In 2011, Google made the change to no longer display real estate listings.

From the outside, this change to Google’s classifieds section, Google Base, sounded like a big deal! In the end, Google made this change because few people were using it. Additionally, there are better tools available for agents.

“In part due to low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API, we’ve decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps on February 10, 2011.”

But let’s be clear this didn’t mean that you or your real estate business wouldn’t show up organically on Google — it simply meant that Google would no longer be accepting real estate data feeds for Google Base or show real estate searches on Google Maps. The ability to maximize your real estate website rankings through search engine optimization (SEO) and integrate Google Map Pinpoints into your site still exists!

What was Google Base?

Google launched Google Base in November 2005. This database allowed users to add various types of content such as text, images, and structured information. These could be in different formats including XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, or WordPerfect.

Google Base was especially beneficial for companies with inventory data (such as product catalogs, automotive or real estate listings, etc.) since it’s an easy way to upload all that data directly to Google and have it show up in search results. In other words, it’s the Craigslist of Google.

What did this mean for my real estate business?

The good news is it probably didn’t affect you at all. The only websites that were affected are those using certain WordPress plugins or vendors who use Google Base as a data source, instead of IDX. Google has admitted that the real estate search function they created had low usage due to the advancements of website tools like those Union Street Media has been developing. Homebuyers can still search Google for real estate information, websites, and local business listings.

Google Base may be going away, but the focus should never have been on getting your listings there for leads. Google Base was a great way to create some solid links. The focus has and will always be on your real estate website. Your website is the key to selling more homes and branding yourself and your skills.

Keep working on SEO for real estate and consider developing a real estate paid search campaign to drive more traffic and leads to your website.

How did this affect Google?

Don’t worry, Google will still be the multi-billion dollar company that it is today. The truth of the matter is, that Google is making a good business decision.

When they launched Google Base, digital marketing for real estate was really starting to develop. Google entered the market unchallenged. Since then, several vendors and large real estate-focused companies have developed stronger brand recognition nationally.

From a business standpoint, it seemed that Google was trying to align their products, instead of having 20-30 stand-alone tools. The complete removal of Google Base in June of 2011 resulted from Google’s new Shopping API that will tie into Google Checkout for one fully functional tool.

Looking for help with your digital marketing strategy for real estate? Contact us!