Imported listings are ordinary WordPress posts, so your SEO plugin controls them the same way it controls everything else on the site. MLSImport does not build sitemaps, does not set canonical URLs and does not apply noindex rules.
Two things about imported listings do differ from normal content, and both are worth planning for: the text is not unique to your site, and the photos are not on your server.
If your brokerage is missing when you search a home’s address, start with the checks for a listing that does not show up in Google. They help your website team tell a page Google cannot read from one Google can read but does not show for that search.
If your whole site gets almost no visitors from Google, not just one listing, start with why your realtor website gets almost no visitors from Google. It has a 30-minute check you can run today.
What MLSImport does and does not emit
- Sitemaps. Not generated by the plugin. Your SEO plugin includes the property post type the same way it includes posts and pages.
- Canonical URLs. Not set by the plugin and not locked, so your SEO plugin’s rules apply unchanged.
- Titles and meta descriptions. Not written by the plugin. The property title format is a setting on the import task, and everything after that is your SEO plugin’s job.
- Social tags. Not emitted at all. Whatever appears when a listing is shared comes from your theme or your SEO plugin.
- Structured data. Emitted only in standalone mode, described below. On WpResidence, WpEstate, Houzez and Real Homes it comes from the theme or the SEO plugin.
Structured data in standalone mode
Standalone mode writes one JSON-LD block into the page head of a single property. It is a single consolidated graph rather than fragments per section, so it stays valid whichever sections you placed on the page.
The graph has two joined nodes. A RealEstateListing node describes the advert: name, URL, description and the offer. An accommodation node describes the building: address, coordinates, bedroom and bathroom counts, floor size and year built. They are linked so a search engine reads them as one listing rather than two unrelated things.
Developers can change or remove it through the mlsimport_property_schema filter, which receives the array before it is printed.
If you run an SEO plugin that also emits listing schema in standalone mode, check a property page in a structured data validator before assuming more is better. Two competing descriptions of the same listing is a worse result than one, and the filter above is how you turn ours off if theirs is the one you want.
Will thousands of MLS listing pages make Google think my brokerage site is duplicate or thin content?
Yes, Google sees them as near copies. No, that is not a penalty. Every site that pulls your MLS gets the same listing text. So Google picks one copy to show for each house. Often that copy is Zillow’s or Realtor.com’s, not yours. Your pages are filtered out, not punished. MLS Import does not make the shared text unique or promise that Google will show each page.
Here is what that looks like in real life:
- Many listing pages will not get indexed. (Indexed means Google keeps a page in its search results.) In Search Console you may see lots of listing pages marked “Crawled, currently not indexed.” That is Google filtering copies. It is normal.
- Listing pages are thin. A few facts and one paragraph the MLS wrote is not much for Google to work with. But a short page is not poor just because it is short. Check that each page shows the current price and status, clear home facts and photos, checked local details, and a way to ask your brokerage about the home.
- The mix matters. The risk grows when almost every page on your site is MLS text and you have very little of your own writing.
What to do about it:
- Write the pages only you can write. Neighborhood pages, condo building pages, market updates, buyer and seller guides. Those are the pages that can bring you leads from Google. Add useful local details where your board allows them.
- Only import the market you serve. Fewer copy pages, more of your own pages.
“If there’s 10 agents using these sites, how exactly do you think you will outrank the next guy using the same service?” You won’t, with listing text alone. The listings make you look like a real estate site. Your local pages are what bring the traffic.
Google explains how it chooses among duplicate pages. Shared text alone does not break its spam rules, which cover pages made mainly to gain search rankings without helping people.
Photos and image SEO
Listing photos are attachments whose file lives on the MLS image source rather than in your media library. Practical consequences follow from that.
- They cannot be compressed, resized or served through your own image CDN.
- An image sitemap built by reading your media library will not list them.
- Alt text and file names come from the feed rather than from you.
Frequently asked questions
Should I noindex imported listings?
Most sites should not. They are what visitors came for, and they carry internal links to the pages you do want ranking. Consider it only if you have thousands of listings and a small amount of original content. Make that choice based on the page’s value, not just the number of listings.
Can I edit the description on an imported property?
You can, and the next sync overwrites it if the description field is one you are importing. Removing that field from your selection is what makes an edit stick.
Does MLSImport slow the site down in a way that affects rankings?
The import work happens in the background rather than on page loads. What affects front end speed is the number of properties your theme queries on a page, which is a theme and hosting question.
Will imported listings make my brokerage rank in Google?
No, not by themselves. Imported listings give Google real pages on your domain to read, but every site on your MLS has the same listing text, so the feed alone rarely ranks. Your own office listings and the local pages above are what rank, and the imported listings give them something current to show. The full breakdown is in do imported MLS listings help a brokerage rank in Google.
What should I do with sold listings so my site does not fill up with dead pages?
You have two choices: let them leave, or keep them on purpose. By default, the daily cleanup removes a listing once it leaves the MLS, and its page shows a 404 (a “page not found” error). That is correct behaviour, and the errors climb in Search Console over time, so decide in advance whether you let those pages 404 or redirect them to an area or search page. If your MLS lets you show sold homes, add Closed to Protected Statuses so those listings stay as a sold portfolio. Check your board rules first. See Closed and off-market listings and How daily reconciliation works.
Related
- MLS display rules: attribution, internet flags and protected data
- Facebook shows the wrong image or no image
- Title format, property status and owner
- How daily reconciliation works
- Standalone mode: run MLSImport on any theme
Send us a listing URL if your SEO plugin is reporting something on it that you cannot place.
