Earlier this week, I posted a mock story about Number1Expert rebranding as Number2Expert due to their decision to automatically include Trulia widgets on their template sites, and thus give Trulia over 11k links.
Well, I never claimed to be perfect (only close,) and ummmmm, I screwed up. Number2Expert is actually providing Trulia with 36,400 links.
Let me explain…
I first checked the total # of links to Trulia from N2E sites. Because N2E currently tags every site w/ the text “Number1Expert” at the top of each page, it was pretty easy to find. I ran this link analysis.
But jogging through some of the link pages, I realized that many of the webmasters linking out were doing so on their own. Sites like this guy were putting the widgets on their home page, and I’m only concerned about the links that N2E is placing on the sites through corporate policy.
So this meant that we needed to find the template pages where N2E is automatically placing the widgets. N2E uses the same page naming structure on all of their templates, so again, it wasn’t that difficult. We already knew they place the widgets on all of the “myhomes.asp” pages, and are providing them 11,200 links on these. I dugg a little more, and found a TON of dynamically generated pages that all have “myhomedtl” in the URL.
I ran this link analysis, and found an additional 25,200 links coming from N2E sites. Add that to the 11,200 links coming from the myhomes.asp pages, and we’re at a total of 36,400 links that are automatically placed on Number2Expert sites.
To put it in perspective, BloodhoundRealty.com has a total of 48,600 incoming links. Activerain has a total of 13,500 incoming links.
Trulia has a total of 164k backlinks. Number2Expert sites make up over 22% of their link profile.
Do you guys think this might be partially responsible for Trulia’s rankings?
Here’s a basic resource on how to check backlinks using yahoo.
More in the blogosphere:
- Trulia Widgets Help Their SEO, Not Yours – Steve Castaneda, TechForAgents.com
- Trulia is Your Competitor, Not Your Partner – help Protect the Consumer – Ryan Ward, RyanWardRealEstate.com
- Bloggers: Watch your Widgets (and their links) – Eric Blackwell, EricOnSearch.com
- Trulia Widgets. Are they stealing your Google juice? – Broker Bryant, Activerain
Steve Castaneda says:
Nice find, Eric. It looks like their portfolio with “N2E” is a lot more extensive than we once believed it to be.
May 14, 2008 — 9:36 am
Richard says:
So Number1Experts sells template sites that are designed around free widgets? If I was a customer I would be very unhappy with that.
May 14, 2008 — 11:11 am
Drew Hartanov says:
Nice work, Eric.
I have a #1Expert site and I am not happy about linking to Trulia. An easy decision: I will soon be a previous client as the site is pretty much worthless anyway except now it benefits Trulia… Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll go elsewhere.
May 14, 2008 — 12:41 pm
Ronnie Bredahl says:
This makes me want to throw up!
How does Number 2 Expert profit from such a venture? I’m sure Trulia is not linking back to their agents sites (maybe with nofollows). I, personally, have never liked any of their sites. Nothing but ugly unoriginal templates. If they weren’t tagged with Number1Expert at the top, they could pass for AA or Z57 sites.
May 15, 2008 — 10:01 am
Hi, I'm Rudy from Trulia.com says:
Hi all! –
Just to repeat – We absolutely do not pay Number1Expert for any links. The TruliaMap integration was an opportunity they saw to enhance their client websites with a valuable free tool from Trulia, as it drives more clicks into their site. Sadly, nothing scandalous here.
For some clarity on much of the misinformation and confusion going on here and elsewhere, please take the time to read our blog post –
http://www.truliablog.com/2008/05/15/back-to-basics-trulia-was-built-to-help-improve-your-roi/
Thank You,
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
May 15, 2008 — 10:27 am
Sue says:
Hey there…I have a #1 site as well and they are on their way out. They charge alot of money for not much and don’t seem willing to accept a reasonable amount of money for the only thing I find possibly worth keeping which is their database and email blast.
May 15, 2008 — 11:46 am
Rudy from Trulia says:
NOTE – I posted this earlier in the day but it seems it is still in moderation, as are all my other comments here and on other blogs concerning this matter. Maybe it has something to do with the akismet spam service. I emailed them to see what was going on but have yet to hear back. So for all of you who are using akismet, please check your spam filter for my comments.
Hi!
We absolutely do not pay Number1Expert for any links. The TruliaMap integration was an opportunity they saw to enhance their client websites with a valuable free tool from Trulia, as it drives more clicks into their site. Sadly, nothing scandalous here.
For some clarity on much of the misinformation and confusion going on here and elsewhere, please take the time to read our blog post –
http://www.truliablog.com/2008/05/15/back-to-basics-trulia-was-built-to-help-improve-your-roi/
Regards,
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
May 15, 2008 — 5:18 pm
Eric Bramlett says:
Rudy –
I don’t think we accused you of buying links on this post. Wrong canned response here, man!
May 16, 2008 — 2:17 pm
Rudy from Trulia says:
Hi Eric,
“# Jim Olenbush May 14th, 2008 11:12 am
22% of Trulia’s link profile. That’s a lot. Maybe Trulia pays Number1Experts to place these widgets and links on all of their agent template sites?”
I was addressing Mr. Olenbush’s comment above.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
May 16, 2008 — 2:41 pm
bpo says:
Unfortunately most agents with with #1expert sites, are unaware. These are good links from index pages with keyword links. Doesn’t get better then that. If number 1expert cared about there client they wouldn’t be helping kill clients in local serps (bad business model). Almost all local pages trulia dominates. Its pretty easy to incorporate a nice map search with most idx services these days.
January 6, 2009 — 1:30 pm