What is IDX integration?

Posted by adairsawyer on January 17th, 2013

The process of finding an IDX and terms used in real estate fields can confuse novice investors. There's an array of acronyms used in real estate business, investors should understand all this. An IDX simply gives your website users access to listings in the MLS. IDX is the standard in giving members rich experience in accessing MLS. IDX integration is the process of integrating listing directly to your site. Some people argue that SEO techniques do not function here but the bare truth is it works. Web owners utilizing an IDX have better chances of increasing sales. Again, many customers will come to check for information about local listings. Realtors with blogs can find the listings by using an IDX plugin.

IDX integration is achieved through three main methods. The first one is IDX framing. This is anti-organic integration method that uses iFrame to display MLS to different websites. This implies that no data is transferred from multiple listing services to the individuals website. The data is directly loaded from listing provider. Like an IDX plugin, website owners receive data directly. Although this method is more reliable, it makes your real estate website rank lower in different search engines. This simply means that it is harder to get more visitors to your site.

Another way of IDX integration is by FTP integration. The method is almost same as IDX framing but the highway here is FTP. FTP integration regularly synchronizes websites at intervals with the MLS provider database. The synchronization duration might be after 12hrs or so. This means that broker’s website will load data from website database thus improving the ranking for the site on search engines. If you compare the 3 methods, FTP integration cost is high. Its disadvantage is that the synchronization of data is not done at short intervals therefore your site is ranked lower by search engines. For the IDX plugin to work, an individual must be IDX for real estate user.

Another important method is RETS integration. It uses RETS technology to transfer data from an MLS provider to individual websites. Like FTP, this method is considered organic IDX integration. It is beneficial because the update and the synchronization of data is done after every hour. Again, the costs involved here are low. That is why those websites utilizing RETS technology stay at the top of search engines.

Let us focus on requirements for an IDX plugin. To qualify for plugin services, you must participate in an MLS. This means only brokers can embed the MLS listings. Subscribers can only access the data through brokers.  Brokers are required to pay for data feed. At first, one can embed data through free demos provided but later you need to start paying. Remember that downloading Plugin is absolutely free. The IDX plugin is essential for wordpress and blogs owners. Some other requirements are the web hosting standards and your blog progression. For you to succeed you must use the IDX/MLS listings and choose right method.

You may want to learn more on IDX for Real Estate and why it is important to use this service. The knowledge based on IDX for Real Estate will enable achieve your real estate goals.