Google has this week unveiled something which is being regarded as a free property portal accessible directly from its search engine (the most popular search engine in the world). There have been free property portals before but their success depended on traffic, a critical mass. A critical mass is not something which Google lacks!
Google has been experimenting in the U.S. for a while, showing properties on its interactive map, but Google Australia has just released a mapping service that enable estate and letting agents to directly list their properties on its maps in its search engine. With no charge!
Visitors simply go to the Australian Google site, enter their requirements and the properties are plotted on its interactive maps.
"We think people will really start to look at these listings a lot online within Google Maps and then click through to individual agency websites when they've found a property they're after. " Google product manager Andrew Foster said.
This improved functionality has been developed in Australia and is being copied to Google’s search engines in the U.S. Google Street View was first in the US then Australia and there is no reason to expect it won’t be rolled out in the UK just as Google Street View recently was.
Realestate.com.au (60 per cent owned by News Corp) and domain.com.au are the leading property portals in Australia and are playing down the search engine giant’s threat to their business.
What this means for the future of the property portals is debateable but they must be concerned that the services they provide might not seem quite so essential with one of the biggest companies in the world, known for offering technologically advanced business customer orientated services for free, moving into their space.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
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