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A real estate web is a real estate portal whose images of properties for sale are the main protagonists. That is why it is so important for a real estate to generate specific image sitemaps of its properties for sale.
The trend shows us that the users of Internet have changed their search manner. Images and videos are getting more and more importance.
That is also why the main Internet search engines show different results than the ones of the users. They come segmented by text contents, images, videos, news, apps, etc.
On the other hand, there is an essential factor that helps the images to get more importance: the fact that we are visual beings.
This is a demonstrated scientific factor which strengthens the importance of image sitemaps, both for a real estate as for the real estate blog.
I do insist on the importance of the real estate´s website which is actually its real estate portal. That is why it is so important to use image sitemaps: in order to achieve a good indexing on Internet and get a good visibility.
Earlier before, we have debated on the importance of the images for a real estate and we will now concentrate on how we could manage to perfectly index those images of properties for sale with the help of specific sitemaps.
It has been proven that, from a technical-functional point of view, a real estate without its corresponding sitemaps does not exist. Although it might seem not real, there are hundreds of webs inside the real estate sector of Spain that do not use sitemaps.
I am speaking of the general lack of sitemaps, not only the lack of image sitemaps and this is a huge mistake.
Importance of sitemaps for real estate blog and web.
Although among the webmasters, this subject is considered an extremely basic subject, I think it is a good idea to emphasize the most important points that sitemaps offer for the real estate websites.
It is highly important to understand the fact that some points might overlap and the fact that they are still valid for any type of sitemaps (text, images or videos).
I must also underline the fact that image sitemap or general sitemaps are essential for achieving good visibility on Internet, both for a real estate web and real estate blog.
– Sitemaps of a real estate are good because they:
- Index the contents in the search engines in an effective way
- Offer a good experience of the users of the real estate webs
- Manage the resources in a better way as sitemaps are generated in an automatic way.
Only by listing these three factors on the importance of sitemaps, we get to understand its level of importance. If the real estate limits itself to publishing images of its properties for sale on the website without generating image sitemaps, it will definitely not take the advantage of achieving better levels of visibility.
Sitemaps are the best tool for a real estate that sends status updates to the search engines.
On the other hand, image sitemaps bring another type of experience to the visitor of the real estate web, a much more pleasant experience taken from the functional point of view.
In the same time, this is a more effective system which helps the real estate to get potential buyers, simply because the structure of the contents is much more simple and direct.
The real estate properties for sale are shown through images and the attention of the visitors is caught by them and not by the text.
Although the real estate web counts with image sitemaps, it should also offer other sitemaps to its visitors. Nowadays, according to the trend in Spain, real estate web and blog are multilingual, so specific sitemaps must be generated by language.
– Example of different sitemaps: in the case of a real estate blog, as much sitemaps as languages must be generated. This is a valid example as the real estate must not generate only differential sitemaps based on language, but also based on contents.
Those sitemaps by language must also be linked to the image sitemaps of the properties for sale.
Image sitemaps for real estate web and blog.
If the real estate follows the rules based on the image processing for webmasters, it will definitely manage to get better levels of visibility.
By following the specific guidelines mentioned by the search engines, the probability of the images to appear in the searches will definitely increase.
For a real estate in Spain, achieving to increase its visibility implies a possibility to get a higher number of potential buyers.
There are different technical options to increase and structure the image sitemaps of a real estate, but these are the main ones:
- Start from zero by creating sitemaps.
- Modify the existent sitemaps linking the images.
- Create different and independent sitemaps by type of content and language.
In any of the cases, the important point is to manage to get a good level of effectiveness when indexing the images of the properties for sale.
The key is to make the search engines receive the biggest quantity of info linked to each image and to make sure that info is relevant.
Definition of tags for the images of a real estate.
Tags definitions of the images are divided into two large groups: obligatory and optional. Some optional tags could become obligatory for some real estate. An example is the geo-location one.
The images of the properties for sale must be geo-located, because if not, they will only be some images in any part of the world.
Tags for fundamental images for a real estate.
<image:image> Real estate must include all the info linked to the image of the property for sale. A real estate could define different variables of great utility such as: properties for sale, short term rental or the type of property such as: apartments, chalets, terraced, dwellings,plots, garages, etc.
<image:loc>This is the tag that determines the URL address of the image that the real estate wants to make visible. This is a practical thing if the real estate is not hosting the images of properties for sale on its main domain.
<image:geo_location> This is the tag used to assign the license of the images. For a real estate might be also a good resource of self protection of its work. The images of properties for sale of a real estate are not always taken from third parties. I mean that they can be taken or edited by the real estate itself and not from an external collaborator. By combining that tag with other resources such as watermarks, a real estate secures its work avoiding any possible plagiarism.
- Example: <image:geo_location>Orihuela Costa, Spain<image:geo_location>
The tags cited above are some of the tags a real estate could include on its images. We should never forget about the importance of the attributes linked to every image. The tools for webmasters of almost all the search engines recommend some extras regarding the use of images.
The basic recommendations based on the use of the images of properties for sale are the following:
– Send as much info linked to each image as possible to the search engines. The name of the archive must offer a good description. The URL address assigned to the image linked to the property for sale must be effective.
- Model: domain.com/language/type of property/location/internal ID of management
- Example: domain.com/es/flat/orihuelacosta/ID
– “ALT” attribute: this is good for a real estate that wants to have a more exact description of its product.
- Model: <img src=”object.format” alt=”description”>
- Example 1: <img src = “flat.png” alt=”flat for short term rental in Orihuela Costa Spain”>
- Example 2: <img src =”dwelling.png” alt=”bungalows for sale in Orihuela Costa Spain”>
– Use anchor texts for real estate images. They should be used inside the real estate web and they must be descriptive and relevant. The real estate can generate a link to a specific webpage and make a certain link from the image of a property for sale.
- Example: flats for sale in Orihuela Costa Spain. This will be linked to the text on the webpage dedicated to the selling of flats and not to the rentals page.
The context of the images of the properties for sale is essential. That context must never be contaminated by some irrelevant info. A real estate must be sure that the images of properties for sale must always appear beside relevant texts.
When we speak about “relevant text” we must understand that search engines does not bother on the number of bedrooms.
In other words, the info attached to each image (number of bedrooms, garden, distance to airport , etc.) is completely irrelevant for the search engines. On the other hand, this is a highly efficient and useful info for the buyers of course.
That is why we need to find a balance between optimization and the functionality of the clients.
The correct use of image sitemaps for a real estate is essential not only to get a good optimization, but also for offering its clients a good experience on the website.
The systems to generate images sitemaps are standardized and once implemented, they function automatically.
On the other hand, the protocols for generating those sitemaps are regulated and available for any real estate in Spain. In this way, there is no possibility that a real estate web or real estate blog would not have specific sitemaps.
The target of the search engines is to offer the most relevant contents and the best quality contents to its users. A real estate has the target to try to catch potential buyers through its images.
Source: sitemaps.org / Webmasters Sites: Google / Microsoft / Yandex
