Image via WikipediaGoogle drops real estate listings | Inman NewsGoogle drops real estate listings
Search giant cites low use, proliferation of search sites
BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2011.
Search giant Google will no longer support real estate listings uploaded to its classifed listings site on Google Maps, the company announcedTuesday.
Consumers will no longer be able to find for-sale, foreclosure, or rental properties through the search function on Google Maps, and real estate professionals will no longer be able to upload their listings to Google Base, the company's classifieds site, which is being replaced by Google Shopping APIs and will not support real estate listings.
"In part due to low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API, we've decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps on February 10, 2011," the company said in a blog post.
Home seekers can still use "Google search results to find helpful real estate information and websites" as well as view local businesses, directions and transit times through Google Maps and explore neighborhoods through Google Street View, the company added.
"This does not come as a surprise to me. Even with Google's huge audience, it shows having listing data is clearly not enough to deliver a good real estate search experience and build audience," said Pete Flint
, CEO and co-founder of property search site Trulia.
, CEO and co-founder of property search site Trulia.The company added that Google's removal of listings data will not affect its mobile application, which uses the Google Maps API.
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