The Buying Buddy plugin uses multiple Essential Plugin Pages to deliver full functionality. Three of these are Foundation Pages (required for basic operation), while additional Optional Feature Pages enhance your website's capabilities.
What Are Foundation Pages?
Foundation Pages are the three essential "utility" pages that the Buying Buddy plugin requires to operate correctly. These pages contain specific widgets that enable core functionality for your real estate website.
Required Foundation Pages
These are required utility pages. Do not display in menus.
- Search Results Page - Contains the ListingResults widget (data-type="ListingResults")
- Property Details Page - Contains the SearchDetails widget (data-type="SearchDetails")
Optional Foundation Pages
- Community Hub Page - Contains the Communities widget to display showing Community Pages and Community Groups
- Market Reports Page - Contains the MarketReports widget (planned launch 2026)
- About Index - Contains the Office Roster widget for WordPress
Why Foundation Pages Are Critical
Foundation Pages enable these essential functions:
- Display search results when visitors use any search form on your website
- Show property details when visitors click on property links
- Create unique URLs for every property on your website
- Generate working links in listing alerts and other automated emails sent to leads
- Enable social media sharing of individual properties
- Support all property-related emails with correctly formatted links
Important: Without Foundation Pages properly configured, searches may not work and email links won't display properties correctly.
How Foundation Pages Work
Each Foundation Page must be configured with two components:
- The page itself - Created on your website with the appropriate widget
- The page slug - Added to your Buying Buddy dashboard settings
When a visitor searches for properties or clicks a property link:
- The plugin identifies which Foundation Page is needed
- It uses the slug from your dashboard settings to find the correct page
- The visitor is directed to that page with the appropriate content displayed
Example: How Property URLs Work
When you have a Property Details page with slug "property":
https://yourwebsite.com/property/123-main-street-city-state-zipcode
The plugin automatically creates unique URLs for every property using your Property Details Foundation Page as the base.
These pages enhance your website but are not required for basic functionality.
Setting Up Foundation Pages
To properly set up Foundation Pages:
- Create each page on your website
- Add the required widget to each page:
- Search Results page needs the ListingsResults widget
- Property Details page needs the SearchDetails widget
- Community Hub Page page needs the Communities widget
- About Page page needs the OfficeRoster widget (WordPress only)
- Market Reports page needs the MarketReports widget
- Note the page slug for each page (the URL-friendly version of the page name)
- Enter the slugs in your Buying Buddy dashboard under
Tip: The page slugs in your website must exactly match the slugs entered in your Buying Buddy dashboard for the system to work correctly.
Summary
Foundation Pages are the backbone of your Buying Buddy-powered website. These three pages (Search Results, Property Details, and Market Reports) ensure that:
- Visitors can search and view properties
- Every property has a unique, shareable URL
- Email alerts contain working links
- The plugin functions correctly across all platforms
Along with the Foundation Pages, the Optional Feature Pages provide additional functionality to enhance your real estate website. Take time to set up these Essential Plugin Pages correctly for a fully functional website.