MikeJaquish 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2014 What is the disadvantage of downloading photos from the RETS server, vs. hot linking? Is it just a matter of bandwidth usage and storage requirements? Will GOOG index photos on my server? Image search? I guess it is moot for me, since my MLS requires downloading photos to my server. I'm just wondering why that may be a bad thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RETSPRO 107 Report post Posted October 9, 2014 You are not required to download images to your server unless the BOR watermarks them with you company info.The only seo advantage for listing images is to use the alt and link descriptions, which both are dynamic in our system....anyone wanting to actually rank for "listing images" aren't typically going to find that those are people looking to "buy real estate" and therefore I'd take Google's advice and do a CDN and then just hotlink the listing images for making page loads even faster and thus ranking better - Even when forced to download I would download all images to a single account and then hotlink all my other sites off of that single source (thus proving that unless images are watermarked with your ID then no need to download) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJaquish 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2014 So, there is no real technical disadvantage to downloading? Great. MY MLS requires downloading, does not allow hotlinking to their server, and there is no watermark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RETSPRO 107 Report post Posted October 9, 2014 No watermark requirements then we could easily pick from at least 6 or more media servers to hot-link from - if you wanted to...or feel free to download them...personally if I can find a reliable media source then I just go with that until I'm "forced" to download as that would be my absolute last choice every time...unless were talking less than 5k to 8k listings or something then I could maybe see doing those as downloads....but still my last choice.We did CREA Canadian Real Estate Association last year - downloaded all 100k+ listings and images - images took nearly 2 weeks to get them all caught up since there were so many changes every hour.....and with CREA you have to download them since they are NOT Rets compliant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJaquish 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2014 I think there is a clear reason why so few local agencies here are using RETS. Fees are stiff, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
