Real estate marketing, defined.

CREA DDF®

CREA DDF® (Data Distribution Facility) is the Canadian Real Estate Association's national feed that lets REALTORS® display listings on their own websites.

IDX (Internet Data Exchange)

IDX (Internet Data Exchange) is a board-run program that lets members display each other's listings on their websites under the board's rules.

VOW (Virtual Office Website)

A VOW (Virtual Office Website) is a brokerage website where registered users, after agreeing to terms, can see listing data that isn't allowed on public pages.

MLS®

MLS® (Multiple Listing Service®) is a trademark owned by CREA identifying the professional services its members provide to list and market properties.

REALTOR® trademark

REALTOR® is a trademark controlled by CREA that identifies real estate professionals who are members of CREA.

CASL

CASL (Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation) is the federal law that governs commercial electronic messages, including marketing emails and texts sent by real estate agents.

Express consent

Express consent under CASL is a clear, active opt-in, such as ticking an unticked box, and it lasts until the person withdraws it.

Implied consent

Implied consent under CASL comes from an existing relationship, and after an inquiry it lasts six months from the inquiry date.

Unsubscribe mechanism

Under CASL every commercial email must include a working unsubscribe mechanism, and requests must be honoured within 10 business days.

PIPEDA

PIPEDA is Canada's federal private-sector privacy law, covering how businesses collect, use and disclose personal information.

BCFSA

The BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) regulates real estate licensees in British Columbia, including the rules on how they advertise.

Server-side rendering

Server-side rendering means a web page's content is built on the server and sent as complete HTML, so search engines can read it on the first request.

Crawling and indexing

Crawling is a search engine fetching your pages; indexing is it deciding to store a page so it can appear in results.

XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site you want search engines to find, with the date each one last changed.

Canonical URL

A canonical URL is the one address you tell search engines to treat as the main version of a page when the same content is reachable at several URLs.

Noindex

Noindex is an instruction on a page that tells search engines not to include it in their results.

Thin content

Thin content is a page with too little original, useful information to deserve a place in search results.

Structured data (schema.org)

Structured data is code on a page, usually in the schema.org vocabulary, that tells search engines and AI systems exactly what the page describes.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google's three measures of page experience: loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS).

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows which searches your site appears for, how often people click, and which pages are indexed.

Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business in Google Maps and the local results, with reviews, hours, photos and a link to your site.

Local pack

The local pack is the map and short list of businesses Google shows above the regular results for searches with local intent, like "realtor near me".

NAP consistency

NAP consistency means your business name, address and phone number are written the same way on your website, Google Business Profile and every directory.

Name ownership (branded search)

Name ownership is whether your own website or profile ranks first when someone searches your name.

AEO (answer engine optimization)

AEO (answer engine optimization) is structuring your content so search features and AI assistants can lift a direct answer from it and cite you.

GEO (generative engine optimization)

GEO (generative engine optimization) is improving how AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity describe and recommend you when someone asks about agents in your area.

llms.txt

llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file at the root of a website that gives AI systems a short, curated summary of the site and links to its key pages.

Speed to lead

Speed to lead is the time between someone submitting an inquiry and getting a real reply.

Lead scoring

Lead scoring ranks inquiries by how likely they are to turn into business, using signals like the request type, timeline and activity on your site.

Drip (nurture) campaign

A drip or nurture campaign is a planned series of emails sent automatically to a lead over weeks or months to stay useful until they're ready to move.

Saved search and listing alerts

A saved search stores a buyer's criteria so they're emailed automatically when a new listing matches.

CMA (comparative market analysis)

A CMA (comparative market analysis) is an agent's estimate of a home's likely selling price based on recent comparable sales, active competition and the home's features.