Artificial intelligence is changing how people choose real estate agents. When someone types a question like "Is [agent name] any good?" or "Who should help me sell my home in [city]?", AI doesn't just skim the internet. It pieces together a picture of you from the places where your information is strongest.
The good news? You have direct control over several of the sources AI relies on most.
Updating these profiles doesn't require technical skill - just a few minutes of attention. But the pay-off is real: clearer visibility, more accurate summaries, and a better chance of being recommended when someone asks AI for help.
Below are three crucial sources AI checks when deciding what to say about you.
IF GOOGLE ISN'T SURE ABOUT YOU, AI WON'T BE EITHER
Google remains the most influential signal of whether you're an active, legitimate professional. When AI systems try to confirm your identity, they look for a complete, consistent Google Business Profile. If yours is thin or outdated, AI may hesitate to show you - or may surface another agent who looks more current.
A well maintained profile gives AI confidence in your name, brokerage, service area, and activity level. Even small updates help. Refreshing your photos, tightening your bio, or correcting your service area can make you more visible in AI generated answers.
This is one of the fastest, highest impact places an agent can improve their online presence.
THE PROFILES AI TRUSTS MORE THAN YOUR WEBSITE
When AI tries to understand what kind of agent you are, Zillow and Realtor.com give it the clearest picture. These sites contain the structured information AI can easily interpret: your bio, brokerage, headshot, specialties, and service area. They're also among the most frequently crawled real estate platforms online. The result? AI often trusts these profiles more than your website.
If your information is outdated or inconsistent - an old brokerage, a mismatched bio, a headshot from a decade ago - AI treats that as uncertainty. Uncertainty lowers your visibility and weakens the story AI can tell about you.
Clean, current profiles help AI describe you accurately and place you in the right context for local searches. If you haven't reviewed these pages recently, you're leaving influence on the table.
THE PROFILE YOU FORGOT ABOUT - BUT AI DIDN'T
Your brokerage's website is one of the most trusted sources AI uses to confirm who you are. These pages tend to be well maintained, high authority, and tied directly to your license and brokerage - which makes them especially valuable for AI systems trying to verify your identity.
But they're also the profiles agents forget about most.
If your brokerage profile looks outdated, AI assumes the rest of your online presence might be outdated too. A stale headshot or a two sentence bio from years ago sends the wrong signal. When your brokerage profile matches your Google, Zillow, and Realtor.com information, AI has a much easier time understanding you and recommending you.
This is often the simplest profile to update - and one of the most important.
THE BOTTOM LINE
AI isn't judging you. It's building a description of you - from whatever it can find.
When these three profiles are complete, consistent, and current, AI can confidently tell your story. When they're not, AI hesitates... and hesitation means lost visibility, lost trust, and potentially lost business.
Today's hour of clean up helps you look better every time someone uses AI to search for you by name.
 By Denise Lones CSP, CMP, M.I.R.M. |
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