AI Search for Real Estate Agents in Australia

A vendor deciding who lists their home used to open Google, skim a few agency sites and check a review page. Plenty still do. But a growing number now open ChatGPT first and ask a plain question: “Who are the best real estate agents in Marrickville?” The tool does not return ten blue links. It returns two or three names.

That shift is worth paying attention to, because the portals already have. Zillow launched the first real estate app inside ChatGPT in October 2025, Redfin followed in February 2026, and Realtor.com joined in March 2026, each built to catch buyers during the research phase before they ever reach a listing page.

Australian agents sit at an interesting moment. The behaviour is here, the local competition for AI visibility is not.

How do AI search engines recommend real estate agents?

AI engines recommend agents by retrieving and summarising what trusted sources say about them online. Rather than ranking ten links, tools like ChatGPT return two or three names, drawn from agent websites, reviews, directory profiles and local news coverage.

That difference matters more than it first appears. A results page has room for ten agencies and a map pack. An AI answer has room for about three. Being on page one of Google and being in the AI shortlist are no longer the same achievement.

Do Australians actually use AI to find agents?

They use AI, and the numbers are solid. YouGov research from 2026 found 72% of Australian online searchers use AI assistants in some way, though only 16% treat AI as their starting point. More telling for a long decision like selling a house: 36% now begin at least one search a day with an AI assistant, rising to 59% among Gen Z. Roy Morgan puts total AI tool use at 13.6 million Australians aged 14 and over every four weeks.

Here is the honest caveat, and it is the reason not to panic. No credible study yet shows a large share of Australian vendors choosing an agent purely through AI. Several US articles on this topic quote an “80% of buyers use AI” figure that traces back to no published research at all. What the data does support is narrower and still important: Australians increasingly use AI somewhere in a property research journey, most often early, while forming a shortlist.

Property search here still runs through the portals. realestate.com.au pulled 37.9 million visits in June 2026, with Domain at 8.36 million and property.com.au at 5.06 million (Semrush). Nobody is abandoning those. What is changing is the layer that sits before them, where a buyer or vendor works out which suburb, which price bracket, and which agent is worth a call. Our comparison of AI search and traditional search covers where each one still wins.

What changes for agents, and what does not

The last row is the one that stings. When an AI Overview appears, the top organic result can lose around 60% of its clicks (Seer Interactive and Ahrefs, 2026). An agency can hold its ranking, watch its traffic fall, and both things are true at once.

Note what is unchanged, though. Reviews still matter. Local relevance still matters. A clear, current website still matters. AI search rewards the same fundamentals that local SEO always has, just judged on whether a machine can read and trust them.

Seven things that make an agency citable

1. Write real suburb content, not sales copy. An AI engine asked about Marrickville looks for a source that clearly knows Marrickville. A page with median prices, recent sale trends, school catchments and the character of specific streets reads as expertise. “We service the Inner West” does not.

2. Put your credentials where machines can see them. Years in the area, number of properties sold, awards, licence details, named team members with real bios. AI tools carry reputational risk when they recommend someone, so visible proof makes you a safer pick. Our guide to E-E-A-T for AI search explains which signals carry weight.

3. Keep your details identical everywhere. Your name, address and phone number should match exactly across your website, Google Business Profile, RateMyAgent, portal profiles and every directory. Conflicting details give a retrieval system a reason to skip you.

4. Answer the questions vendors actually ask. “What commission do agents charge in Sydney?” “How long does it take to sell in Brisbane?” Direct answers to real questions get lifted into AI responses. Vague pages do not.

5. Look after your Google Business Profile. It remains one of the strongest local signals AI tools draw on, and it is free. Complete every field, post regularly, and reply to reviews. Our rundown of Google Business Profile features covers what to fill in.

6. Earn mentions beyond your own website. Local news, community sponsorships, industry commentary, podcast appearances. AI engines weigh what other sources say about you, not only what you say about yourself. This is where getting cited by ChatGPT is won.

7. Structure pages so they can be read. Clear headings, short paragraphs, one idea each, schema markup on your key pages. The retrieval step skips content it cannot parse cleanly.

How to check whether AI recommends you

Ten minutes settles it. Open ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Gemini, then run the same four prompts in each, swapping in your suburb:

1. “Who are the best real estate agents in [suburb]?”
2. “I’m selling a house in [suburb]. Which agent should I use?”
3. “Tell me about [your agency name].”
4. “Compare [your agency] to [a local competitor].”

Note whether you appear, where in the answer, and which source the engine seems to be pulling from. That last detail tells you where to spend your next hour. A mention sourced from a review site means your reviews are working. No mention at all means the retrieval step is not finding you. Our comparison of AI visibility tools covers how to turn that spot check into ongoing tracking.

Where to start

Most agencies do not need a new website. They need the site they have to be clearer, more specific and easier for a machine to trust. Start with one suburb page done properly, fix your details across every platform, then work outward. The agencies treating this seriously now are building a lead before their competitors know the race started, much the way early adopters of local SEO did a decade ago.

Aus Asia Online has worked with Australian agencies on search visibility for over fifteen years, and we hold a 5.0 rating from more than 95 Google reviews. Our real estate SEO service now covers AI visibility alongside traditional rankings, and our broader guide to generative engine optimisation explains the strategy behind it.

Want to know what AI currently says about your agency? Book a free AI visibility check and we will run the prompts, show you the results, and tell you honestly whether it is worth acting on. Call 1300 189 687.

Frequently asked questions

Do Australians use AI to find real estate agents?

Some do, and the share is growing. YouGov found 72% of Australian online searchers use AI assistants in some way, with 36% starting at least one search a day there. Most property searches still begin on realestate.com.au or Domain, with AI used earlier, during research.

How do I get my agency recommended by ChatGPT?

Publish specific, well-structured content about the suburbs you sell in, keep your business details consistent everywhere, build genuine reviews, and earn mentions on sites beyond your own. ChatGPT recommends what trusted sources already say about you.

Does AI search replace realestate.com.au?

No. The portals still dominate Australian property search, with realestate.com.au drawing 37.9 million visits in June 2026. AI sits earlier in the journey, helping people narrow suburbs, budgets and shortlists before they reach a listing.

Will AI Overviews reduce traffic to my agency website?

Possibly. Research from Seer Interactive and Ahrefs found the top organic result can lose around 60% of its clicks when an AI Overview appears. Being cited inside the answer partly offsets this, since cited sources still earn qualified clicks.

How do I check if AI recommends my agency?

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews who the best agents are in your suburb, then ask about your agency by name. Note whether you appear and which sources the answers cite. Repeat monthly to track movement.