Just when I think I "get" listing syndication, I'll find myself in conversation with someone about it and completely out of my league. Tired of feeling underprepared, I enlisted the help of a syndication expert, Celeste Starchild at ListHub. I asked her for a crash course in listing syndication and she explained to me that the first thing I needed to do was get the terminology right.

She's spot-on. In order to have an intelligent conversation about anything you need to properly use the correct vocabulary.

Perhaps I'm not alone. I have a feeling that many of us could use at least a little refresher on what these commonly used (and commonly misunderstood) terms mean.

Listing syndication

Listing syndication is the distribution of active real estate listings by brokers/agents (or by the MLS on behalf of brokers/agents) to third-party websites, for the purpose of advertising to consumers. Listing syndication is different from IDX or VOW, which we will discuss next, in that it shares data with third parties who are not members of – or participants in – the MLS (such as property search portals like Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo! Real Estate, etc.). The value to the broker or agent is the opportunity to attract a buyer to their property listing, and the value to a third-party website is to acquire listing content for consumers who visit their website. Listing syndication gives brokers the ability to selectively choose the sites to which they syndicate their listings, based on their advertising goals and business model. Of course, each broker may syndicate only their own listings.