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.
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.
Duplicate text, and what to do about it
Every site importing your MLS receives the same remarks for the same listing. Listing pages are therefore near identical across many domains, and they are thin: a handful of facts and a paragraph the MLS wrote.
That is not a reason to noindex them, and it is a reason not to build your search strategy on them. What ranks is the content only you can write: neighbourhood pages, buyer and seller guides, market commentary, and landing pages for the searches your clients actually type. The listings give those pages something current to point at.
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.
When a listing leaves the MLS, the daily reconciliation pass deletes the property, and its URL starts returning a 404. That is correct behaviour and it will show up in your search console as errors climbing over time. Decide in advance whether you let those URLs 404 or redirect them to the relevant search page, because doing nothing means a slowly growing list of broken URLs you did not choose.
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.
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 Google penalise me for the same listing text as other agents?
Duplicate listing text is normal across the industry and is not a penalty. It does mean listing pages compete with hundreds of near identical pages, which is a reason to rank with your own content instead.
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.