Using MLS Listings to gain rankings

[osobluwtr]

I have been sniffing out my competition here in washington state. I found briorealty dot com that is an internet based real estate company that generates leads for its agents.

The company is using mls data (our listings) as additional pages and content to gain rankings. Which I think in Washington state is against the nwmls rules. I know REW has been real successful at using mls feeds to help in the rankings of their sites in other areas of the US? (PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG AND BY NO MEANS DO I MEAN THAT REW IS DOING IT IN WASHINGTON STATE)

So I guess my point is for all of you to check out their site and if the company works in your area and that activity is not allowed by your mls be warned they have found a way around it. Or is it allowed in my state and I am completely wrong? Should I hire REW to do the same? Cant beat them join them if its not against the rules I guess.

Please advise!!!

[osobluwtr]

I am impressed with him though. PR6 and 1900+ backlinks that are showing for google. They are all subdomains though.

washington.briorealty dot com/whatcomcounty

California.briorealty dot com/losangelas.....

and so on.

He has sites for every state in the US from what I can see.

[drewnick]

Sounds like house.info

[RonnieG]

The company is using mls data (our listings) as additional pages and content to gain rankings. Which I think in Washington state is against the nwmls rules.

Not as long as the data is from an authorized NWMLS IDX feed, and conforms to all NWMLS IDX disclosures and other IDX listing display rules. That generally includes displaying the listing brokerage name in the property details. I know of several NWMLS member brokerages that are doing what you describe.

[IntegralImpressions]

The company is using mls data (our listings) as additional pages and content to gain rankings. Which I think in Washington state is against the nwmls rules.

Using a IDX tool used by many or a framing solution will have little to no benefit to your page rank. In some cases that content is not even considered part of your site. However, if you build out your own IDX system, that content can be presented in a way to greatly improve your ranking.
This is primarily why most online brokerages or large brokerages will develop an internal IDX solution. The cost of this is the main stop for most agents.

[OCTeam]

This is primarily why most online brokerages or large brokerages will develop an internal IDX solution. The cost of this is the main stop for most agents.

Depending on your area of the country/average sales price, the return can be exponential compared to the cost. It works and, you are correct, most agents will not spend the money as they do not see the big picture of what the results can be. They just look at the initial expense and freak out as it has no guaranteed return. We compete quite well against Brio for SE placement.