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Workflow to get greatest exposure to real estate websites?18101

Philly private msg quote post Address this user
Between constant site updates and changing partnerships, it's hard to get a grasp on what the best way to ensure your Matterport gets picked up by all the major real estate sites.

What is your process when clients want to ensure maximum exposure?
Do you suggest the matterport link directly into the MLS?
Do you enable the content distribution tab in the matterport add-on settings so that matterport pushes the space to their partners?
Do you suggest that they email the link directly to Zillow's team?


As someone who has spent too much time looking for the *updated* way of how each real estate website handles a walkthrough getting posted, I figured it would be best and informative to hear the workflow process of some others.
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Gilroy, California
Dataventurer private msg quote post Address this user
@Philly3D You are asking a great question! You have uncovered a HUGE potential opportunity for media providers to add value in their service to real estate agents!

Hard data: 25% of the residential property listings in my area had media that wasn’t showing up properly on the main three property sites (Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com).

How do I know? In addition to being a media provider (my main focus right now), I still hold an active Coldwell Banker agent license, which provides me with access to the local MLS where all the data on properties can be found (at an annual cost as an agent of about $2,000). In August 2022, I looked at all the media links for 144 active residential properties in my area (south of San Jose, known as South County). And I found that 25% of the media wasn’t displaying properly!

Each MLS (there are hundreds of them across the country) has their own platform for collecting information from the listing agents about the properties. My MLS provides eight fields for submission of non-photo media:

Branded Virtual Tour URL
UnBranded Virtual Tour URL
Branded 3D Tour
Unbranded 3D Tour
Drone Tour
Unbranded Drone Tour
Branded Additional Tour
Unbranded Additional Tour

The field labels are not defined specifically nor policed rigorously for the agents. I found links to single-page websites placed in the fields (there is not a really specific field for a single-page website!). Sometimes a 3D/360 tour was put into the Virtual Tour field (what is the accepted definition of a Virtual Tour??? That’s an old term…).

So here is where I see the opportunity for us media providers. Either talk with your friendly agent to get this info or call your local MLS directly and find out the names of the fields they provide to capture media for the property listings. These fields will be what the various real estate platforms “scrape” for the URL links to your media. If an agent enters the medial URL in the wrong field, it won’t show up properly on the real estate platforms.

My understanding is that the industry standard is to provide media to the agent/client and leave it to them to get the media posted correctly (because only the agent or designated assistant has access to the listing dashboard). The opportunity here is to be an informed counsel to your agent/client, plus you take the initiative to check the main three sites to make sure the media is displaying correctly (and contact the platform to get it fixed if necessary).

A couple recent changes that I noticed: Zillow is no longer posting Matterport tours at the top of the photo carousel. Now, only the Zillow 3D Home Tours have that prime location. If you submit a Matterport link to Zillow (or any other 3D tour), it now displays as a link in the Facts and Features section. And Zillow is no longer hosting videos on their site (before, we could upload the videos and the agent could quickly submit it with a couple clicks. No more.) Videos must now be hosted on another platform. My MLS is still in catch-up mode because they don’t have a field to post links to videos! This kind of thing is why I think its wise to create a single page website that has all your media and post that link in one of the Unbranded fields (the real estate sites don’t scrape the Branded media links).

Realtor.com has their own set of guidelines (restrictions!) that you can read about here: Adding 3D Tours, Video Tours, and Virtual Tour links to your listings Matterport, Asteroom, and CloudPano are the only 3D platforms supported. YouTube and Vimeo are the only video platforms supported. So what happens if you are providing a Zillow 3D Home Tour to your client?... Yeah…..

A couple times I needed to contact Redfin to send them the link to a video or tour to post. They responded nicely and promptly I guess sometimes the “scraping” process misses picking up the link.

This is why it’s wise, and a great opportunity to add value to your service, to check the three main sites a day or so after the listing goes live to check that the media is displaying properly. And add that valuable service to your Value Proposition when pitching to agents!
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Philly private msg quote post Address this user
That's great info, thanks! I also am an agent, so while I do shoot for myself, I am always looking for the "cleanest" way to pass along other agent's tours smoothly. I do fear the situations when it doesn't scrape correctly, or they inputted something wrong, and it becomes a poor reflection of me or that the product is "broken."

FWIW - there are users here who have posted properties that they have shot, and Zillow has their matterport at the top of the photo carousel. @GETMYVR actually is the specific user whose post drew me into the site to try and get some more info, as it seems like all of his properties post and scrape fantastically, across all the major sites. Hoping he can weigh in!
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Gilroy, California
Dataventurer private msg quote post Address this user
@Philly3D The change I mentioned about Zillow de-featuring Matterport was announced to begin in January.

It's interesting to note that I have not received any direct communication from Zillow about the changes I mentioned nor direction on their decision to remove authorization for use of their Zillow Certified Photographer logo (that was indicated to take place at the beginning of January). I had seen mention of the Showtime+ acquisition and contacted a guy at Zillow who is involved in the 3D Home program to get the details.
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Philly private msg quote post Address this user
Oh wow, that is news to me. Thanks for the heads up. Seems like a totally backwards move on their part...Zillow's carousel presentation of media was pretty sharp with a nice UI. My guess is burying the media in facts and figures will just make consumers navigate to sites where the media is presented easier, not hidden down the page
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