IDX and Your SEO Rankings: The What and Why of It All
In the United States, almost 100% of home buyers start their search online. As a realtor, that tells you that your listings need to be visible online. You want as many of those homebuyers in your market to use your website, not a real estate portal – and that is where IDX comes into play for you.
For over ten years, the importance of integrated IDX for Realtors has been the topic of conversation. Yet, there are still websites that do not have integrated IDX. To drive home the importance of this to prospective clients, perhaps we need to subject again and how it can affect a realtor’s search engine rankings.
- IDX – Internet Data Exchange: What Is It?
- How Is IDX Implemented?
- Does Integrated IDX Matter?
- How A Website with Integrated IDX Appears
- What Benefits Makes IDX Offer?
IDX – Internet Data Exchange: What Is It?
For short, Internet Data Exchange, or IDX, affects how local MLS listings appear on a realtor’s website. It offers reciprocity between Realtors to show their local market on each other’s websites. MLS data and IDX work together, and when your website displays parts of MLS databases, you’re getting more exposure to your website with a higher Google ranking.
Participating in IDX has become almost universal because a good realtor realizes the more their listings are showing, the more potential buyers they’ll reach. Why some real estate offices are still withholding their information is bewildering. Especially when the cost of participating in IDX results in getting a higher dollar for listings because the listings get more exposure, the ROI is apparent.
How Is IDX Implemented?
Many techs speak into implementing IDX to a website, but it all comes down to three words: Search Engine Optimization. IDX can be implemented in two ways:
» Framed IDX:
This is the less expensive way to participate in IDX. It appears on a realtor’s website as a displayed page within the website, and outside party hosts that display and will have a separate subdomain or URL.
» Integrated IDX:
Each listing has a crawlable page, including all of the realtor’s MLS. This method gives you thousands of pages that major search engines will see. The more pages with relevant keywords, the more potential buyers are being directed to your website to see your listings.
Does Integrated IDX Matter?
The more content on a website, the more potential buyers are caught. With an integrated IDX website, thousands of pages are available through your Google indexed website and cast even an even bigger web for search spiders to find. The results give you more SEO benefits from your MLS dues.
How A Website with Integrated IDX Appears
Here, you are looking at a screenshot showing Park Regency Realty, a client of Absolute Strategic Agent’s that uses an integrated IDX emulsion with more than 750 pages that Google has indexed. Park Regency Realty has had fantastic success with the integrated IDX solution, and the growth is expected to continue as the SEO is maintained and updated accordingly.
The key takes away is not only the number of pages that Park Regency Realty’s listings, but that Google saw the pages of their website to be content pages. Our client was rewarded by getting them in the top 750+ pages, giving them that much more possibilities of being found by potential buyers.
What Benefits Makes IDX Offer?
We’ve discussed how an IDX integration will make your website search-engine friendly. Your listing ages will become indexable so that the search engines and spiders see your listings as displayed on your website. With Google getting a better view of your listings, you’ll see better search results as it creates backlinks, a crucial factor to increase the organic traffic. In addition to getting more exposure and higher Google ranking with MLS data and IDX working together, you can expect other benefits too like these:
» Lead Capturing:
IDX will enable you a more efficient way to capture leads with a better perspective of what the prospective buyers are looking for and send the emails when your website has listings that match their preferences. With IDX on your website, you will access quality leads with higher conversion.
» Social Media:
Social media is a powerful influence that the real estate industry can’t escape or overlook. With IDX, integrating your website content on different social media platforms is possible by creating detailed pages of spectacular listings on your own website that appeal to Facebook users, including social sharing buttons and private search options.
» Design Functions:
With half of the homes being sold online today, the buyers are using various devices to shop. With IDX integration, your website will be more improved and more responsive to more devices. Homebuyers can enlarge and shrink pictures from your website, send screenshots, and maneuver through your site.
» Eye-Catching:
With IDX, your website is more eye-catching to prospective homebuyers with an interactive map search that is more engaging. You can create attractive galleries using IDX as an engine on the backside of your website, giving you a personal branding hub that makes your listings stand out above others.
About Strategic Agent
From California to Florida, Strategic Agent knows real estate and websites. Combining our knowledge of both gives real estate agents the best to make their website seen and used, get more conversions, and provide an ROI they can’t afford to pass.
If you’re not getting the prospective buyers that you feel you should be getting from your website, give Strategic Agent a call today. We’ll answer your questions about IDX and how it can improve your website and your business. Reach us via 805-413-7895 or message us online to schedule a free consultation with our website experts.