Three Secrets Third-Party Aggregators Don’t Want Brokers to Know

There's a battle raging between brokerages and third-party aggregators that compile real estate listings online and collect sales leads in order to sell them to agents and brokers. Several large brokerages are so unhappy with aggregators that they've turned off syndication in an effort to "get control" of their listings. But what's really at stake in this debate?

Is it about preventing aggregators from using brokers' listings as a means of generating advertising revenues? Trying to stop aggregators from selling leads on a broker's listing to competing brokers? Eliminating outdated listings information and inaccurate home valuations on aggregator websites?

All those issues are at the surface of this debate. But at the heart of the controversy is a problem that's more far-reaching and integral to the long-term survival of brokerages than just bad data.

This is a high-stakes, winner-take-all war over search engine visibility. It's a battle for the attention of millions of consumers who routinely use Google and other search engines as the starting point in their journeys to buy or sell their homes. Real estate sites that are found at the top of organic search engine rankings are the early birds who get the worm. They get the first contact with prospective customers, and the first opportunity to build a relationship and beat out the competition.