So what do we all think about google real estate now it appears to be in the UK?

The EAT comments are banging on about how software companies are uploading to google, but this really is old news and anyone with a website and properties can ‘upload’ to google. We were all talking about this last July and earlier http://blog.propertyowl.co.uk/2009/07/all-eyes-on-google/ I seem to recall PropertyAdGuru conducting a review on how it had worked in Australia, which I will dig out.

It was always going to arrive wasn’t it :puzzled: It will be interesting to watch the impact it does have, and given their search technology it could be significant.

Darrin Carter posted an interesting comment on Twitter

“Good to see @zoopla advertising my properties on google maps today – is it a prerequisite to have the date posted info on the site ?”
http://twitter.com/carteragents/status/16295531810

It’s an interesting point. Maybe one of the longer term impacts will be another incremental increase in the amount of buyer friendly information available?

Martin

In what respect Martin – the reference to date, is this an indication of the time the property has been available i.e how long the property has remained unsold?

Hi everyone – for some light background reading, here’s Simon Baker’s take on what Google Maps’ real estate search could mean for the industry (written in December, when speculation about Google Maps’ UK real estate search was at fever pitch): http://propertyadguru.com/2009/12/google-real-estate-–-will-it-change-the-property-portal-landscape/

And here’s our most recent coverage on Property Ad Guru: http://propertyadguru.com/2010/06/google-challenging-rightmove-co-uk/

Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on the issue.

I too am looking forward to more thoughts and comments in this community forum thread as it’s an interesting topic. Where Google is heading , how this affects the established portal industry, how we / agents should best make use of this are all points I’m personally quite interested in reading about.

Hugo – I believe so. It would be typical of Google’s ‘more information is better’ approach..

Martin

@martinsmith In that case I can see that being a bone of contention for agents and favoured by joanna public, I certainly would like knowing that bit of information

I have checked and our properties (via zoopla from the agency) are on google. As the service is new to market (and as I wanted our customers to feel special) I emailed them and told them…they are chuffed. In their mind – more exposure means they get their property let quicker = more money. To me as agent, I am chuffed, happy customers make happy business = we like zoopla even more….

we can use few portals to feed google, zoomf.com, zoopla.co.uk, propertylive.co.uk, ezylet.com, smartnewhomes.com, Vebra. We have to wait few more months to see the effects.

You can upload your own property with out any portals. That will helps to improve your own traffic.
Please check Hurford Salvi Carr property in google map , When you click it is going to our site.

http://www.myclerkenwell.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/hsc-map.JPG

yaa i agree to shanaka. Its a good way to improve traffic