How Do I Get AI Search Engines to Recommend Me?
Oct 06, 2026
More and more people seem to be asking ChatGPT and other AI search engines who to hire instead of scrolling through a page of Google results. I'm seeing AI become a new way people search, and the companies behind it are building their platforms to work that way. So if you're a real estate agent, the question to ask is how you get AI search engines to recommend you.
I want to be upfront about something first. Nobody outside these companies knows exactly how AI decides who to recommend, so I can't promise you a result, and neither can anyone else. What I can share is the groundwork that gives AI the best chance of describing you accurately. Here's how I'd approach it.
Why AI Search Engines May Recommend Some Agents and Skip Others
AI is more likely to recommend someone it can confidently describe. Your bios don't have to be word for word the same. A short, punchy Instagram bio and a longer Zillow bio can sound different, as long as they carry the same message about who you help and where. The problem starts when the message itself changes: one profile says you're a luxury specialist, another says first-time buyers, and a third lists an old brokerage. Then it has nothing solid to repeat. When every profile says the same specific thing, it has something clear to say back to whoever asks.
I've seen this play out. Plenty of agents have bios that tell a different story from one platform to the next, or an old brokerage that's still linked somewhere. When I searched my own name and my former brokerage, Realtor.com, Homes.com, Zillow, and Facebook came up first. My brokerage closed a few years ago and I'm not actively selling, so what they showed was the most recent information available, not what I'm doing today. That's worth remembering: these profiles hold on to the last thing that was true until someone updates them. If you change brokerages, phone numbers, or specialties, update every profile so an old version doesn't keep showing up.
Reviews matter too. ChatGPT now has a licensing deal with Yelp that lets it pull in Yelp's reviews, ratings, photos, and business details. That means the reviews and profile information sitting on those platforms can show up inside AI answers.
Step One: Write the One Sentence You Want to Be Known For
Write one sentence with your name, your place, and your specialty. Here's the fill-in-the-blank version:
"[Your name] is a [your city] real estate agent who specializes in [your specialty] in [the areas you serve]."
For example: "Maria Santos is a Tampa real estate agent who specializes in first-time home buyers in Hillsborough County."
How to Find Your Specialty if You Feel Like You Do Everything
Look back at your own sales data. What types of homes have you actually sold? Is there a theme? Maybe your last three buyers were all first-time home buyers, or your last five listings were in the same luxury neighborhood. That pattern is your specialty, and it's usually the majority of what you've already done.
Agents often pick the niche they want to be in but don't have experience in yet. I'd go with the one you already have experience in. Quietly build experience in the niche you're aiming for on the side, and once you have it, start advertising that you work in it.
Step Two: Use That Sentence Everywhere You Appear
Put the sentence, or a close version of it, in the bio on every profile you have:
- Google Business Profile
- Zillow
- Realtor.com
- Yelp
- Your brokerage's agent page
Adjust the length and tone to fit each platform, but keep the message the same: your specialty and your place. Then make sure your name, brokerage, and phone number are identical on all of them. Small differences like a nickname on one profile or an old number on another can make it harder for AI to describe you with confidence.
You can do this whether or not you have your own website, because it uses profiles you already have or can set up in an afternoon. If you're not sure you need a website, you can start here.
Step Three: Pick One Platform and Fill It With Reviews
Once your positioning is clear, reviews can reinforce it. Don't try to do every platform at once, the same way I tell agents to master one social platform first. Pick one and start filling it with reviews from your real clients. I'd start with your Google Business Profile, where you can ask your happy clients to leave a review. Google's guidelines do limit offering something in return, so check its current policy before you do.
Yelp works differently, and it's worth knowing before you start. Yelp asks businesses not to ask customers for reviews, and its recommendation software actively targets reviews that appear to be solicited, moving them to the "not recommended" section. So claim your Yelp profile, keep the information accurate and consistent, and let clients find it on their own without asking.
Where Content to Closings Fits In
If writing your own bio sounds like a project, that's what I built the Agent Bio Builder for. You tell it who you are, who you serve, and the tone you want, and it writes a bio for each platform you're on, fitted to that platform but carrying the same message, including Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Zillow, Realtor.com, YouTube, TikTok, and Google Business. Your Instagram bio is also one of the places Google can find you, so it's worth getting right.
From there, the Personal Brand Post Writer helps you create content that backs up the same message, and you can reuse what you write on your website's About page or a blog post.
The Bottom Line
I don't think AI is replacing agents, but it does seem to be changing how some people find them. Nobody can guarantee that AI will recommend you, and nobody outside the AI companies knows exactly how it decides. What this process does is lay the groundwork that gives AI the best chance of describing you accurately. Pick your one sentence, put it everywhere, keep your details identical, and let your reviews build from there. If you're also wondering whether AI can replace real estate agents, I wrote about that too.
