Most Visited Real Estate Web Sites

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 by Janet Thaeler

Most Visited Real Estate Web Sites

Real estate has been a more frequent topic recently on Marketing Pilgrim and I promised to write about recent stats on what real estate related terms people are typing in search engines. According to HitWise, the most popular web search volume for real estate sites goes to realtor.com. That’s based on data collected for the four weeks ending Jan. 26, 2008.

Hitwise is a subsidiary of Experian, and the stats are collected and analyzed directly from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The information is based on search behavior of more than 10 million Internet users in the US.

Notice the mix of brand names vs. general terms. Six out of ten of the terms are variations on a brand name: Realtor.com, Remax, Century 21, Zillow (both plain and with the .com) and Coldwell Banker.

Hitwise Real Estate Search Term Rankings
1. realtor.com – 1.7 percent
2. remax – .81 percent
3. homes for sale – .43 percent
4. apartments – .40 percent
5. real estate – .39 percent
6. century 21 – .38 percent
7. apartments for rent – .36 percent
8. zillow – .35 percent
9. zillow.com – .33 percent
10. coldwell banker – .29 percent

Realtor.com also took the number one spot for the most visited web site. That adds up to a lot of traffic. Remax (as reported by the Chicago real estate division) averages more than 2 million unique visitors each month.

Hitwise Most Visited Real Estate Web Site Rankings
1. realtor.com – 9.08 percent
2. HomeGain – 2.44 percent
3. Yahoo Real Estate – 2.25 percent
4. RE/MAX real estate – 2.21 percent
5. Rent.com – 2.19 percent
6. Zillow – 2.06 percent
7. Apartments.com – 2 percent
8. Move.com – 1.91 percent
9. ZipRealty – 1.86 percent
10. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – 1.42 percent

I wonder where CraigsList falls on the list…

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27 comments on “Most Visited Real Estate Web Sites”

Katie McCartney Says:

July 1st, 2008 at 9:51 pm

Wow! Thanks for the information.
Joe Hall Says:

July 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pm

Excellent data Janet! I am actually surprised about the top sites…. Of course everyone knows that REALTOR.com is number one, no one in the industry debates that point. However, one thing that many of the different corporate brands like to debate is who falls inline after REALTOR.com I am surprised to find that only one brand name real estate site is on the list! That’s amazing, and shows where the big names need help….SEO

Joe Hall’s last blog post..ICANN Hands Out SEO Gold Nuggets to Large Corporations
CVOS the man Says:

July 1st, 2008 at 11:28 pm

I wonder how they define ‘real estate’ i would bet dollars to doughnuts that craigslist is more popular for rentals than rent.net

CVOS the man’s last blog post..Britney Spears Spelling Variations
Zack Katz Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 am

It goes to show that although I love Trulia and ZipRealty (ZipRealty less, since it requires you to sell your soul to their login page), they’re still quite irrelevant when it comes to realty.

Wonder how long it will take Google to build up their Base Real Estate search?

Zack Katz’s last blog post..Denver web hosting ? we?re making the switch to reselling
e. david zotter Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:32 am

It is too bad.

Everytime I use Realtor.com, I can’t help but wonder how this site has the most traffic. It is such a piece of trash. No…really! They should sit all the developers down and ask, “Is this the best we can do?”….
Tiffany Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 am

I can’t imagine if Realtor planned their business better how the traffic will be….
Cristiano Ronaldo Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 am

Anyone know how real estate leads work? I am wanting to promote a real estate website, but where can I find affiliates? Do they exist in real estate?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s last blog post..Ronaldo snubbed from Euro 2008 XI
Ashley Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 5:54 am

This is the very information I was in search for
Symbian Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 8:37 am

I think real estate is far away from general SEO topics.

Symbian’s last blog post..Nokia S60 Symbian Windows Live client available in Europe
Brian Nygard Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 8:37 am

I would be interested in a study on regional stats (like Chicago).

Brian Nygard’s last blog post..Recent Homes Sales
Search Engine Optimization Journal Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 am

This is excellent information. Is there any list online that provides top 10 real estate industry sites?

Search Engine Optimization Journal’s last blog post..SEO Gets Flushed – Goolge Gets Flashed
Joe Hall Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 am

@SEO Journal, I have never seen any, but I might try to put something like that together. I will let you know what I come up with.

Joe Hall’s last blog post..ICANN Hands Out SEO Gold Nuggets to Large Corporations
Joe Hall » Top 5 National Real Estate Franchise Web Sites Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am

[...] today Janet Meiners posted an awesome post at MarketingPilgrim.com about the top ten most visited real estate web sites. One of the things [...]
Joe Hall Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm

@SEO Journal, as requested, check the link above.

Joe Hall’s last blog post..Top 5 National Real Estate Franchise Web Sites
Scott Hoen Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Check out Cyberhomes.com which has listings, home values, rentals, financing, demographic, school, community informaiton — everything that a Realtor.com and a Zillow.com has but all on one site rather than multiple sites.
Utah Search Engine Optimization Says:

July 2nd, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Surprised to see Zillow wasn’t more. Maybe cuz they lost Vanessa?

Utah Search Engine Optimization’s last blog post..Interview with SEO: Brian Carter and Search Engine Journal Post
Testing ScribeFire and Waiting for Beta QuickAds invite! Says:

July 8th, 2008 at 9:51 am

[...] Most Visited Real Estate Web Sites [...]
Happy Home Says:

July 12th, 2008 at 9:55 am

you can check Alexa for top websites

http://www.happyhomelb.com
Shell Smith Says:

July 15th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Those sites look pretty good – but I still like the one I use. It is property maps. http://www.propertymaps.com. They have a really slick google maps/mls mashup that is really helpful.
Joe Hall » Hitwise data misses the mark when it comes to Real Estate. Says:

July 28th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

[...] long ago, Marketing Pilgrim posted about some Hitwise data on real estate search terms and real estate web sites. As expected [...]
GAGE MORRIS Says:

August 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 am

Y
GAGE MATTHEW Says:

August 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 am

You can always tell the difference people pushing thier own site, the realtors & actual consumers. You think we can’t tell…. consumers aren’t as dumb as they once were.

Plus, have you even seen the new Realtor.com? I don’t hear any comments on the NEW beta site. Plus google will soon find out much money there is & how expensive it is to operate & realtor marketing dollars can not sustain it – when it comes to advertising and googlebase will be history. trust me – it will look like real estate – and google ad sense – how pretty.
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September 28th, 2008 at 12:52 am

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