BLOG: What the main AI platforms mean for estate agency marketing

Wondering how best to reach today’s customers for your estate agency business? Think about your own behaviour when looking for a product or service.

Maybe a Google search is still your first step in solving a problem or choosing a supplier, but for many of us, AI-driven large language models such as ChatGPT are now the first port of call.

Even if you’re looking to traditional search engines for answers, chances are your eye will be caught by the AI-result at the top of the page.

Estate agents have spent years optimising for Google search. Now consumers are increasingly asking AI assistants their pressing queries: “Who’s the best estate agent in Nottingham?”; “How much is my house worth?” or “Who can sell my luxury home?” for example.

This seismic change has left many estate agent marketers bewildered. It shouldn’t. The effective techniques you’ve been using for search engine optimisation will help you get cited in AI generated results too – but you will need to tweak them slightly.

Here are some of the main AI platforms – ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity – looking at how they work and what you need to do to feature.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the world’s biggest AI tool and the one most people will have heard of – so it’s not to be ignored. It favours content which is informative and well-structured with good use of headers and FAQs. Conversely, it tends to shun industry jargon and vague content that doesn’t address customer queries.

It uses the Bing search engine rather than Google for its source material.”

One thing to note about ChatGPT is that it uses the Bing search engine rather than Google for its source material. So you should think about optimising for this search engine if you don’t already.

Like other search methods it also prizes third party mentions of your brand – so being quoted on news sites or authoring opinion pieces could help you get noticed.

Google Gemini

Gemini is important because AI overviews are increasingly appearing at the start of Google results pages, whether or not searchers opt to use the AI mode. These overviews are probably the first, if not the only, places customers will look when launching a query and are undoubtedly having an impact on your business.

If you’re already doing SEO well, and your pages are ranking traditionally, you’ll have an advantage.”

Unsurprisingly, Gemini draws on Google for its results. It means that if you’re already doing SEO well, and your pages are ranking traditionally, you’ll have an advantage.

As with Chat GPT, you should make sure your content is optimised for AI with good clean text, divided by a proper H2/H3 header hierarchy. Make sure you’ve thought about featured snippets too, with clear definitions and answers to questions in your first paragraphs.

Microsoft Copilot

Copilot has been less dominant than the previous two AI channels, but its use is growing. This is because it is embedded in the Microsoft tools (365, Teams and Edge) that many people use in their working lives.

Like ChatGPT it is powered by OpenAI so it also relies on Bing for its search function.

Perplexity AI

Less well known, Perplexity is ranked fourth by PC Mag as the best AI chatbot in 2026 (behind the three previously mentioned). Perplexity’s strength is its transparency for users. Each citation has a live web link which means searchers can rate the credibility of original sources more easily.

Perplexity users tend to be tech savvy professional researchers rather than your average consumer.”

It’s live search ability means results are also more immediate that those of AI assistants which are trawling older cached database results. All of this means Perplexity users tend to be tech savvy professional researchers rather than your average consumer.

To rank in Perplexity think about precise content with good answers to questions high up the page and regular updates to demonstrate that your site is fresh.

Accurate information

While these platforms work differently and service different audiences, they have many things in common. This means getting certain basic things right will help your content rank across the board. Your content needs to be specific – not vague – and helpful with well-written, accurate information that responds to the things sellers and landlords need to know.

It needs to be logical and well-structured with good use of headers. And it needs to be fresh, not dated. These are also the things that make your content interesting, useful and eye catching to consumers and bring them back to your site again and again.

Remember, as with traditional SEO, you’re not trying to game the algorithm. You’re looking to create content that really resonates with your human audience. Crack this and you’ll find it resonates with robots too.

Got a question? Need help with AI optimisation? Visit www.artdivision.co.uk.

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