Not much of a shock here but this could be the biggest thing of 2007 and should cause meetings across Australia at the highest levels of the real estate portal industry long before it launches. I found this at an Ajax site and it looks real to me and it is an obvious extension to Google search by looking at the screen shots. My thinking is yes!
But how will realestate.com.au and domain.com.au act if it is in fact true? Doubtful they will do anything at first, but once agents started getting true results then I am sure agency prices will drop across the board.
Is this Google Real Estate Beta? Looks at some of these screen shots
Users search Google as per normal but obviously keywords used will bring results and refinement of these results.
You can see you can refine and sort results by price, bedroom bathroom, most recent etc.
Seems simple doesn’t it. I think this will force all agencies to begin making sure all of their sites are built to optimise listings in this search engine (this is called open standards) and you will see in the future I think that Google will also eventually build (or buy) its own application for adding listings.
So what does this mean for you – the agent?
Make sure your new development is built using open standards. This means basically creating your site in a manner that identiaifes every string of data for searching, storage and optimisation. A good start would be development in HTML, XML, RSS and with a MySQL Database using CSS (Cascading Stylesheets)
There are a number of resources online. It also means dumping any Flash or pretty VR Tours that can make it hard for information to be identified. Basically a site developed correctly would be able to be indexed by every search engine and syndication system available today.
This may be a hoax, I am not sure, but mark my words if Google do real estate in search, fast to follow will be Yahoo and MSN and this will basically spell the end for big portals pulling money from agents. I think we will first see Google pulling data from websites and then follow with their own systems. I wonder if major portals will block indexing from these sites?
It makes perfect sense for these companies to do real estate as it is one of the most popular searches on the Internet!
1st February 2007
Hi Mike,
This question is directed not just at your business, but at anyone who is getting, or considering amalgamating data from multiple sites.
Is the information gathering process you are using in confilct, in any way, with Australian Copyright laws, such as the “Copyright Amendment (Technological Protection Measures) Bill” ?
I ask, as from what little I know about copyright protection, only 10% of published material can be reproduced without permission, in Australia.
The reason google and other search engines can data from sites is that they are referencing it, not reproducing it.
I am sure it has been raised here in a few formats, but I will once agian point out that a majority of the information that appears on search engines does so with the knowledge and permission of the site’s content owners.
Mike, please be aware, I am not trying to put down your new business idea. I think it has merit and look forward to seeing it live.
12th February 2007
Mike,
I think its the sort of idea that could actually work, and in a massive way if executed correctly. Your only mistake is actually listening to what agents think.
A free, massive directory of virtually every Australian property for sale would be a tool for the user – not the agent. If you could deliver such a free tool, that was faster and easier to use, with more listings and accurate info: Every ‘user’ in the country would embrace it overnight – just as they did Google.
In which case – who cares ‘how agents tick’? I mean really?
Do you think the guys who invented Napster cared how record executives ‘tic’? Or YouTube creator’s cared how TV network executives ‘tic’?
They quietly focused on filling the gaping holes left in the needs of the end-user by those ‘media executives’ (who were obliviously ‘ticking away’ with each other for the last decade), then sat back as those loudly ticking execs were wiped-out overnight.
If agents get too caught up in their own necessity and forget that at the end of the day, they exist exclusively to assist the Buyer and Seller – they’ll go the exact same way.
And that is precisely the reason I will never, ever, ever, buy from an agent who lists POA. They’re more interested in misleading me, the user, than giving me facts I’m seeking.
Just my 2 cents.
Nick