Get Your Estate Agency Recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot do not pick an estate agent at random: when someone asks, they run web searches, then cite the websites, business profiles and reviews they find. An agency gets recommended when those three sources answer the question clearly, and none of these tools sells a place in its answers.
This guide explains how each tool finds its sources, based on what their makers publish, then lists the steps an agency can take itself this week. It follows on from our real estate agency SEO and GEO guide.
What people ask AI tools
A seller no longer types only "estate agent Bristol" or "best estate agent near me". They write a whole sentence: "Which estate agent should I use to sell a three-bed semi in Bishopston?", "What is a two-bed flat near Temple Meads worth?", "Which letting agent in Clifton offers reliable full management?". In the US, the same person asks for a real estate agent or a realtor: "Who should I hire to sell a condo in east Austin?". These examples are made up, but they share one shape: a precise need and a place.
In the UK, Ofcom reported on 2 April 2026 that 54% of UK adults now use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini (7,533 adults aged 16 and over, surveyed from 29 September to 28 November 2025). In the US, a Pew Research Center report of 17 June 2026 finds that about half of adults now use AI chatbots, up from a third in 2024. Searching for information is the most common use, cited by 42% of US adults (5,119 adults surveyed from 17 to 23 February 2026).
In property, the habit is still a minority one, a head start for agencies that prepare now. In Bank of America's 2026 Homebuyer Insights Report, an online survey run by Sparks Research among 2,000 US adults from 13 April to 10 May 2026, 20% of prospective buyers and current homeowners had used AI tools or chatbots for homebuying research in the past 12 months. Among prospective buyers who used AI, 52% used it to research neighbourhoods, market trends or property values.
How each tool picks its sources
The four tools work the same way: they turn the question into searches, read the results, then write an answer with links. What changes is the index they query and the weight they give to business profiles and reviews.
| Tool | Where it searches | What it takes to be cited |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Third-party search providers, plus providers of local business listings | Let OAI-SearchBot through, including at your host's firewall |
| Perplexity | Its own index and partner crawlers | Let PerplexityBot and its published IP ranges through |
| Gemini and Google AI Mode | Google's index, Google Maps, the Knowledge Graph | An indexed page with a snippet, an up-to-date Business Profile |
| Copilot | Bing's index | A page indexed by Bing, an up-to-date Bing Places listing |
ChatGPT
According to OpenAI's help page on web search, when ChatGPT works with outside search providers it "typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries" that it sends to them. It uses your approximate location, and may call on trusted third-party providers for local information "such as nearby business listings". On iOS and Android, relevant results may also include a map.
OpenAI also writes that "Placement is not guaranteed" and sets one condition: allow OAI-SearchBot to crawl the site, and confirm that your host or content delivery network lets traffic from OpenAI's published IP addresses through. OpenAI's crawler documentation adds that sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers", and that a robots.txt change takes about 24 hours to be picked up.
Perplexity
Perplexity describes itself as an answer engine that works by "searching the web, identifying trusted sources, and synthesizing information into clear, up-to-date responses". Each answer includes numbered citations linking to the original sources. Its crawler documentation recommends allowing PerplexityBot in robots.txt and permitting requests from its published IP ranges.
Perplexity also labels some sources. Its page on source labels says a label "describes the website as a whole, not any single article or claim on it". One of the questions it asks: "Does it keep news separate from advertising and opinion?". On an agency site, keeping advice apart from sales offers fits that test better.
Gemini and Google AI Mode
Google asks for little: to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be "indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet". There are "no additional technical requirements". Google also advises keeping your Business Profile information up to date. AI Overviews reached the US on 14 May 2024 and the UK from 15 August 2024, and AI Mode followed on 20 May 2025 in the US and 28 July 2025 in the UK.
AI Mode draws on the Knowledge Graph and Google Maps, and Gemini's help page says it uses public information from Google Maps to "Get addresses, descriptions, websites, ratings, and opening hours for a place". Your Business Profile and its reviews are read directly.
Copilot and Bing
Microsoft's webmaster guidelines state that "Bing and Copilot search experiences rely on the same core crawling, indexing, and ranking foundation as traditional search." In February 2026, Bing added an AI Performance report to Bing Webmaster Tools, which shows how often a site is cited in generative answers. The same post advises businesses to register with Bing Places for Business so that their address, hours and contact information "remain current and eligible for inclusion in AI-generated responses".
What the studies measure
No published study looks at estate agents or realtors specifically. The studies available are American or global and cover local searches in all trades. They still point one way: AI tools mostly cite business websites and business profiles.
- BrightLocal reviewed more than 200,000 localised searches on ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews, for about 1,300 business locations (study published on 16 September 2026). Business websites make up 42% of all citations, and Google Business Profile 28.5%. ChatGPT, on the other hand, hardly uses Google Business Profile.
- Steady Demand ran about 4,000 queries through AI Mode and as many through AI Overviews, across 50 metros, in August 2026 (analysis revised on 9 September 2026). On local-intent queries, 79.8% of AI Mode citations pointed to Google Maps or Google Business Profile data, and 12.8% to the business's own website. AI Overviews went the other way: 70.7% of its local-intent citations pointed to the business's own website.
- In another Steady Demand analysis of 1,500 local questions asked to Gemini, the same question asked twice in a row returned the same cited sources only about 41% of the time.
The lesson for an agency: work on both the website and the profile. Depending on the tool and the question, either may be cited, and the sources cited shift from one query to the next.
What gets an agency cited
A site crawlers can read
The first filter is technical. If robots.txt or your host's firewall blocks OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot or Bingbot, the agency does not exist for that tool. Important information should be written as text, not inside an image or a PDF.
Pages that answer the exact question
An AI tool cites the page that answers the question asked. A page called "Selling a house in Bishopston" that gives the agency's observed time to sell, its fees, the documents to gather and the streets it covers is more likely to be picked up than a general home page. One idea per paragraph, and a date on every figure.
Complete and consistent business profiles
Your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing should carry the same name, address, phone number and opening hours as your website. According to Google's help page on local ranking, local results "are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity", and "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking."
Genuine, frequent and recent reviews
Reviews count twice: in local ranking, and as material Gemini reads from Google Maps. Google lets you ask for reviews through a Google link or a QR code, and advises replying to reviews, positive and negative alike. Its contribution policy, on the other hand, does not allow merchants to "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers", in other words to ask only happy clients. In the US, the FTC adds that its review rule does not ban this practice as such, but that it "could violate the FTC Act".
What to do this week
- Test. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot five typical questions (selling, letting, property valuation, property management, in your town and your neighbourhood). Note the agencies cited and the sources shown.
- Read your
robots.txt(yourdomain.co.uk/robots.txt) and ask your web provider whether its firewall blocks AI crawlers. - Update your Google Business Profile: primary category, opening hours, website link, photos of the office and the team.
- Create or claim your Bing Places listing, which is free.
- Ask every client for a review after a sale, a let or a key handover, with nothing in return, and reply to reviews, negative ones included.
- Write three answer pages: selling in your area, letting or managing a property, and your fees and what they cover.
- Open Bing Webmaster Tools alongside Google Search Console. Google counts appearances in AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search Console's overall search traffic.
What does not work, or backfires
- Paying. Google writes: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." OpenAI, which has been testing ads in the US since 9 February 2026, states that advertisers have no ability to shape, rank, or alter ChatGPT’s responses. At Perplexity, payments do not affect a site's label.
- A special file for AI. Google says you don't need to create "new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup" to appear in its AI features.
- Hidden instructions for AI. Microsoft warns that content designed to manipulate the language models used by Bing or Copilot "may result in reduced visibility or removal from search experiences".
- Fake reviews. In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists among the commercial practices "in all circumstances considered unfair" submitting, or commissioning someone to submit, a fake consumer review or a review that conceals it was incentivised. Since April 2025, the CMA can fine a company that breaks consumer protection law up to 10% of its global turnover. In the US, the FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, in force since 21 October 2024, bans creating, selling or buying fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, and lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations.
If the agency shows reviews on its own website, more rules apply. In the UK, the CMA's short guide for businesses says that a trader publishing consumer reviews, websites included, must take "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent and remove fake reviews, and should publish a policy that clearly prohibits them. In the US, the FTC rule bars a business from implying that the reviews on its site represent most or all of those submitted when reviews are being suppressed because of their rating or negative sentiment.
An example agency
Take a fictional three-person estate agency in Bristol. Asking its five typical questions, it finds that ChatGPT cites two national chains and a directory, and that Gemini mentions it once, with a 4.2 rating from 18 reviews, half of them without a reply.
Over four weeks, it replies to every review, asks each client of the month for one, and creates its Bing Places listing with the same details as its Google profile. It also publishes two pages: "Selling a house in Bishopston" and "Lettings and property management in north Bristol". Each page shows its fees, its dated average time to sell and a short FAQ. A month later, it reruns the same questions and notes the changes. No result is guaranteed, but the agency now knows what each tool sees of it.
What Cleemo offers
With Cleemo's real estate software and AI agents, each agency has its own AI assistant, isolated from the others. It finds information in the agency's files, reads its documents and prepares a listing or a draft reply. Nothing goes out without the agency's approval, and the assistant's actions are logged. Cleemo App brings sales, property management and CRM together in one application, usable without AI. Cleemo AI adds the assistant to it, or works around the agency's current software, depending on its access. The AI employees page describes each role.
Frequently asked questions
Why does ChatGPT recommend a rival estate agent and not mine?
ChatGPT cites the pages and listings its searches find for the question asked. A competitor with a page that answers that exact question, or a presence in the directories the tool reads, gets cited first. Check that OAI-SearchBot can read your site, then write that page.
Can an agency pay ChatGPT or Perplexity to be recommended?
No. OpenAI writes that advertisers have no ability to shape, rank or alter ChatGPT's responses, and that ads are separate and clearly labelled. Perplexity states that its partnerships, payments and other business arrangements do not affect a site's label.
Do Google reviews matter for AI tools?
Yes, at least for Google's own tools. Gemini can pull ratings from Google Maps, which AI Mode also draws on. According to BrightLocal's September 2026 study, ChatGPT hardly uses Google Business Profile.
How long does an AI tool take to reflect a change?
It depends on the change. OpenAI says a robots.txt update takes about 24 hours to reach ChatGPT search. A new page must first be crawled and indexed, and no provider guarantees a set delay.
Why does the answer change from one time to the next?
The tools run fresh searches for each question, and their results move. In Steady Demand's analysis of 1,500 local questions asked to Gemini, the same question asked twice returned the same sources only about 41% of the time. Follow the trend over several tests, not a single answer.
Does an agency with a Google Business Profile also need Bing Places?
It helps, because Copilot relies on Bing's index, and Microsoft recommends Bing Places so that address, hours and contact details stay eligible for AI-generated responses. The listing is free; keep the same details as on your Google profile.
How can I tell whether an AI tool cites my website?
Google Search Console counts appearances in AI Overviews and AI Mode in its overall search traffic, in the Performance report under the "Web" search type. Bing Webmaster Tools has an AI Performance report that shows citations in Copilot and in Bing's AI-generated summaries. For ChatGPT and Perplexity, ask the same questions every month and note the sources cited.
👉 See how Cleemo's AI agents prepare your agency's everyday work
