Custom Home Feeds Make It Faster, Easier to Share Listings With Zillow Group

One of the best ways a builder’s brand can make a great first impression on buyers is through a new home listing. A custom home feed is the most efficient and effective way to ensure all your listings are live and available to buyers who are looking for them.

But what is a custom home feed and how does it work?

A custom home feed (also known as a direct feed) is a data stream that contains all of your listing information in a standardized format. This data stream is made available to Zillow Group, which then displays your listings across our partner sites.

A website developer builds the initial data stream from your website and, once completed, any updates made on your website are automatically made available to Zillow Group through the custom home feed. This means you make listing updates in one place (your website), and then see those changes reflected everywhere. When implemented well, a custom home feed helps you stand out from your competitors.

We asked Nick Mracek, marketing manager at Rearview Advertising (a partner in the Zillow Group Advantage Program), for his take on how a custom home feed benefits builders and buyers.

Fast, synchronized listing updates

A custom home feed streamlines the process for updating your listings between your website, MLS and Zillow Group sites and ensures the information on your website is linked with the current listing status.

Managing your listings with a custom home feed is easy too. When you update the listing’s details on your website — such as price, home status, promotions, photos, etc. — the custom home feed automatically delivers those updates to Zillow Group and its sites. Your listings stay consistent everywhere they appear.

Complete community information

A custom home feed gives you the ability to provide the most comprehensive community information possible, including listings, pricing, promotions, images, videos, floor plans, detailed descriptions and more. A custom home feed also helps improve your feed score by ensuring you include all necessary information Zillow Group looks for in listings.

Better search experience for buyers

A custom home feed gives buyers a better search because it eliminates duplicate entries in the MLS and delivers more accurate data. Home shoppers have access to the very latest information they need about your new homes and communities — at all times. New community pages become a one-stop shop for information, plans and available specs.

Because a custom home feed is comprehensive, you can also include video and interactive features that buyers expect to see, engaging them with your brand and increasing your visibility among your target audience.

Learn more about how partner discounts through the Zillow Group Advantage Program help builders create high-performance listings that draw more buyers to their homes and communities.