How to Get Real Estate Leads Using AI: The Two Foundations Every Agent Should Master
Most agents are hearing about AI, seeing peers talk about ChatGPT, and wondering where to begin. Everyone’s experimenting — writing listing descriptions, asking for social posts, or dabbling in new tools — but few are using AI in a way that directly drives business. The truth is that real results come when AI becomes part of how you attract and convert leads, not just how you write.
Clarify your Real Goal
The goal isn’t just to “use ChatGPT.” The goal is to get found, trusted, and chosen — at scale.
AI can help you appear when a buyer or seller goes to Google, Perplexity, or ChatGPT and types, “Who’s the best Realtor to help me sell my home in [city]?” That visibility is what fuels inbound lead flow.
There are dozens of ways agents are starting to use AI for lead generation, but two strategies form the foundation for all the rest: Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) and AI-powered blogging.
1. Agent Engine Optimization: Be the Agent AI Recommends
When someone types “Who’s the best Realtor in Burlington, Vermont?” into ChatGPT, the engine doesn’t search the web the way Google used to. It scans structured data, bios, and reputation signals to synthesize a direct answer. That’s where AEO — Answer Engine Optimization — comes in.
AEO focuses on helping AI confidently surface you as the answer by sending the right trust and authority signals. These include:
Experience and expertise — showing you’ve done the work, with real numbers and local knowledge.
Authoritativeness — being listed on trusted directories like Zillow, RealTrends, FastExpert, or Yelp.
Trustworthiness — maintaining consistent contact information, reviews, and transparency across profiles.
Think of AEO as optimizing for how AI agents perceive your credibility, not just how search engines read your keywords.
Practical next moves include updating your online bios with concrete details (years in business, towns served, volume closed), refreshing your Google Business Profile, and requesting keyword-rich client reviews that describe you the way a consumer might search — for example:
“The best Realtor in Essex for first-time buyers.”
These signals help AI engines connect your profile with natural-language searches like,
“Who’s the best Realtor for first-time buyers in Essex, Vermont?”
2. Blogging to Appear in AI Overviews
The second foundational strategy is creating blog content that earns a place in AI Overviews — the new AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google results.
Consumers are asking long, detailed questions now:
“Who is the best Realtor to help me sell my home in Middlebury if it’s an older farmhouse that needs updating?”
AI Overviews pull their answers from blogs that are clear, specific, and structured to deliver trustworthy information. When your post directly answers the question a buyer or seller asks — using conversational phrasing, authoritative language, and local context — you become the resource AI cites.
AI has changed what’s possible here. Instead of guessing what topics matter, agents can now use AI to uncover exactly what consumers are asking and produce high-quality, hyper-local blogs that match those queries. That precision is what builds trust before a client ever reaches out.
Future State Vision
When you integrate AEO and AI blogging into your business, your marketing becomes self-sustaining. Your name shows up inside ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews. You’re recognized as the trusted expert for your local market — not because you paid for clicks, but because your digital footprint reflects real experience and authority.
Final Thought
There are many ways agents are beginning to generate leads with AI, but these two — Agent Engine Optimization and AI-driven blogging — are the foundation every Realtor should build first.
Ready to Learn the “How”?
Inside RAIN: Real Estate’s AI Network, we teach the actionable workflows behind strategies like these — from optimizing your bios for AI engines to using ChatGPT to plan AEO-ready content that attracts leads on autopilot.
Join HERE or start by connecting in our free community: Real Estate’s AI Network on Facebook