How are real estate brands chosen in the AI era?

LLMs have reshaped the marketing funnel into a tunnel and are dominating the sources of visibility and discoverability. Across sectors, this creates a competitive threat and right now, the brands that are winning in securing attention by being resurfaced in AI responses are the ones powered by earned credentials. Because AI responses lean on earned media for up to 95% of citations in systems like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.   

For CMOs and brand leaders, this shift creates an urgent opportunity to influence AI‑led brand discovery by strengthening the third‑party signals that determine which brands are retrieved and which are pushed out of view.

In between busy sessions at this year’s UKREiiF, our real estate team examined this topic at a roundtable with marketing and comms leaders from across the built environment. Chaired by Tangerine Business Director, Anna Heyes, the session delved into the GEO landscape and raised the question: if earned media is the new critical comms currency, how can my brand get ahead?

Why earned media is the key 

AI brand discovery starts with a question, and LLMs now decide which developers, planners, advisors or architects appear in the answer. Research shows that 92% of users don’t click through to verify AI citations because the generated answer feels authoritative enough and the conversion is made.  

This is reducing the number of touchpoints needed for someone to move from awareness to action, creating the vital objective for real estate brands to strengthen the signals that machines trust. What we’re seeing is that the brands with the strongest earned‑media foundations are already being surfaced more often. 

In other words, the firms that have invested early in credibility, not just digital visibility, are ahead of the curve because AI retrieves what it perceives as trusted, independent signals. This could be media coverage, reviews, social mentions and shares, and podcast appearances. All of this counts, and LLMs take notice. It’s a clear sign that trust signals from organic sources win over pay-to-play tactics, and this is where brands should be dedicating their time.  

Your audience is hidden behind an algorithm 

Throughout the roundtable, participants reflected on the impact of AI. From residents using AI to generate letters of objection to planning applications, to verified new business leads coming in directly from ChatGPT responses, the perspectives and experiences in the room were varied. 

The conversation was clear; AI is here to stay, and it will play a central and strategic role in how marketing and comms teams operate now and in the future.  

Your new business leads aren’t flicking through your reports, industry deep-dives, infographics, social media feeds and event roundups in great depth before reaching out. If you appear in an AI response, a decision to act could be made on the spot. 

After years of pouring time and budget into SEO and digital PR strategies, chasing backlinks and the coveted top spot in the SERPs, the landscape is looking very different. 

How can real estate brands be chosen? 

The session created a positive consensus on the opportunities that GEO brings to the real estate industry. What we’re witnessing right now is a major shift, but for those who have already secured earned authority through PR – they’re a step ahead and are seeing the fruits of their labour from leads secured from AI responses.  

This is about visibility with longevity because AI continuously re‑aggregates the most relevant, authoritative responses. And it’s a new fast-moving landscape that all brands are navigating. Our biggest piece of advice to real estate brands is to learn what’s changing now and to gain visibility into how AI interprets their brand. Getting ahead now is what separates the brands AI retrieves from the ones it pushes out of view.  

For brands that do not want to vanish, speak to our team, who can help build a lasting roadmap for your brand’s growth.