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Earlier this week, a real estate broker asked me, ”Can you game the Trulia search results ranking?” The answer is simple: Yes - the more interesting you make your listings to consumers, the more exposure and home buyer inquiries your listings will get.

Everyone has heard about the Google Page Rank and algorithms that Google uses to rank their search results. Individuals and businesses spend a considerable amount of effort to understand what it takes to climb up the rankings. Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise to me that we’ve started to receive an increasing number of questions about how we rank or prioritize real estate listings in the Trulia search results. I take this volume of questions as a positive sign of Trulia’s growth and ability to drive meaningful results to our partners. That is why I think it is important to address this question here on our blog.

First, while the exact details of ranking listings involve complex algorithms, the principles we follow are simple:

Associate each listing (along with the home buyer inquiries from that listing) with the actual listing agent or broker, not to the highest bidder or a random third party.
Since the very beginning, we’ve always followed the simple mantra of “your listing, your links and your leads.” Unlike some third party (e.g., online lead generators with a broker license and thus access to MLS IDX listings) or broker operated IDX listing web sites, Trulia has always credited and linked to the actual listing agent (or broker or franchisor) web site from the listings in our search results. There is no bidding or auctioning of leads from Broker A’s listings to Broker B. We think this creates the best consumer experience; who would know a home better than the actual listing agent who has been at the house with the home seller. Of course, we realize that consumers can benefit from a buyer’s agent during the purchase process, but we want to provide a direct connection between the consumer and the best source of information for each listing.

Build the best-in-class consumer experience in online real estate.
We track consumer behavior religiously on our site and know what type of listings they gravitate towards in each search (hint: they like more photos!). To meet their needs, the initial search results (aka “the default ranking”) that consumers see before any custom sorting are ranked to surface the best content first.

Build the most partner-centric company and cost efficient online advertising solution in the industry.
This may sound contrary to the principle number one, but it isn’t. By surfacing content and listings that consumers want to see first, we ensure that the exposure listings receive is highly valuable. We do not “force” home buyers to sift through dozens of listings they are not interested in even though it could artificially increase our page views.  Our goal is to maximize the real value we deliver to our partners.

Of course, our quest for excellence is never ending. The principles above haven’t changed over time, but our knowledge of user and partner behaviors has changed and does impact the exact way we prioritize listings.  Since the algorithm is constantly updated and involves a bunch of long mathematical equations, it’s best to focus only on the most important factors that positively affect both listing ranking and how we select the right listings source if we receive one listing from multiple sources:

• More listing data (especially multiple pictures, agent emails, descriptions and open house information) attracts more consumers and thus increases listing ranking on Trulia. More data = more leads.
• Fresher content, which means newer listings and more frequently updated feeds, increases exposure. Fresher listings = more leads.
• We apply the same principles to “paid listings,” too. The more likely a consumer is to click a listing, the higher it appears even in “featured” results. Premium listings with the best data = most leads.

Essentially, the cream rises to the top and the least comprehensive listings are most likely to be found on the bottom.

Now that you know the secret to gaming Trulia’s search results – making consumers happy - make it happen!

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