Don’t Get Framed By Your IDX

IDX: Framed or Indexed?

IDX, Internet Data Exchange. It’s what agents use to let people search for homes for sale on their website. Is Your IDX Framed or Indexed? It makes a big difference in your website’s performance in the searches. What is “framing” vs. “indexing”? Here’s an easy explanation:

Framed IDX

The IDX is framed if it is really part of another website that sits “framed” inside your website. It can appear in every way to be a part of your website, to human eyes. But to the search engines, it is it’s own website, sitting nicely within yours. When a website is framed inside another, it is independent and all traffic on the framed website is going to it’s own “Google Credit”, not the real estate agent.

Here is a screenshot of what a framed IDX looks like on a website:

You’ll notice that to the human eye, it is part of the website. But look at the url. There is no indication that the home or homes being viewed are part of the hosting website.

Indexed IDX

An indexed IDX is actually part of the hosts website. Every page of the IDX search results are indexed on the website. Not only do they look like part of the website to the human eye, they are part of the website to the eyes of the search engines. Look at this screenshot of a website with an indexed IDX. Take note of the url:

Not only Every listing that the IDX brings up is a part of this website. You can see that adding all of these listings to the pages of your website immediately adds thousands of pages to your website, depending on how large your area is.

All IDX Solutions are Not Created Equal

The IDX that you choose for your real estate website is one of the most important features, imo. Buyers are looking for houses, so an IDX is a must. The looks and customization of your IDX is important, and so is the usability. But the most important feature should be whether it is framed or indexed. If your website is not being found by people who are searching by neighborhoods and addresses, which represents as much as 60% of today’s real estate searches done online, then you will want to re-think your IDX.

It Makes a Difference!

Incidentally, the website with the framed IDX was found on the 10th page of a Google search for “Philadelphia real estate agent” and the website with the indexed IDX was found on the first page of a Google search for the same keywords.