GROW WITH LIBERTAS & EXP REALTY
By Tim & Julie Harris
Try this before you finish reading. Open whichever AI you use, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity, and ask for the best real estate agent in your city.
You'll get about six names back. Not sixty, not a directory, not a page of sponsored ads. Six. That's the same answer your next buyer gets, and for many of them it's the only one they'll check.
Key takeaways
AI assistants typically name about six agents per city. You're either on the list or you're invisible.
In a study of 1,567 sources behind 334 AI answers across 197 markets, 57.6% came from Google Business Profiles and 40.5% from agents' own websites.
Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Trulia were never cited.
Reviews compound. Agents with 500 or more reviews get read 7.5 times as often as agents with none, and recent reviews pull more attention.
Most agents use AI for social captions. The bigger payoff is lead response, CMAs and video.
How do people use AI to find a real estate agent?
More and more, they ask a chatbot first. One industry estimate says 82% of consumers now start with AI before contacting anyone. ChatGPT accounts for about half of U.S. AI assistant use, Gemini has grown from 14% in January to nearly 28%, and Google's AI Overviews reach people who would never say they use AI at all.
Where does AI get its list of agents?
Researchers this year reviewed the 1,567 sources behind 334 AI answers across 197 markets. Here's where the answers came from:
Google Business Profile: 57.6%
The agent's own website: 40.5%
Local media and editorial: 1.4%
Real estate portals: 0.5%
Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Trulia: 0%
Both of the top sources are free, and you own them.
How do you check whether AI recommends you?
Run the search above, then try "best listing agent for a $600,000 home in [your neighborhood]."
Use a temporary chat with personalization off, or log out. If you're signed in, the AI may name you just because you've talked about your business with it.
Run it three or four times with different wording on at least ChatGPT and Gemini, and Google the question to see the AI Overview. Answers shift, so one search tells you nothing.
Write down every name that comes back. Those are your real competitors now.
If your name isn't there, it's usually not because the others are better agents. It's because they're easier to find.
Start with your Google Business Profile
If you do only one thing this week, do this.
Claim and verify it. Unclaimed profiles get about 27% less visibility.
Fill in everything: service areas, categories, hours, phone and website. AI can't quote a field you left blank.
Keep adding photos, listings and posts. Profiles that sit still get read less.
Put something on your website worth quoting
Four out of ten citations came from agents' own websites, but only when the page had something concrete.
Publish the facts: neighborhoods you serve, homes you've sold, your list-to-sale ratio and average days on market.
"Passionate about matching families with their dreams" gives AI nothing to work with. "Sold 34 homes in the Riverside district over the last 24 months at an average of 98.2% of list" gives it plenty.
If you don't have your own website, that's your project this month.
Ask for reviews every time
Build the review request into your closing process so it happens on every file, and ask while you're still with the client.
Script: "One favor and then I'll leave you alone. Ninety seconds on Google, in your own words, about how this went. It's the biggest thing that helps other people in your neighborhood find me. Can I text you the link right now while we're sitting here?"
Be ready for clients who bring AI answers
People are walking into appointments with confident, specific information that's often wrong. Don't tell them they're wrong. AI gives them national averages, and you have the local reality.
Script: "That's a really common answer, and I can see where it came from. Let me show you what's actually happening in your zip code this month and where those numbers come from."
Bring your market's real days on market, price-cut percentage and list-to-sale ratio to every appointment.
Use AI for the work, not your captions
According to industry surveys, 68% of agents use AI, but only 17% say it has helped their business, largely because 46% use it mainly for social media captions. The payoff is in answering leads fast, qualifying them, making listing videos and building sharper CMAs.
Your action plan
Search for yourself on two or three AI tools.
Claim and complete your Google Business Profile.
Text three past clients for a review before you go to bed.
It's less than an hour of work, and the spots are still open.
Frequently asked questions
How does ChatGPT choose which real estate agents to recommend?
In a study of 334 AI answers, nearly all cited sources were agents' Google Business Profiles (57.6%) and agents' own websites (40.5%). Major portals like Zillow were not cited.
How can a real estate agent show up in AI search results?
Claim and fully complete your Google Business Profile, publish specific facts about your sales and neighborhoods on your own website, and collect recent Google reviews consistently.
Do reviews help agents appear in AI answers?
Yes. Agents with 500 or more reviews were read 7.5 times as often as agents with none, and reviews from the past 30 days drew about 40% more attention.
Does Zillow help agents show up in ChatGPT?
In this research, Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Trulia were not cited in AI answers about the best local agents.
Hear the full episode
Listen to the full conversation on Real Estate Coaching Radio: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-search-for-real-estate-agents-how-to-get-found-before/id849772346?i=1000791094960
About the authors
Tim and Julie Harris are America's most recognized real estate coaches, bestselling authors, and the voices behind Real Estate Coaching Radio, the nation's #1 daily podcast for real estate professionals. With decades of hands-on experience and a track record of helping thousands of agents achieve breakthrough success, Tim and Julie deliver real-world strategies that actually work. Whether you're looking to scale your business, sharpen your skills, or simply stay ahead of the market, their insights are your competitive edge.
Ready to stop guessing and start producing?
🎯 Start Premier Coaching (free trial): premiercoaching.com
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📲 Elite Coaching — text Tim directly: 512-758-0206
— Tim & Julie Harris
Founders of Tim & Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching | Publishers of Harris Real Estate Daily | Hosts of PowerHouseTalk | eXp Realty Sponsors at Libertas
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