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| Indexing Real Estate Listings: NAR, Google and the agents caught in the middle |
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| Written by Matt Barker |
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Wouldn't allowing listings to be accessed by Google's formidable indexing system be part of helping "members become more profitable and successful"? Since the NAR has the power to change its Rules and Regulations, one would think that they would have changed their R&Rs to reflect the changing nature of the Internet. But no, the NAR Board voted to postpone a judgment that would clarify the entire issue. This has raised questions about whether the NAR is really an organization that is working for the success of their members or one that is using its membership only as income. To many of the people weighing in on this issue, it seems ridiculous that search engines, Google in particular, are being treated in the same manner as "scraper" sites, sites that steal data, images, and layouts for nefarious purposes of their own. Search engines are there to provide people with relevant Internet results; their collecting of data is done to facilitate this. Since millions of people use Google, blocking real estate data from those interested in such is interpreted as basically shooting the Realtor in the foot. After all, when the average person goes to look at sites on the Internet, they go to Google or another search engine. Given Google's dominance in the search engine arena, one could argue that having Google index their site is a key part of doing business on the Internet. Whether or not NAR has its members' best interests at heart with this issue, it is certain that Realtors and brokers and other real estate professionals are taking notice of who, exactly, are the haves and the have-nots in the online real estate world. Once the word gets out about this issue, NAR could be faced with some serious questions about its online conduct and its treatment of its members. Matt Barker |
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