There has been a lot of discussion about virtual tour companies syndicating tours to companies like Google, Yahoo, Trulia, Zillow, etc. When it comes down to it, the real estate broker/company really should be doing this work for you, the agent. According to Spencer Rascoff of Zillow, they put a hierarchy on listing syndication, in the following priority:
- Agent Posted Listings
- Office (Broker) Posted Listings
- National Office Posted Listings
- MLS Posted Listings
- Virtual Tour Company/Other Syndicator of Listings
So, as a virtual tour company, we are put at the bottom, and rightfully so. The Office (Broker) or national company should have the most up to date listings along with your branding information (name, logo, contact info, etc). If an MLS posts a listing to one of these national real estate sites, it will likely not have your info. PLUS, if they do include a virtual tour link, it is likely the unbranded virtual tour that does not have your info on it. If we as a virtual tour company post the linking, it is not synchronized with the MLS, which can cause problems.
We can help. If your broker or company needs help doing listing syndication to various sites, we have a team of technical experts that can help. We could even do some of the development for you. Also, it is important to include as much information as possible in your feed, including any virtual tour links. I know in talking with Zillow, you can include virtual tour links into the data feed to them. Ditto for Google Base.
-Cheers,
Kris Cone
