AI hasn’t replaced search. The selection has been replaced.
According to a recent Realtor.com survey, 82% of Americans say they use AI tools to gather information about the real estate and housing market, with ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini leading the platforms cited by consumers.
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It’s not just Google. Not just portals. They look to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other large-scale language models for guidance, and they do so in a world where the average attention span of a consumer is now 8 seconds.
8 seconds.
We are not competing with other brands. You’re competing with everything that’s going on in their life within that eight-second window. text message. Slack notifications. Instagram ads, Spotify commercials, kids. calendar. Netflix. Consumers binge-watch three-hour series without blinking, but they skip ads and posts within a millisecond.
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It takes 1-3 seconds to gain relevance.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Our attention spans are declining. Not owned.
For many years, real estate marketing has operated in an attention economy. Please post more. Please boost more. Make the funnel even harder. Hack the algorithm.
But we are no longer in the attention economy.
We are in a trust economy.
AI is not a search engine. I am a recommender
When a consumer types into ChatGPT, “Who is the best luxury real estate agent in Manhattan?”, the system does not return multiple blue links. Synthesis in progress. We recommend it. Credibility is judged probabilistically.
Bain & Company research highlights that this change is already underway. “About 80% of consumers now rely on AI-generated summaries for at least 40% of their searches, reducing the need to click to another site.”
That difference changes everything.
Top AI leaders are very vocal about the benefits of AI. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella succinctly explained this change: “Copilot is the UI for AI.” In other words, AI agents are becoming the interface layer for consumers to access information and make decisions.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, talks about the transition to AI “agents” that not only respond, but plan, act, and reason more autonomously, hinting at a future where decision support systems approach broader human-like cognition.
Simply put, AI is rapidly becoming the gateway to information.
And the front door determines who is invited inside.
3 layer shift
To understand what’s going on, think of visibility as a three-layer cake.
The basic layer is SEO (traditional search engine optimization). keyword. Ranking. Metadata. The second layer is AEO, response engine optimization. Direct reaction. Structured answers. Snippet. Voice search. The top layer is GEO (Generation Engine Optimization). The conversation takes place within the AI itself.
Most agents are still optimizing the first layer. Consumers have already moved on to the third product.
And here’s where this gets even more complicated. In our analysis of 3,000 AI search queries, we found that the same query produced the same recommendations only twice.
There are no guaranteed rankings with generative search. There is no static “position 1”.
There is only probability, and probability favors authority.
Collapse of the era of “I am the best”
Previously, you could write on your website that you were a “guru” or “top producer.” Marketing rewards smart copy. Those days are coming to an end.
AI reads everything. It reads your reviews. Read transaction history. Read LinkedIn. It reads that there are inconsistencies in your history. Cross-reference the years of establishment, history of securities companies, and statistics.
Now is not the time to be creative. AI tools value consistency.
If you have 20 years of experience on one platform and 15 years on another, the system will recognize that. If you claim extravagant expertise but your trading suggests otherwise, the signal weakens.
We are witnessing a great equalizer.
For years, marketing has favored companies that can outspend or outperform their competitors. Now, authority is quietly becoming more complex. Agents that have built lasting businesses on relationships and trust stand to win if they can translate that trust into digital signals that AI can interpret.
Why earned media is on the rise
Other changes are occurring beneath the surface.
On average, consumers are exposed to up to 10,000 marketing messages per day. They remember about 100 things, but act on only one or two of them.
Interruption-based marketing is becoming less efficient. Verification-based marketing is being used.
AI systems weigh third-party signals when assessing trustworthiness. Inman quote. Mentioned by HousingWire. Quote from local paper. Professional presence on LinkedIn. These are not vanity plays. They are authority breadcrumbs.
In a trust economy, what others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.
This is not nostalgia for traditional PR. It’s a structural logic. AI systems are trained to identify trusted sources of information. Authority domains have weight. Repeating themes builds entity associations. Context-rich reviews enhance geographic relevance.
No noise is generated.
From attention hacks to authority architecture
The real strategic mistake agents can make right now is assuming this is about more content.
it’s not.
It’s about coherent signals.
It’s about making sure your name, market, experience, number of trades, reviews, and professional presence are consistent across platforms. It’s about answering real buyer and seller questions in plain language. It’s about being specific, not general. Rather than claiming expertise in every field, build authority in two or three.
Virality is a rental.
Authority is infrastructure.
The agents who win in this environment are not influencers. They become interpreters. They explain what the buyer is misunderstanding. They will contextualize interest rates. They articulate the subtle nuances of the neighborhood. They do it consistently, calmly and clearly.
And the AI will learn to trust them.
Future strategic issues
Here’s what happens when a buyer enters into the AI platform:
“Who can I trust to help me shop in Park City?”
or:
“Who understands the Costa Mesa market today?”
Will your name come up?
It’s not because we manipulated the algorithm. Not because I promoted the post. But because the data supports your credibility.
That’s the new bar.
Being discovered in the age of AI doesn’t mean hacking your search. It’s about getting recommendations.
Attention is rented. Privileges are owned.
And the agents who understand that difference now will define the next decade of this industry.
Lauren Henss is FirstTeam’s Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Initiatives. You can connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Molly McKinley is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Meredith College, where she teaches entrepreneurship, innovation, and social impact. She is the founder of Redtail Creative and a certified yoga teacher (RYT500). She writes about technology and helps proptech companies build trust and authority in humans and AI.
