Recently there have been rumors spreading around the internet about Google purchasing the Real Estate Engine Trulia.  A lot of Realtors that I have been talking to  are not aware of this, or if they are they do not really see the value in something like this.  Let me try to explain how I see this being a boom or a bust for you, the agent.  If you are ready for it.

Lets look at the numbers:

Trulia claims to expose agents listings to over 5million searchers each month (http://www.trulia.com/agents/)  Google claims to have over 2.7Billion searches in a month (http://searchenginewatch.com/2156461). While the numbers posted on Trulia’s website may seem nice, they are not the bigger fish in the market. Zillow, eclipses them almost 200% more unique visits each month (http://siteanalytics.compete.com/trulia.com+zillow.com/). The smaller figure of visitors though, makes them a perfect target for a Google, Bing etc.

As we can see from the search trends for “homes for sale” (http://google.com/trends?q=Homes+For+Sale&ctab=0&geo=us&geor=all&date=all&sort=0) we can see that over the last 4 years searches for real estate have remained fairly static despite the slump in the market.  This was also seen in the visitor stats for companies like Trulia and Zillow. This means that from a search engine’s perspective, this is a viable and sustainable market for growth through integration.

Let’s look at how the acquisition would affect google, and you the agent:

1. Further market share of search for Google
2. More leads for companies that are poised and ready for the integration
3. Higher emphasis on local search optimization

Google already owns 75+% of the search market, but is having to maintain this market share with upstarts like Bing! gaining ground every month.  One way that they can do this is by capturing off-page, non-search traffic into their system.  If Trulia is getting 2.7 million uniques a month, and Zillow is getting 4+ million uniques – that is almost 7 million unique searches a month that Google loses each month.  The ad revenue through adwords, and adsense is staggering.  Now if Google was able to recapture even 50% of the 7 million unique visitors each month it could further solidify the market share, drive uniques away from competition, and increase ad volume for competitive key terms even higher.

Since Google does capture 75+% of the search traffic on the internet, and there has not been a big increase or decrease in search volume for these terms, it would only mean that companies that are optimized for the proper key terms are poised to increase their share of the increased traffic volume through the engine.   We work with agents all the time, who have either poorly constructed, badly optimized or under-marketed websites and are looking to increase the leads generated.   What many fail to realize is that generating leads through your website can be easy or hard depending on your tactic.  If you want to know more about how to do this, contact us for details.

Agents, and brokerages need to be sure that they have properly seo’ed their sites for their target keywords, setup proper url structures, have great title tags, and optimized their local search options.  Google will NOT care who you are as long as you can provide the best user experience.   This means that smaller boutique shops like Arbour Realty in Arlington VA has as much chance of someone searching for a home through their site, as a large firm such as Long & Foster – but only if they are properly optimized.  With the integration of real estate listings into search, traffic to sites that are not properly optimized should see traffic fall off sharply.  This will be partially due to the lack of clients needing to click through to your site to see the data they want, and the fact that users will put a higher emphasis on the speed, accuracy, and relevancy of the information you are trying to provide them.

One of the key ways that Google could implement the integration of Trulia into their product line would be in the local campaign that they are doing.  Google is very vocal about personalization, and localization of search.  They further solidified this with their recent “I’m A Favorite Place” campaign, which includes individual real estate agents.  Google has also been testing the inclusion of known real estate listings into real time search via the “7 pack” (when you see the map, and 7 businesses in your search results).   To me, it looks like Google has been testing out the functions, getting ready to either compete or integrate.

So what Does This All Mean:

• Do I think that Google acquiring Trulia is a good thing? YES
• Do I think that many agents are ready? NO
• Do I think that Local Search will have a larger impact on your SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Position)? YES
• Do I think that sites like Zillow will see a surge or drop in traffic? I lean toward a drop
• Do I think that adsense and adwords will become more expensive for site owners? YES (only 5-7% though)

There are many things we still need answers on, and this is still an early analysis. Agents, need to be ready to handle a jump in traffic, or loss due to integration of the listings into search.  Agents, also need to be ready to increase their exposure through social media campaigns.  These type of “trust” building campaigns will only help to increase the brand of the agent, or brokerage, and help drive the user to their site directly.

Digital Pure is here to help you.  We only perform 100% white hat, legal optimization.  This means that you are “future proofing” your site from changes with the engines.  We also include a full local search campaign with all our campaigns.  So if you need a new site, or your site needs to be redesigned – we can help.  If you need to start, or jump start your site optimization – we can help.   If you need help managing, or starting your social media identity contact us.   We are here to help make sure that you meet your website goals.  Choose a solution with a purpose from Digital Pure, LLC.

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