Will Google Rank Realtors Using the .REALTOR domain?
You might recall NAR’s failed AgentMatch program, where they were going to match consumers with Realtors. It was probably the most hated thing NAR came out with in many years, so it was good they killed it off fast.
I see the potential for the .REALTOR domain name free profile website to have some of the same issues as AgentMatch.
Having a .REALTOR domain name is a great idea, but their free Website that automatically shows all your listings and closed transactions, along with their complete system for displaying client recommendations, might have some interesting results.
NAR is expecting at least 500,000 agents to sign up for the .REALTOR domain, as they are giving the first 500,000 signups a free year. They are also providing a free Website to go with it, and I imagine many will take advantage of this free website.
As a consumer, I would like to a search only the .REALTOR domain names for an agent in my area to see how Google ranks them.
Most likely, the ones with the most closed sales, the most reviews, and that have been around the longest will come up on page 1.
One big complaint with AgentMatch is it favors more experienced agents and creates a problem for new agents. After all, who wants to match up to an agent with very little or no previous sales experience.
I see the potential for the .REALTOR domain to create the same issue, assuming many agents end up using the free Website that comes with it.
It will be incredibly easy to compare past sales, current listings, and reviews for each agent, and Google will bring the best ones in your area to page 1 of their results.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 06:12h, 23 August“Google will bring the best ones in your area to page 1 of their results.”
what makes you say that?
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:22h, 23 AugustGood question Drew. Maybe the word “best” is not even accurate as John pointed out. He is “best” in service, but perhaps the agent with the higher volume, more reviews, more SEO juice, etc. will be on page 1.
Google is smart, and if they see 500,000+ similar .REALTOR websites they will make them easy to search and compare. The new agent with no reviews and no sales and who just received the .REALTOR domain will be on a page no one ever sees.
What makes me say this is Google does a good job of bringing what it feels are the best search results to page 1. With 500,000+ similar sites, they will figure out how to determine which ones are “best in their opinion” in each area, and bring those to the top of the results.
Mike McGee
Posted at 04:41h, 24 AugustI seriously doubt that Google will create a new algorithm simply to rank .REALTOR websites by experience/sales/reviews. Instead, they will rank like any other website, based on their backlink profile, content (assuming the sites will have the ability for the agent to add articles, blog posts, etc.) and other standard ranking factors. Just as it is now, the agent websites which rank the highest for local search terms are almost never the same agents who actually dominate those given markets.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 05:34h, 24 August^ agree
Sam DeBord
Posted at 09:35h, 24 AugustRight. I don’t think anyone should look at this as their big traffic driver, because it’s not some robust site. It’s just a nicely-displayed overview of a Realtor’s business.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 09:36h, 24 AugustWhich is completely useless if no one see it 🙂
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 11:00h, 24 AugustMIke, see my response to Jeff.
We probably agree on the following:
1. Google constantly tweaks their algorithm to improve their search results.
2. Google always wants to get the best search results to the users.
3. With millions of new domains and new information on the web, Google will be thinking about how to best incorporate this new information into their search results.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 06:14h, 23 August“One big complaint with AgentMatch is it favors more experienced agents and creates a problem for new agents. After all, who wants to match up to an agent with very little or no previous sales experience.”
Exactly… this is precisely why nar should have let it continue. New agents should have a hard time getting their first business.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:37h, 23 AugustDrew, you are coming at it from the consumer point of view, but NAR is in business to help ALL Realtors, and the newest ones probably need the most help.
From a consumer point of view you are right, consumers would have liked to have this information, but NAR had to listen to the people who support NAR.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:42h, 23 Augustright.. everything i do comes at it from the consumer’s point of view. I’m not interested in promoting bad and inexperienced agents, brokers, etc just because they need to make a living.
I hate roadblocks of starting out as much as the next person, but they do help ensure that only people who truly give a shit get past them. Which I view as a good thing.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 18:02h, 24 AugustDrew, you’re about to join the “Raise the Bar” Facebook group. 🙂 There’s a lot of sense in it, but lots of hurdles as well.
Al Cannistra
Posted at 07:11h, 23 AugustWell, if NAR wants to create something that is skewed in favor of the “big player” then all the little players should rethink paying their dues. It is the 80/20 rule – the 80 would be the little guys. If the little guys stop paying dues then NAR goes away. Is that a bad thing? Maybe, but if the little guys would all get together things could change.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:14h, 23 AugustAl, maybe NAR will hearvoices like yours and rethink providing the free website with the reviews and sales stats.
This is exactly what happened with AgentMatch, the Realtor community hated it, and NAR heard that message loud and clear, so they terminated it.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 09:30h, 24 AugustThere’s nothing skewed here. They are individual websites for agents who choose to use them and opt-in. There is no comparison of little guy to big guy, you choose to put your own sales stats on your own website, or you don’t.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:40h, 24 AugustSam, not sure I follow you. If most people use the free Website, which is possible, it will be extremely easy to compare the little guy to the big guy.
NAR might even by default have that Website up and running once you register, you could then remove it, but many might choose to keep it.
You are right that it is optional, and if most don’t use it then comparing agents will remain more difficult.
If 10 agents in my area use it and put their sales stats on there and have their reviews on there, and I choose not to participate, then when comparing agents, I will just be the agent with no good reviews and no sales history showing, so perhaps no sales.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:44h, 24 AugustYou are assuming buyers will be able to find these .realtor websites in the first place — I wouldn’t bet on that. my guess is these will end up being a wasteland of crappy sites that no one maintains.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 17:58h, 24 AugustWith a little less hot sauce than Drew 😉 , I think these are not meant to be traffic magnets and they’ll be useful in an agent-name search, but not a generic search. We all love organic SEO here, but these are good-looking placeholders for an agent’s name reputation, not big lead generation sites.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 18:02h, 24 Augusthaha. seems like a waste of space on the internet to me. but what do i know.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 18:20h, 24 AugustSam, I agree with what you are saying, but I do see an opportunity for Google to use the .REALTOR to improve their search results when I search for “MyLocation Real Estate Agent” or “Best Realtor in MyLocation”.
Not sure about your location, but in my area no actual Realtors come up in the search results, it is all big companies including Zillow, which is not what I wanted when I did the search.
I want to know who the “Best Realtor is in my area”, and maybe one day Google will be able to tell me.
Then again, I could be wrong and Google will keep telling me Zillow is the best Realtor, but just in case I am partially right, I am going to get one of these domains.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 18:31h, 24 AugustI don’t think google will ever be able to tell you who the best realtor is. That all depends on the definition of best, which will differ for everyone.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 18:44h, 24 AugustGood point, best can have different definitions, but at least if Google shows me the most active Realtors in my area, that is closer to what I am searching for vs. returning Zillow.
Once I get the 10 most active, then I would need to read through their client reviews, see which homes they sold like my home, see if one agent stands out in the area the most. This information would all be available on the .REALTOR free Website.
I believe if you ask sellers they would love to know who sold the most on their street, in their neighborhood, their price range, etc. They probably would like to know who sold similar listings the fastest, and/or for the most money.
They can get this information on my Website now, but I just cover my little island. If Google could answer any of these questions for them nationwide they would love it.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 18:49h, 24 AugustSure, client would love having one place to get all that for every agent in the entire country. I assure you, this is not a technology problem. A new .realtor domain is not going to make one bit of difference to alleviating this. It’ll just be one more useless, unmaintained website among the millions of others.
Do you believe NAR has the right vision for these sites? Is there any vision at all, aside from to pad their pocketbooks w/ $40/year per member? Is there a real consumer pain point these sites address, that is not already addressed better by z/t or individual agent/broker websites?
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 19:47h, 24 AugustDrew, the data is available to get answers to these question, but Realtors don’t want to share it. NAR and each local Board of Realtors has thrown up a number of road blocks to getting this data out.
AgentMatch would have brought this data to the public, but Realtors revolted.
Sellers are about to trust someone to sell the biggest asset in their life, yet they probably have no idea how much experience the agent has, and they have no way to look it up.
With the new .REALTOR domain with the default Website, that data will be instantly available on many or most agents.
You have to remember that most agents have an IDX site, and most, if not all IDX sites don’t show historical sold data. The few sites that do show sold data probably don’t allow searching by the agents name.
So assuming these sites are widely adopted, then there is a consumer pain point they will solve. For the first time ever, any consumer can see the sold history for any agent, and perhaps even compare this data.
NAR’s vision is getting the yearly revenue. To do this they realize they can’t let these sites become useless, or just forwarding domains.
NAR came up with a number of things they felt they could give consumers to make these sites useful such as reviews, consolidated list of an agents Social Media and Blog posts, and the big one, showing the agents current and past sales history.
To feel the consumer’s pain first hand, pick your favorite Realtor, and try to get a history of their sales from z/t or agent/broker websites.
John
Posted at 08:38h, 23 AugustAre the highest volume, “churn em & burn em” agents/teams the best?? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! I’ve been selling 20-40 homes per year with 1or 2 team partners for nearly 30 years. I take great pride in providing ultra high quality personal service. Our testimonials & customer satisfaction speak for themselves. We are NOT close to the highest volume agent/team in our area but no one does a higher quality job. Does the public/NAR want quantity or quality?
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:12h, 23 AugustJohn, very valid points. I think these are the reasons agents were so upset at AgentMatch. Stats don’t tell the entire story.
NAR should probably stay out of the business of allowing agents to be compared by stats.
Blake C
Posted at 09:21h, 08 JulyI hate to disagree, but I think with the correct systems in place and the correct help, you can give your clients just as much if not MORE service because you have hired people that do that job for you and do it better. I have a team partner and two buyers agents as well as an office manager and my partner and I each do around 90 deals per year and the buyers agents are set to do a total of 100 this year. We aren’t running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and have the time to spend with our clients so that they feel they are being well taken care of. I agree with the 20-40 deals per year and how you can be more service oriented but when I didn’t have an assistant I was doing 40-60 deals a year and feeling like I was going to have a panic attack and couldn’t give my clients near the service they deserved. So back to my main idea, I really feel if the systems are in place and the people are top knotch you can do it. I feel if I had a couple of other specialized assistants solely to help me, I could do 120 deals by myself and still work the same amount of hours I work (50ish a week).
Blake C
Posted at 09:21h, 08 JulyI hate to disagree, but I think with the correct systems in place and the correct help, you can give your clients just as much if not MORE service because you have hired people that do that job for you and do it better. I have a team partner and two buyers agents as well as an office manager and my partner and I each do around 90 deals per year and the buyers agents are set to do a total of 100 this year. We aren’t running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and have the time to spend with our clients so that they feel they are being well taken care of. I agree with the 20-40 deals per year and how you can be more service oriented but when I didn’t have an assistant I was doing 40-60 deals a year and feeling like I was going to have a panic attack and couldn’t give my clients near the service they deserved. So back to my main idea, I really feel if the systems are in place and the people are top knotch you can do it. I feel if I had a couple of other specialized assistants solely to help me, I could do 120 deals by myself and still work the same amount of hours I work (50ish a week).
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:09h, 08 JulyI agree. I have a team and do no showings nor listing appointments, yet we give our clients great service. I agree with John too that the highest volume does not mean the highest service, but also the highest volume does not mean churn em and burn em either. These days it seems a lot of start-ups are looking for ways to rank agents.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 11:22h, 23 AugustThis situation reminds me of situation I had when I put tax data online.
Tax data was already available online, and I added it to my Website to save people from having to click to the tax website.
I never thought through the implications of what happens once Google indexes it. In my case, I got a call from a very upset judge saying I just put the lives of judges and police in jeopardy because now any criminal can search their name and immediately see where they live. I of course removed the names within minutes of getting that call.
NAR sees no harm in putting reviews, sales, etc. online, after all, just like the tax data, it is already out there if you know where to find it.
However, once Google indexes it, I think the results will be surprising as to what they have created. While it won’t endanger anyone’s personal safety, it might endanger many agents careers, or plans for a Real Estate career.
Will Wertheim
Posted at 06:32h, 24 AugustUgh. I hate these gTLDs. 500k NAR plus a further 10k to CREA registrants for the first year but who really benefits from having firstnamelastname.realtor? Answer: NAR. See, they know a ton of agents still don’t have sites. They also know that they will just up and take what’s offered and then blindly pay the $40/ year after. Do the math: this is at least a $20m line on the income statement. Guess they really want it, too, for they even warn people away from using .re as an alternative. Using .realtor emphasizes the realtor aspect and promotes NAR interests. It does nothing for the agent who pays for it.
Bet you will see these flop hard and fast much like .tel did.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 07:17h, 24 Augustagreed. such a waste of money for realtors
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:52h, 24 AugustAgreed, but I will be in the initial line up to get mine. I am not going to take a chance at not establishing it right away, just in case.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 09:33h, 24 August.tel?
LOL. If an Realtor doesn’t have any website yet, I don’t think $40 a year is really going to hurt the pocketbook, and that’s far better than not having any online presence. It’s just an online business card. I’m not sure why people get so upset. Nobody has to buy one.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:50h, 24 AugustSame, agreed, $40 is not huge, although it is a lot more than the $12 per year I pay GoDaddy for a new .com domain.
Like Will said, NAR probably ran some numbers and asked how much they can charge without turning off Realtors. No need to compete with GoDaddy when you have an exclusive on this domain.
“It’s just an online business card”
Not really, on your business card you don’t have all your references, all your past sales, all your listings, etc.
If someone wants to just put the info on their business card on their .REALTOR domain they could, but that won’t impress anyone.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:54h, 24 AugustThe domain business is such an easy way to make a crapload of money, while adding ZERO value to society. Good to see NAR making a difference.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:46h, 24 AugustWill, no doubt NAR did the math and sees an opportunity to gain millions from Realtors.
Right now there are NOT thousands of Realtors saying we can’t get a domain name. Every agent probably has their own domain name already and does not need a new one.
But with NAR pushing these on us, many will grab it. Agents probably won’t take the chance of being left out when someone wants to compare your services to others using the .REALTOR domain.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:51h, 24 AugustMaybe. My bet is medium – poor agents will buy them, and the good ones won’t because they already have invested in web properties. Some good agents will just buy the domain name, and redirect it to their existing site.
victor
Posted at 07:31h, 24 Augustsmall and/or new agents could register in a coop and obtain a specific location name with realtor domain. such way they could beat any large established competitor in a specific location
Drew Meyers
Posted at 07:36h, 24 AugustWinning at seo isn’t that easy.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 09:30h, 24 August…and you can’t register a location with a .realtor domain.
Jeff Manson
Posted at 10:09h, 24 AugustRankings still come down to site authority! Google doesn’t care about an agents production in their Algorithm.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 10:13h, 24 AugustYep. You could have zero sales and inbound-link your profile up to page 1 but it would t make much sense. Sales statistics are just a bunch of numeric content on the page as far as the search engines are concerned.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:35h, 24 AugustJeff, that is the case now, but as you know Google changes their Algorithm to produce better results.
Once millions of .DOCTOR, .ATTORNEY, .REALTOR, .WHATEVER start showing up, Google might make some tweaks to better rank these Websites.
We can’t predict what Google will do.
The only thing we know for sure is Google will do what ever they feel they have to do to show the best search results for these new domain names.
Jeff Manson
Posted at 10:57h, 24 Augustwishful thinking.. I guess 😉
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 11:15h, 24 AugustI see an opportunity for Google to improve their search results. Others can go with the premise that Google will never change.
When I search for “Real Estate Agents” in my local area right now, the results are a bunch of well known websites, no agents. Zillow, Trulia, and the local company that has 200+ agents, etc. all come up.
Essentially, these are not the results I want. I asked for Real Estate Agents, Zillow is far from it, and so is a company that has 200+ agents. The search results have not helped me find a handful of agents in my area that are experienced, that I can compare.
I see an opportunity for Google to improve those results, to actually show me 10 active agents in my area.
Only time will tell if they are able to do this.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 18:01h, 24 AugustI agree with you that they will shift the algorithm somewhat based on TLDs that are business-specific. Dot-realtor is a trade organization identifier and much more tightly controlled than other domains, ergo more reliable. It won’t be a huge boost for “city homes for sale” searches, but it could become a verifiable business listing search.
Malcolm Lewis
Posted at 16:01h, 25 AugustBryn,
I agree – Google will use sales data to drive ranking of realtor websites, just like they use review data to drive rankings for small businesses and local service providers. Google’s SEO decisions are based on giving consumers what they want – and they want agent performance data the same way they want reviews for restaurants and doctors. I have seen multiple examples of new domains (no authority) and no backlinks that still rank better than more established sites because they have content Google thinks users want. My 2c.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 16:03h, 25 AugustNot sure I buy it.
Do users search for “real estate agent sales data”? I doubt it.
They do search for “business name + reviews”.
In one scenario, users do actually express their explicit intent they want that data. In the other, not so much.
Malcolm Lewis
Posted at 16:45h, 25 AugustI didn’t say people would search for “real estate agent sales data” – though they will probably learn to one day just as they have learnt over time to search for “restaurant reviews” or “camera reviews.”
What I did (try to) say was that sales data (and agent reviews) will almost certainly influence location-category searches (e.g. “newport beach real estate agents”) the same way reviews influence “newport beach restaurants” results.
When consumers search for a local place (restaurant) or service provider (plumber, dentist, real estate agent), Google assumes they want to see the “best.” They’ll take any on-page signals they can to help make that determination and rank accordingly. If available, sales data is a great signal.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 19:00h, 25 AugustDrew, I think Malcolm has an interesting point. The reason users don’t search for “Real Estate Agent Sale Data” is NOT because they don’t want to see it, it is because they can’t see it. Once they start seeing it, they will also start searching for it.
As I mentioned, if you are a seller you would love to know what the agents have sold that are calling to get your business. It is a great way to understand their experience.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 19:02h, 25 AugustLooks like to me past sales already exist on Zillow – https://www.evernote.com/shard/s254/sh/a61b2620-a179-405a-9681-0c451de25326/5a6567eb3eedd98535b8d97b661216be/deep/0/Screenshot%208/25/14,%2010:02%20PM.png
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 19:17h, 25 AugustYes, but not by agent.
You can’t enter an agent name and see their sales for the past year.
In my market Zillow probably does not have a way to get at that data. The MLS has it, but the MLS in my market does not share their data with Zillow.
.REALTOR free websites will expose this data to the world, unless Realtors revolt and they end up cancelling that feature like they did with AgentMatch.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 19:20h, 25 Augustjust because zillow doesn’t have all the data now, doesn’t mean they can’t get it. there are incentives they can put in place to get agents and brokers to provide more of it. or even do deals w/ mls’ to get it.
zillow already has the consumers. and the technology platform.
all nar has is the data.
We’ll see how it plays out.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 19:22h, 25 AugustI agree with you, I am sure Zillow is always looking for ways to get more data.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 20:28h, 25 AugustThis is still going to be a fragmented set of sales statistics. Not all MLSs will allow their data to be used for these purposes, and not all agents within the MLSs that do agree to it will also have their own profile displaying it. I’m just not worried about thousands of individual websites being a potential way for consumers to compare agents to one another. It’s just too widely distributed of a network of sites, not one single platform to compare on.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 14:44h, 27 OctoberI signed up for the .realtor domain name and they found out they don’t report on sales for my area, so at least in my area that is not going to happen just yet.
Just something to keep in mind if you are thinking of signing up.
Dustin Brohm
Posted at 22:57h, 21 JanuaryThis will be very interesting to see how .Realtor plays out. Before this article I never gave it much thought. It seems like .coms are still seen as top-shelf domains. Is this true?
Also I would think that eventually NAR will use their control over .REALTOR domains to give the best exposire to those agents who pay the most for it. They are a business, after all.