Number1Expert Screws Its Realtor Clients

Ronnie Bredahl

The self proclaimed number 1 real estate expert, Number1Expert, formed a partnership with the real estate aggregator site, Trulia. Number1Expert specializes in template websites for Realtors across the country and boasts that their agents outsell the typical real estate agent 8 to 1. I'm not sure what the definition of "typical real estate agent" is, but I'm guessing it means a part-time agent with less than 2 months experience. There's no definition for "typical real estate agent" in any real estate glossary, therefore, we're left to assume.

Number1Expert charges Realtors thousands of dollars for a generic template that is duplicated thousands of times, but it gets worse: Enter Trulia!

Without permission or consultation, Number1Expert and Trulia formed a partnership to place widgets (small snippet of code that produces a graphical user interface) on each Realtor sites /myhomes.asp page (yes, every Number1Expert site has the same file name). The code contains links to Trulia (.com) with the most competitive keywords for each Realtors primary real estate market. Trulia primarily uses the term "City" Real Estate on each site, a highly coveted keyword phrase. It seems their goal is to outrank their so-called "Realtor Partners" in the search engines. That's only part one of this two part horror story! If you do happen to outrank Trulia, when YOUR visitor clicks on the widget links, goodbye potential home buyer or seller. You just provided a new visit to Trulia, where there are thousands of agents happy to service your "lost" lead.

Trulia Backlash
With such shady linking practices, internet perceptive Realtors around the country are beginning to take a stand. With blogs, articles, and optimized pages your "non-typical" real estate agents will try to enlighten the "typical" agent to the pitfalls of linking to competitors such as Trulia. It's an uphill battle because the "bad guys" are providing uninformed agents with flashy eye candy maps, charts, and property listings to place on their site. They are naive and do not understand Google or search engine optimization.

Realtor Unite
Realtors need to come together and make a stand against such companies trying to push us down in the Google rankings. Remove your widgets and your Trulia links today. They are like a disease spreading across the Realtor community. Google "your town" real estate or "your town" homes for sale and see where you stand against OUR competitors such as Trulia and Homegain. How does that make you feel? How do you feel when you enter a new listing into your MLS only to find that Trulia is catching all the traffic when you Google the property address for said listing? But there is some good news: The power is in your hands! You do not need these companies. We do not need these companies. I refuse to provide a third party vendor MLS content only to have them turnaround and sell it back to me!

Action Speaks Louder Than Words
If you are a Number1Expert client, I'm sorry this is happening to you! Let your voice be heard! Call, email, or write Number1Expert and tell them to end their linking strategy with Trulia. My friend Eric Bramlett did a little research and found that Number1Expert is blessing Trulia with over 36,000 links. How many links does your site provide the bad guys? Let's end this now!

Ronnie Bredahl is a real estate broker in Austin, Texas. Search the Austin MLS for homes, condominiums, and multifamily property in the Central Texas area.

Article submitted Thursday, May 15, 2008
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