Which search engines should I set up custom xml feeds to?

Search engines (true search engines) don't need custom feeds, they are crawler based (Google, Bing and Yahoo being the major 3) if you have the standard html / xml sitemapping module, that's all you would need, and the only one you feed xml to is Google via the webmaster tools.

If you are talking about "Trulia" "Zillow" etc - those aren't search engines, they are listing aggregators (and technically are your competition) my answer would be none of them.

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www.forcedregistration.com - putting the argument to rest once and for all. Please come leave a comment or volunteer to test.

Like he said. Don't give them your information.

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Mark
Marketing Assistant / Webmaster
Coldwell Banker
Southlake, TX
Dallas Fort Worth Luxury Homes | Colleyville Texas Luxury Homes | Southlake Texas Luxury Homes

QFT.

Morgan is spot on for all points:

They aren't search engines.
They are listing aggregators.
They are your competition (for internet visibility, establishing them vs. you as the authority for your market - and they are likely a bill waiting to happen down the road for "enhanced listings" or "fees for leads".).

And submit to none of them.

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Jennifer Karlen & Jon Karlen
Kentucky Horse Farms - Louisville Kentucky Real Estate - Lexington Kentucky Real Estate
Serving the Louisville KY metropolitan area including Jefferson County - Prospect Shelby County - Shelbyville Oldham County - Goshen, La Grange and the Lexington KY metropolitan area including Fayette County - Lexington Woodford County - Versailles Scott County - Georgetown Jessamine County - Nicholasville

So is it not good to post listings on these sites?

So is it not good to post listings on these sites?

So is it not good to post listings on these sites?

Hey Michael;

The agents (for the most part) in our office do not syndicate listings to non IDX participating organizations. Why? They are in my estimation your competition. If you Google Galveston TX homes for sale (for example), you will see a number of them competing with you.

If you were above them and or among them in the SERPS (and you are...), why would you deem it necessary to augment their listings with yours...

So they can be like REALTOR.com and charge you an extortion fee for "enhanced" listings?. Or sell advertising based on the attraction of your data?

Without listings...sites like Trulia dry up and blow away. With listings, they are capable of being formidable competitors.

A few agents out of our 108 do syndicate listings...but for the reasons above, the rest do not...

Just my thoughts.

Eric

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Eric Blackwell
Technologist, SEO Specialist and Consultant

Louisville Real Estate My Home Real Estate Site

Search Engine Marketing, Coaching & Custom WP Blogs Learn how to get the MOST out of your already awesome REW site.

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RE... Zillow, Trulia, etc. We've recently loaded up listing data to a few of the aggregators because our web savvy clients were calling and asking why they couldn't find their home on those sites. Any one had this happen? How did you respond to the client?

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Michael Reilly, Owner/Broker
Great Austin Properties, LLC
Austin Texas Real Estate Brokerage

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