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Google’s Knowledge Graph: The beginning of the end for Real Estate Websites? - Part 2: 05/29/2012
Google’s Knowledge Graph: The beginning of the end for Real Estate Websites? - Part 2
An article from Erik Goldhar of Clikbrix
5 out of 5 by (4) User/s
3 Comments
3 Comments
What does all of this have to do with the demise of real estate sites?
To clarify, I mean all of the real estate sites that offer only property listing information. Specifically, the Knowledge Graph may have a big impact on the listing syndicators that don't offer much beyond property details.
First, let's use the example of Tom Cruise. In a recent blog post, Google's search boss, Amit Singhal, stated that "The information we show for Tom Cruise answers 37 percent of next queries that people ask about him."
So what does this mean?
Well, let's say you run a website that sells Tom Cruise dolls. Odds are, you have some Tom Cruise information on your site and use this information (birthday, movie list, Katie Holmes, etc.) to create unique content that helps you get listed high in the search results and therefore drives traffic to your site. And once people are on your site, you can now sell them your dolls.
You indeed provided an answer to a Tom Cruise question(s) on your site and then offered a Tom Cruise product to an engaged audience.
Based on what Amit is telling us, though, you may have just lost a huge chunk of that audience (37 percent) because of the Knowledge Graph.
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Google’s Knowledge Graph: The beginning of the end for Real Estate Websites? - Part 2
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Thank you very much for the comment. If I were a broker, I would do an audit of my current site. I would identify if I was just serving up listing data only - this is referred to as a "thin data" site. Google started to look as these types of sites negatively even before the introduction of the knowledge graph.
If my site was only serving up basic listing details I would make sure that semantic markup language was being used. I would also think of ways I could add content to my site in order to make it a deeper experience for site visitors. This will not only be important for the Knowledge Graph but also important for you as you build your brand online. The Clikbrix tag line we use is "Go beyond the property walls." This means taking your potential buyers beyond the basic MLS data. Focus on things like your neighborhood restaurants, shopping, local politics, etc. Cocoran, out of New York does this brilliantly - I reco looking at their site for some ideas.
I would also make sure of a couple other things:
1. Make sure that if your using a syndicator that they include your brokerage name and contact and the name and contact of your selling agent as part of the semantic markup and not their "sponsored agent."
2. I would make sure that your website is mobile and uses semantic markup on it. The Knowledge Graph will be part of mobile search results.
3. I would get a Google Plus brand page set-up asap and connect it to your websites so that Google knows you are the author of it. This also means to start using Google Plus to market yourself (not necessarily your individual listings) but rather your expertise in about real estate and your neighborhoods.
This is how we are helping our Clikbrix clients today. As I mentioned in the post, no one really knows the outcome of how the Graph will affect your site(s) but following these basic things are best practices anyways and should be done regardless.
I hope this adds some clarity for you Marilyn and gives you some action steps.
Sincerely,
Erik