This is the second part of an excellent whitepaper published by VHT. Click the links to read Part One and Part Two.

Let Google See You

If you want to increase the number of visitors to your website, you also need to understand the basics of how search engines rank sites in their results. Search engines such as Google are obsessed with determining the most authoritative source on a subject. In order to do that, they seek out the original author of a relevant piece of content. The site with the most unique and original information on a particular search topic (such as a particular home or neighborhood, etc.) is typically ranked higher because Google considers it the most authoritative and relevant source.

After agents upload their photos to the MLS, the database renames and resizes the photos and then syndicates them to hundreds of real estate sites on the Web. This makes it impossible for Google to determine the original source of those photos, and it also prevents brokerages from being ranked by search engines as the authorities on photos of their listings. The solution to this problem is pretty simple: brokers need to put their own photos of their listings on their web sites. Just by taking control of their photos, and by investing in professional quality photography, brokerages can set themselves apart from the wasteland of unappealing property photos on other real estate sites.