There’s always something to howl about.

Number 1 Expert and Opt Out Web Template Widgets – Why put your website clients at risk?

I have been trying to think of a way to explain what has been going through my mind in plain english. Here’s my attempt:

When Galen first posted about Trulia’s aggressive no-following of listings links, it was a bit technical for many folks to follow, but it set off alarm bells everywhere. Then Eric Bramlett pointed out the SYSTEMIC, SECRETIVE, USE OF OPT OUT TRULIA WIDGETS ON NUMBER 1 EXPERT SITES.. (Also here.) Let me break it down so that it is more easy to grasp:

SYSTEMIC: Number One Expert applied them all at once (or very quickly) to a number of their templated real estate websites.

SECRETIVE: They put the widgets at the BOTTOM of an internal page (in most cases) BUT on one that usually gets GOOD authority from the front page of the site. This is secretive, because they will attract VERY little traffic and attention. Without checking their backlinks, we would not have known they were there. They are placed IMO where they will do VERY little good in keeping traffic and NO good in attracting traffic.

Also, they were secretive in that they did not let their clients know that they did this! They just took the prerogative and popped them on the templates. How do I know? I have asked several real estate agents who are their clients and NOT ONE of them knew that the widgets were there. PERIOD>

OPT OUT WIDGETS: This means that if you want to take these widgets off of your site you MUST call them and ask them to take them off of your site. This is the FIRST time (that I am aware of) of having a website provider slap THOUSANDS of widget links to another competiting site for the same LOCAL terms and MAKE YOU CALL TO GET IT REMOVED.

Why are MANY people saying that it looks like a paid link? It is because that is the ONLY thing we can think of why Number 1 Expert would do this! It puts their clients sites (In my opinon) at unneeded risk! They put TENS of THOUSANDS of links on their clients’ sites and they HAVE to know that it will get some scrutiny from Matt Cutts when Trulia starts ranking everywhere in the search engine results.

Oops. Let me be more clear. Matt Cutts is the Google guy who is tasked with being both an ombudsman to the webmaster community at large as well as heading up their SPAM team. Basically between Trulia and Number 1 Expert they have painted Google into a corner.

If Google does not address it and let’s it stand, then there will MORE that will and could do this. In a previous post’s comment, I used the example of a one franchise chain getting with one of the other major real estate website builders. It could be anyone though and NOT just in the real estate business. That is not a good prospect for them. They want RELEVANT search results and 10 TRULIA’S does not make for relevance.

If Google PENALIZES the Number 1 Expert sites, (as one might expect if they thought this was a PAID link scheme-penalize the SELLER), then they have punished a bunch of individual REALTORS just for the act of being a Number 1 Expert customer. These folks get hit and then just say, huh? What happened? …but Google cannot just penalize Number1expert.com either…because will not have a deterrent effect at all. But then what happens if they were in fact NOT paid? (as Trulia has claimed).

This is why it really bites to be the guy at Google who makes these calls.

If Google DEVALUES the links on these widgets, then at least they are not rewarding Trulia for doing this..

But why should Google have to take action at all? Just my opinion, but you guys at Number 1 Expert could EASILY make them OPT IN instead of OPT OUT. That seems to me to be a natural line of demarcation that is doing the right thing.

I LIKE good widgets. (and I cannot lie…GRIN) I use them on some of my blogs. I am HAPPY to link back to the creators of the widgets, theme designers and others who help make blogging easy and fun. So if someone wants to use the Trulia Widgets and you understand that there are links there. BEAUTIFUL. It is your blog and your call, because YOU UPLOADED THEM or CREATED THEM YOURSELF.

BUT, Number1Expert this is just one dog…calling on you to do the RIGHT thing and pull them down. Stop running the OPT OUT WIDGET MACHINE on REALTORS who have NO idea they are tilting the playing field in Trulia’s favor. Heck, most of them have no idea they are even there! You are putting your customers’ web presences in jeopardy and there is no reason for that. Are those widgets way down at the bottom of your /myhomes.asp pages REALLY worth that?

And Trulia…the part that really chaps me:

As Mike Farmer noted in his blog…No Agent Required. Hmmm…yeah…partners alright. In an abusive relationship, maybe. Do you guys realize how offensive that is to REALTORS? And yet you are using links from REALTOR sites all over the country to put those EXACT PAGES on the Top of Google.

Tsk. Tsk.