Normally, I am pretty laid back, but a post by Galen Ward over on the bloodhound blog has got me boiling. Here's the url:

http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/Bloo...#comment-87769

I normally don't leave live links lying around, but Galen hit this one on the head IMO and I am really tired of the naked search engine aggression that Trulia is up to. Again, just my opinion.

The fact that in the comments they had the huevos to call us REALTORS "link spammers" and used that as an excuse for no following everything was beyond the pale.

What I like about Galen's post is that he laid it out for everyone very plainly. They want to take on the REALTOR in the search engines for all of the street addresses in America. Plain and simple.

I'd be interested in people's opinions of this.

Thoughts?

Eric

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Eric Blackwell
Technologist, SEO Specialist and Consultant

Louisville Real Estate

Southern Indiana Search Engine Marketing Blog

Real Estate Industry Watch - Real Estate Industry News Blog

This post got me HEATED. Especially the quickness to which Trulia responded to the reputation threat. These guys are organized, they know what they're doing SEO-wise, and they're starting to REALLY climb in the SERPs.

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Eric Bramlett

PM Me For Guest Blogging Opportunities!!!

Austin Real Estate | Austin Texas Real Estate | Austin Condos

I'm fired up too. The biggest fear of mine is that 90% of real estate agents out there have no idea what is going on. The small percentage of the agents that are actually plugged in enough to realize these people are duping Realtors have to get the word out to unwitting agents jumping off the cliff like a bunch of lemmings.

We can and do outrank them with a sweet optimized IDX and we need to let others know that they can do it too without succumbing to Trulia et al. I am too tired and my wife is giving me the evil eye, but I blog about this tomorrow.

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Mike Taylor
Indianapolis Real Estate | Carmel Real Estate |My REW Blog

I have never really been a fan of Trulia and after reading the post on Bloodhoung Blog, it reaffirms my opinion of them!

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Las Vegas Real Estate <> Real Estate Networking <> Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

Got me heated too. Big surprise if you've ever read my blogs. I followed up on Bloodhound with a post of my own addressing another part of their marekting efforts - the widgets. Oh yeah and there innacuracy.

http://www.ryanwardrealestate.com/Wo...in-stops-here/

Feel free to remove the live link.

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Ryan Ward, REALTOR® - Keller Williams Realty Consultants. (404) 630-3187
Atlanta Real Estate - My featured area is Alpharetta Real Estate and it is where I call home. Read my Atlanta Real Estate blog.

Looks like this is going BIG time and Trulia is arrogantly trying to go for the SERPS. Hey and our own Ryan Ward gets a quote in Inman News!

Check this out.

It is time in my opinion to let other folks know how damaging this could be to our businesses.

Thoughts?

Eric

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Eric Blackwell
Technologist, SEO Specialist and Consultant

Louisville Real Estate

Southern Indiana Search Engine Marketing Blog

Real Estate Industry Watch - Real Estate Industry News Blog

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Eric Bramlett

PM Me For Guest Blogging Opportunities!!!

Austin Real Estate | Austin Texas Real Estate | Austin Condos

I love the debate on that page; thanks for sharing. What really bugs me is how they (Trulia) keep stepping back and saying (essentially):

"Do what's in the best interest of your client and put your listings everywhere..."

I understand their point of view, but that's like telling Lawyers, "Hey, give away your services for free, because free is in the best interest of the client.".

How do they expect us to keep business coming in the pipelines if we are not at the least bit concerned about preserving our valuable source of leads? (Online lead generation via IDX and search engine rankings).

They know how valuable ranking in the search engines are, yet I see them as avoiding the that particular issue.

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty
The MyHomeHouston Team

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to visit my Houston Real Estate Blog or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.

If you search "[zip code] homes for sale" Trulia ranks number one on google for every zip code I tried. They are also moving up fast in all markets for the major terms like "[city] real estate". We need to get the word out that these are our competitors, brokers need to stop giving them data to use against us.

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Jim Olenbush, ABR, CRS, GRI
Broker / Realtor

Austin Real Estate - Lake Travis Real Estate - Austin Real Estate

I'm finally beginning to understand the magnitude that this situation has for real estate agents across the country. Hole-lee-crap.

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty
The MyHomeHouston Team

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to visit my Houston Real Estate Blog or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.