oct 02, 2008 11:47 PM