Are your properties appearing properly on Google?

 

Google publicly told the industry that they had no plans to launch a property search in the UK just a few weeks ago. I was at Lettings Live on Tuesday with Zoopla (a launch partner for Google) and not a word about it was uttered. Then, BOOM! Wednesday morning and it's all over the press... Well, The Guardian and Estate Agent Today anyway. What were they up to? Was the secrecy a deliberate ploy to hide something amazing? A Rightmove Killer?

Well, on first impression, no...

Getting hands on with Google Maps UK Property Search is disappointingly crude. One of the first things that surprised me was that many of the results were branded with the software provider's names and websites rather than the agents'. The only distinctions in property type are "Detached", "Semi" or "Townhouse/Unit"; the last of which seems to cover off flats or 'apartments' to use the proper marketing term.

Unless there are actually a number of 3 bedroom semi's now available in the North Sea, there also seems to be a problem navigating back from another website to the map results. Each time I did this (in two different browsers) the map would reset to the UK whilst the results remained peppered over the page...

Furthermore, I also found that a number of search terms including Pimlico and Putney, sent me off to their American namesakes rather than the London locations I was expecting.

Quantity over Quality

Any given search produces a map with tons of results, but I found numerous listings that were incomplete or inaccurate. It's the same old headaches that the major portals have worked long and hard to eradicate; properties being listed that are no longer on the market, missing photos and descriptions, duplicated listings, etc, etc.

The first result for the search pictured above has no image and is actually under offer despite only having been uploaded to Google Maps on 11th June. And it's from an agent who I know to be very professional and particular about property presentation.

Google's laissez-faire attitude to letting anyone and everyone put content into their platforms has always made it too easy for erroneous or even malicious content to sneak into the results. With normal search, Google's algorithms learn over time to prioritise those results that are actually delivering the right content. The dodgy ones will still be in there, but they will be buried on page 10,000 of the 1 million results for that search term. But, when each result is a little red dot on the map, it's not so easy to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Get it right or get it off

Erroneous listing information is not really Google's fault. If the information that has been posted to Google Base (the long running platform which drives property results on Google Maps) is wrong or incomplete, it's down to the source which in many cases at present seems to be the software providers. If you haven't done so already, check to see how your properties are appearing on Google Maps.

A tip for doing this quickly: set map search to properties and then search for your brand name and area, e.g: "Bristol, CJ Hole"

If your software supplier or another portal is putting them on there and they are not appearing properly, then get them to sort them out or take them off Google Maps. There is bound to be an initial surge in traffic to this new property search as people try it out, so don't let customers get the wrong impression about you from poorly presented properties.

A threat to agents?

My criticisms are over teething problems, but Google has got into a bit of a habit of releasing things that don't really have the impact that everyone anticipated (Wave and Buzz spring to mind in particular). Just because it's from Google, doesn't mean it will automatically and conclusively undermine everything else: iPhone vs Android, Twitter vs Buzz, dare I say Microsoft Office vs Google Docs? Even with the creases ironed out, I don't believe that Google represents a threat to the portals and is just as likely to drive more traffic to them than take it away from them. 

The threat to agents centres on whether self-sale develops an interdependency with Google. They need Google to feed them a mainstream audience, Google needs them to ensure that it offers something over and above the established portals; 100% of what's on the market; self-sale and agent listings combined. Although Rightmove has innovated on an unprecedented scale over the last couple of years, they enjoyed a long tenure in top spot without really doing much to develop the site or it's functionality. This was primarily because they remained the place where you could see the most available properties. So this in turn would give credence to the view that Google can be popular without being perfect. My friend and colleague; Ben Harris believes that Google Property will change everything - I am a little more reserved about the level of it's impact, but it could have an impact nonetheless. Tepilo begins uploading properties to Google from today. Just make sure they're not doing a better job of it than whoever is uploading yours.

How to use an iPad in Estate Agency

 

Rightmove; there's an iPad app for that. Primelocation; there's an app for that too. I completely understand the practical benefits of the big portals developing apps, but have struggled to see the point in agents following suit unless they operate in a particular niche or are using it as an exercise to promote the brand. It's the same argument that exists for conventional websites; if it's just a property search tool, why would a consumer prefer something with a fraction of what's available over an app with everything like Rightmove's?

Is using and iPad in estate agency an expensive and unnecessary folly?

I decided to have a look at what agents could use the iPad for without needing to spend a fortune on development or to copy everyone else with a property search App...

Some critics have dismissed the iPad as a poor substitute for either a phone or a laptop, but the clue is in the name. Apple are seeking for the iPad to replace the writing pad, not laptops or phones; their two most lucrative product lines! I've used the iPad in a couple of meetings to take notes. Rather than trying to decypher my own illegible scrawl afterwards, I can just file or e-mail my notes with the iPad. Some of the software systems, like LetMC will already run on an iPad because their software is web-based and conforms to the web-standards that Apple are so rigorously championing. Taking notes and accessing data; all very well from a day to day perspective, but let's face it, if you've got an iPad, you're going to want to show off with it? Where does an agent need to impress whilst taking notes and presenting information?

The Valuation

How many of your listers still have a faithful old folder crammed full of comparable properties, marketing examples and other paraphernalia to support their pitch? You tried to give them laptops with very detailed Powerpoint presentations a few years ago, but these presentations were very generic and didn't provide them with the flexibility to refine their presentation depending on the listing. It was also rather awkward to find somewhere to perch the laptop that meant you could control it, see it and still pay full attention to the vendor. So, you soon found that the laptop was staying in the car and the folder was once again the preferred choice.

I've been helping people avoid death by Powerpoint for years by using Apple's own presentation software: Keynote. If you've been to any of our seminars or watched many Academy videos, you will probably have seen all sorts of whizzy graphics, these are usually done in Keynote. The simplest way for me to describe it to the uninitiated is that it is Powerpoint on steroids. So, when I saw that Keynote was available for the iPad, I put my design team at Phoenix to task and we've now got a demo of a listing presentation designed specifically for the iPad...

The idea behind this is to provide a lister with something that will help them impress a vendor without getting lost in a pile of supporting materials on paper or spending half an hour trying to login to your laptop. Simple, clear presentation of information which supports your pitch. What's more, updating and adapting it is pretty straightforward, so you could create a bespoke presentation for each listing appointment with relative ease. This is great for making things like comparable sales and market data customer specific. 

In addition to a slick presentation, the iPad would enable you to show potential clients your website, Rightmove and other sources of property data while you sit and explain things to them. The best presentations are those that engage and inform and I think the iPad has a lot of potential to help agents raise their game in this arena.

I will be armed with the iPad at Lettings Live on Tuesday, so if you're coming, then make sure you pop by The Academy stand and I can show you more.