Sarah Beeny private sale site goes on Google

News Category: Industry News

Sarah Beeny’s private sales website Tepilo is to list its properties on Google’s new service as from today.

Beeny tweeted the news on Twitter yesterday, saying it was “great news!”

Meanwhile, Rightmove has explained why it is steering clear of Google, despite welcoming the launch of its map-based property search in the UK.  

Rightmove said that it is the world’s largest user of Google maps, according to figures released last month, but insisted that 97% of property searchers still want words, not maps.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “We teamed up with Google to offer an improved map-based search option for visitors to rightmove.co.uk and it has been a useful addition.

“Users appreciate being able to locate an individual property on a map, but seem to want it right alongside the detailed property information and the other research resources that Rightmove provides. The vast majority of Rightmove users still prefer list-based search results when home-hunting, but it’s great to be able to offer them the choice.
 
“I’m sure that estate and lettings agents will try a search on their own area in Google wearing a home-hunter’s hat, and judge for themselves the quality of the user experience.”

Shipside added: “We do not intend to list properties via the listing service as at this stage. It does not seem to add any extra features or benefits to those that Rightmove already provides.

“The well-established appeal of our site in the minds of the UK public is that we provide everything for them in one place when home-hunting.

“We will continue to develop our website to ensure our user experience stays well ahead of any competition. This includes an innovative new spatial search tool launching in the next month.”  

Zoopla – a Rightmove competitor – has done a deal with Google. But Rightmove said: “We note that Zoopla is now providing its listing content to three sites that accept private seller advertising – eBay, Gumtree and now Google – a historically contentious area with agents.”


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