At Unchained this spring, we are going to cover a lot of what TO DO when it comes to making your web presence as a REALTOR search engine friendly. That is going to be fun and I am looking forward to it.
But lately I am seeing more and more BAD advice and examples go out to REALTORS and I figured it was time to post a couple of things NOT to do.
Google has made it clear that link exchange schemes (aka reciprocal linking schemes) are a no-no. Search engines use links as a method of gauging a site’s (or post’s) popularity and relevance. Yet if you Google real estate link exchange and look in the pay per click section, what do you see?
Several REALTOR sites openly asking for exchanges. Paying to get people to look at their link exchange directories. Good grief. And one of them ranks #1 for a major city’s real estate terms! Geez…If someone comes to you and says “This is how to do it.” Run, don’t walk. You are getting some insanely bad advice.
Sad part is…the REALTOR may not even know how bad this is.
Should there be ANY PPC ads from people asking for reciprocal link exchanges? I don’t think so.
Other bad examples…Google came out and said clearly that buying links was a no-no. The thing is, how can you tell whether a link is paid or not? It is difficult to tell. The best advice is to make sure that whoever is linking to you looks natural because they ARE.
Since I was looking at Trulia’s pages yesterday, here’s a page that may or may not be paid. Do I know? Nope. But the thing is, it LOOKS like a paid link because why would a REALTOR in Columbus IN put the exact links to the “most Popular” city real estate pages on Trulia. And these same links are on many pages of that site.
Here’s some more info from Eric Bramlett on Trulia and some of the things going on there. (He’s done a great job of breaking it down and making it understandable for people.)
Looking like you are doing something wrong can be every bit as damning as being wrong. Don’t buy links. If people are linking to you in a way that has the appearance of paid links, ask them to change or remove them.
Avoid the appearance of doing something you shouldn’t.
There’s a ton more where that came from, but we will get into all of that in depth at BHB Unchained in Phoenix…by the way…what temperature is it there…I am REALLY getting tired of the cold and ice here in Louisville! 😉
Greg Swann says:
72 and fleecy clouds right now. 80 for the high today.
February 5, 2009 — 12:26 pm
Eric Blackwell says:
When is the next flight…it was a balmy 5 this morning with a high for the day of 25…clear and cold 😉
February 5, 2009 — 1:23 pm
Dylan Darling says:
Thanks for the link to Eric’s post. I was wondering what happened to Trulia. They fell off the rankings for my search terms.
On another note, I know that most of my competition pays for links, but have not been penalized. It’s unfair to us obeying G’s rules, but I know someday they’ll get whats coming to them.
February 5, 2009 — 3:00 pm
James Boyer says:
Great information Eric. Is it possible that Trulia getting hacked was just the attention that trulia did not want or need and the goog started digging lots deeper into what trulia has been doing, and all those widget links out there and what ever else they have been pulling.
February 5, 2009 — 8:49 pm
Bob says:
Trulia didnt get smacked for being hacked. They have been doing a combination of IP delivery for Joe Surfer and a user agent cloak for Google.
February 6, 2009 — 12:31 am
Eric Blackwell says:
@Bob- I would agree with you that the cloaking that Bramlett uncovered (among other things) is a likely candidate for what caused the Trulia issues. (I am not going to offer my opinion publicly on the full reason other than I think it is a combination of things over time led by the cloaking issue Bramlett exposed.)
I think Bramlett’s exposure on that issue a few months back clearly demonstrated what they were doing cloaking wise. (And since it was the hot topic of the day, was why I linked to his post on his blog.
This post is more about things I am seeing people do that are bad advice. I mentioned specifically people doing PPC ads soliciting link exchanges tp state pages here as something not to do.
The thought of someone (mswoods.com) doing that and ranking #1 for indianapolis real estate seems to me that they are getting some really bad advice SEO wise. I don’t have a dog in that fight, but I hate to see that happen. (Would I be doing that? Nope.) I think that may have gotten overshadowed by the Trulia thing, but it was not meant to.
My mention of Trulia’s pages came because if those pages are not paid, they certainly look like it and not cleaning those thing up is a good thing.
My concern in this post is in helping the average REALTOR understand some things NOT to do. Or as importantly, not to be OK with your website firm do, etc.
February 6, 2009 — 3:51 am
Eric Blackwell says:
Typo – meant to say
“and cleaning those up is a good thing.”
Eric
February 6, 2009 — 3:55 am
Susan says:
Thanks for the information Eric B(s).
My approach these days is if its questionable, I don’t do it. If I did something and read that it may be questionable, I change it. I try to do everything right and stay squeeky clean.
February 9, 2009 — 6:59 pm