When advertising home listings, where should Realtors spend their marketing dollars? Where should homebuyers go first when they begin an online home search?
As a result of rapid changes in the online advertising wars, data analyst BuildZoom compared Realtor.com and Zillow listings in 51 U.S. cities. It found that “the best online home listing site” varies by the metro area. In 40 out of 51 cities, Realtor.com has the advantage – in some cases, a strong advantage. In 11 cities, Zillow lists more homes for sale.
Three home listing ad sites dominate the Internet. Zillow leads in the total number of visitors, but now it’s followed by Realtor.com which passed Trulia within the past year. Realtor.com appears to be having higher exposure among customers.
According to BuildZoom, “As long as Zillow Group continues to draw substantially more traffic than Realtor.com, agents and brokers will continue to feel compelled to advertise on its portals.” But… Will Zillow succeed long term?
BuildZoom says that they suspect Zillow Group will have an uphill battle. The nature of the relationships between the MLSs and Zillow Group’s portals are the subject of passionate disagreement and Zillow may find it hard to win over hearts and minds.
As an agent/broker, which do you prefer?
As a homebuyer, which do you prefer?
