Thread: Forcing or Not Forcing Users to Sign up for IDX Searches

I manage several real estate web sites and wanted to get the group's opinion on whether or not to force users to register to use the IDX search capabilities of a real estate site.

I guess the three options are:
- Never force registration
- Force registration before any searches delivered
- Force registration after a pre-set number of searches are performed

What are you thoughts?

- Hugh

I think option number 3 is probably the best. If I hit a site that asks for registration at the door, I'm gone!

When you want to search for all the Admirals Cove homes for sale, use Jeff's website where signup is never required to search the current listings of the beautiful luxury homes of Admirals Cove. You can contact Jeff any time you're ready. Enjoy your visit and be sure to watch the video tour of Admirals Cove and its exquisite luxury estates, fairways, waterways, yachts and the beautiful award winning Crown Jewel of private clubs.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you always, always offer whatever you can free of charge for home and real estate information. This is what wins in today's market and it is the beginning of customer service. No fear, just readiness. They'll call you if your content is memorable.

How would you feel as a consumer being forced to register to view homes?

Some people are adamant that forcing registration and their system of weeding out the fake accounts leads to more business.

I do not require registering but I am looking to get the SEO benefits of the IDX content.

I think there is little SEO value to IDX search pages because the bulk of the landing page looks like this to Google:

Code:

<div id="topcomm150" class="isChild child17"> 
                            <input class="input indent left" type="checkbox" name="area[]" id="comm150" value="150" /> 
                            <label for="comm150" class="left">Antigua</label> 
                                                      </div>

Custom php driven community pages fare a little better but most of the code has the same list or table structure. Things improve when you add some paragraphs of content at the top of the page. SEO hierarchy follows an established pattern, which most web applications, including IDX solutions, don't.

SEO hierarchy in order of appearance: <title>, <description>, <h1>(can also serve as title), <h2>, <bold>(for keywords that relate to <title>, text, ALT & title attributes for images and links.

The rest is sufficient content, on topic and the right balance of keywords, and by balance, I mean not stuffing the keywords. 3% should do it.

You may notice I didn't mention the <keywords...> meta tag in my hierarchy. Google doesn't use them and I wonder if it isn't actually detrimental since it just adds, incrementally, to load time, which Google does measure. I don't care about Bing or Yahoo because by time I get a site to rank in Google, B/Y are long done. Therefore, I ignore the keyword meta tag.

I think if you use the correct IDX solution, it will help for traffic in my experience. Using google analytics shows me why the visitors are there and it is because of my IDX.

But Dave, you never answered the question regarding whether or not you require registration for the IDX portion of your website.

I deeply regret not answering whether I require signup for the IDX portion of my website, well I would almost regret it if that were the question but what I think I understood was,

I manage several real estate web sites and wanted to get the group's opinion on whether or not to force users to register to use the IDX search capabilities of a real estate site.

Alas, I am outed and exposed! I have no IDX portion on my website because I am only an SEO consultant.

If I have failed to express my opinion on whether to require signup IDX, I must review my writing style but, I suspect, the rhetorical response is better used in the end. Would a clear "yes" or "no" make my response more compelling to someone considering the reasons why to follow a course?

Dave Keys,

Originally Posted by Dave Keys

Would a clear "yes" or "no" make my response more compelling to someone considering the reasons why to follow a course?

Dave Keys, Orange County SEO

An answer based upon experience with a real estate website with IDX would probably help the OP the most.

Originally Posted by markbrian

An answer based upon experience with a real estate website with IDX would probably help the OP the most.

I may not be an agent with the direct experience of my own IDX page, (my only experience is with my clients') but I do know how to get on page one of Google for one of the most expensive communities in the US, second, perhaps only to Jupiter Island, the famed most expensive zip code in the US.

If you do a mere search for "Admirals Cove Homes", where the top fifty homes are over $1M and the top selling home is listed at a cool $9.95M (isn't that almost $300k in commission?), You'll see, at least today, the only search result on page one that says something out of the ordinary. Something other than exactly what the searcher typed into Google. An implicit call to action, "What a beauty!". If you're trying to attract flies, continue leaving the food on the picnic table. If you're trying to attract buyers, think about how to communicate with them.

If you think outsider opinions are bad for you then only listen to other real estate agents.

If you think SEO and search engine marketing are relevant to your field then examine that area of your business too. There is plenty of free material available to hone your skills and strategies online.

Admirals Cove Homes search result:


Dave Keys