Category Archives: Google

Real Estate Social “Notworking?” It was getting close to Inman Connect NY, and I could feel the urgency in a text message from Matt Beall, ”did you get my email regarding the social media case study for Inman?” I’m sure somewhere—in the ether that is my inbox—sat an email from Mr. Beall. Knee deep in a Hawaii Life interface redesign, however, my Gmail account was left unmanaged and overflowing its 200G limit. Since integrating social media into our real estate search in September 2011, I hadn’t really thought … Read More »

If you have a real estate website then it is essential that you are property utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) to its fullest. Here are 10 SEO tips that are great for any real estate website. Tip #1: Do Your Research When creating (or promoting) a real estate website, it is essential that you pick the perfect keywords or keyword phrases. When doing so, utilizing Google Keywords can help you to not only find out the competition for each of your desired keywords, but also … Read More »

Google is arguably the best search engine on the web with everything from Google+ to Google AdWords. Over the last several years the company has landed in the top of the Fortune list of the top 100 employers, offering employees everything from nap areas to childcare. From its humble beginnings until now, this beloved company that started back in 1996 has changed the way we utilize the internet and market our businesses. From search engine optimization to rich snippets, Google has yet again set the … Read More »

I got a question from Lori Bee (a client of ours) this morning asking if I had any insight as to why she couldn’t get Google+ with her @loribee.com email address (which uses Google Apps). It was my first realization that Google+ wasn’t supported for Google Apps users, and I just emailed her back that she’s out of luck now and to use her gmail address instead. I didn’t think much of it, but then I saw the news on Techmeme a little while later … Read More »

In an announcement made on the Google Developers’ blog, they recently announced changes to their terms of use for the free map API that many IDX Vendors and Brokers are using. Google announced that they will begin delivering advertising inside map imagery. They will also begin limiting the number of times a free map can be displayed. This causes big potential headaches for IDX providers and Brokerages alike. First, many MLS’s don’t allow advertising to be displayed in or around their IDX data. Literally overnight, … Read More »

In the past, I always concentrated on optimizing my web pages for Google first, and Yahoo! and Bing second. That’s because Google’s competitors delivered a fraction of the traffic—making the search giant my go to source. But when Yahoo! threw in the towel and announced that Bing would be powering its search (2009) I knew that Microsoft was going to give Google a run for their money…well, at least close the gap. Despite recently being busted by Google for copying their search results, Bing has … Read More »

Shortly after Google announces they will be removing real estate listings from their maps, Zillow and Yahoo Real Estate’s long awaited partnership goes live today. Is this strictly a coincidence? Strategically this is a great move for Zillow, and will effect the real estate industry in several ways. From a real estate agent’s perspective, this expands marketing reach and puts everything into one user interface…saving agents time and allowing them to focus on other tasks. On one of the MLS committees I sit on in Maui, … Read More »

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You likely have already heard the news that Google is removing their real estate listings from Google Maps. You might have even attended the Webinar yesterday with Gahlord Dewald (Thought Faucet), Mike Simonsen (Altos Research), Dustin Luther (4realz), and Rich Bailey (Wolfnet). But, let’s be real here. Does this news really “change” anything? What does the lack of real estate listings on Google maps mean to consumers? Nothing, zilch, nada. Have you ever talked to an home buyer using Google maps to search for their … Read More »

Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online. Though in beta stage, I liked its potential and wanted to give it a try. Zillow Real Estate Market Report provides Home value index for major US metro regions. I used it to create a Google Fusion Table. Check it out NOW!. Once you bring up the Table, select Visuallize/Map menu option to view this on a Google … Read More »