Google is calling this the biggest change since the launch of search. For agents who have built their marketing around first-page rankings, the platform is moving in a new direction, and the changes are already impacting the way buyers and sellers find information online.
Real estate agents have been chasing the same prize of appearing on the first page of Google search results for years. The goal may no longer be correct or within reach.
At its annual I/O conference this month, Google announced what it calls its biggest overhaul to search since the product’s launch. This is a move away from ranked website links to a conversational, AI-driven experience powered by Gemini.
Instead of returning a list of links, search will increasingly engage users in interactive, AI-powered experiences, with tools that dispatch “information agents” to collect information on your behalf. The new search box accommodates longer, more conversational queries, and search results generate custom widgets and visualizations on the fly depending on the user’s question.
Website links remain part of the experience, but are treated as a secondary element rather than the primary product.
the decline has already begun
This is not a future issue. Google’s AI Overview has been driving traffic away from websites for over a year. An Ahrefs study that analyzed 300,000 keywords found that queries that triggered AI Overview saw a drop in click-through rate for #1 from 7.3 percent to 1.6 percent compared to a pre-AI Overview baseline. According to Similarweb, zero-click searches increased from 56 percent to nearly 69 percent by May. The I/O announcement is a further step in the same direction.
What this means for real estate
There are some natural protections in your real estate search. According to SeoProfy, queries related to real estate or local services are less likely to trigger AI summaries, as users typically search for specific companies or providers rather than general information. Searching for a specific agent or brokerage works differently than a general how-to query.
The real exposure is in the early stages of the funnel. Neighborhood research, market questions, and mortgage basics (the content that was used to direct buyers and sellers to agent websites before searching for a specific agent) are increasingly being answered within AI tools without any clicks. According to Ranktracker, AI mode compresses the initial exploration, meaning that the top-of-funnel discovery stage is increasingly taking place within the AI tool rather than on the agent’s website.
what to do now
Agents who want search to continue to work should focus on getting cited by AI tools, not just indexed by them.
Lock down your Google Business Profile. Google still uses relevance, distance, and prominence to rank local search results, and a complete and accurate profile can help your business appear on Maps and in search. Reviews, accurate contact information, and consistent name, address, and phone data across the web all provide signals that AI tools use to uncover trusted local providers. Create content that answers specific questions. As AI overviews become more prominent in search results, structured content, clear answers to common questions, and strong EEAT signals (experience, expertise, authority, trustworthiness) become increasingly important. Hyperlocal pages, neighborhood guides, and market data built around specific questions are more likely to be cited in AI answers than general blog content. Add structured data to your website. Key real estate schema types include RealEstateAgent, RealEstateListing, LocalBusiness, and Community Page FAQ schemas, which help Google pull information directly into rich results on search pages. Most agent website platforms support this through built-in tools or plugins. Build a channel you own. Publishers that have invested in brand development and reader loyalty are seeing an increase in direct traffic as search referrals decline, and email newsletters are emerging as a unique channel that doesn’t rely on algorithm-driven distribution. For agents, this means email lists and direct communication with clients without the need for Google searches to reach their target audience.
The agents in the strongest position for this change are those that are already recognized by AI tools as trusted local authorities and whose past clients can find them without any search at all. If you haven’t already, please focus on the steps above first.
Email Jesse Healy
