AI Visibility Benchmark 2025: How Top Brokerages Perform in Generative Search

Generative AI is changing how buyers and sellers find and evaluate brokerages. Yet, when we benchmarked major residential real estate brokerages, only 2 of 12 scored above 70 in AI Visibility. Most firms cluster in the middle range, creating opportunities for competitive advantage through targeted optimization.

Key Takeaways:

• Only 2 of 12 brokerages scored above 70 in AI Visibility – indicating significant room for improvement in generative search readiness
• Firms with fresh educational content outperformed promotional-heavy sites by an average of 23 points – showing the value of educational resources over marketing copy
• 58% of Google users encountered AI summaries in March 2025 – but click-through rates dropped to just 8% when AI answers appeared compared to 15% without summaries
• Brokerages with proper schema markup scored 35% higher in extractability metrics – making them more likely to be cited by AI engines than competitors without structured data
• The industry average AI Visibility score among analyzed firms was 62.6 – with 7 of 12 brokerages clustering between 60-70, but two firms scoring below 50

Why AI Visibility Matters for Brokerages

The shift from keyword-based SEO to AI search optimization isn’t coming; it’s here. Research shows that 39% of prospective homebuyers now use AI tools in their home-search process, according to Veterans United, while 58% of Google users conducted at least one search in March 2025 that produced an AI-generated summary, according to Pew Research.

The data is stark: users click on traditional search result links in only 8% of visits when AI summaries are present, compared to 15% when they’re not. Pew Research found that only 1% of visits to pages with AI summaries resulted in a click on the sources cited within the summary.

• Brokerages that invest in SEO and AI optimization now can dominate trust and visibility as the industry catches up
• 93% of sellers use real estate professionals, according to Zillow, creating a substantial opportunity for optimized firms
• About 18% of all Google searches in March 2025 triggered an AI Overview, Search Engine Land reports

AI Visibility Benchmark 2025: Residential Brokerages

We analyzed top residential real estate brokerages using our proprietary AI Visibility Tool, measuring four critical factors: content extractability, freshness, authoritativeness, and AI citation readiness. Each firm received a composite score from 0-100, representing their likelihood of being accurately cited and prominently featured in AI-generated answers.

Top Performing Brokerages

Two firms emerged as clear leaders in AI Visibility, scoring above 70 and demonstrating what AI-ready real estate marketing looks like.

Realty ONE Group topped the rankings with a score of 73, showing strong technical implementation and content structure. Compass followed closely at 71, driven by their comprehensive market reports with proper schema markup and consistently updated neighborhood guides.

• Treat content as a strategic asset, not an afterthought
• Publish consistently with a clear information structure
• Implement technical elements that make expertise accessible to both humans and AI systems

Industry Average & Standout Trends

The industry average AI Visibility score of 62.6 reveals a sector with moderate AI readiness, with room for competitive advantage among early optimizers. 7 of 12 firms fell into the 60-70 range, indicating a cluster of similarly positioned brokerages where small improvements could create significant differentiation.

Educational content wins over promotional fluff. Brokerages with robust buyer guides, market analysis, and how-to resources consistently outperformed firms focused primarily on promotional content. The gap was substantial, with education-focused firms averaging 23 points higher than promotion-heavy competitors.

• Content freshness matters: Firms updating content within 30 days scored 18 points higher than those with stale content
• Technical implementation creates an advantage: Brokerages with proper schema markup scored 35% higher in extractability metrics
• Size doesn’t guarantee success: Some largest brokerages by volume scored surprisingly low

Low-Performing Brokerages

Only two brokerages scored below 50, indicating isolated optimization gaps rather than widespread failure. The common patterns among these underperformers reveal fixable issues.

Outdated content plagued some sites. Blog posts from 2023 or earlier, market reports with stale data, and educational resources that haven’t been refreshed in months signal to AI engines that information may not be current or reliable.

• Missing structured data hurt extractability: Sites without proper schema markup made it difficult for AI systems to understand and cite content accurately
• Promotional focus over educational value: This causes limited authority signals that AI engines use to determine citation-worthiness
• Invisible in AI answers: Missing opportunities to demonstrate knowledge during crucial client research phases

Key Insights for Brokerages from the Data

Our analysis reveals actionable patterns that brokerages can use to improve their AI visibility immediately.

Fresh content drives AI citations. Firms updating their educational resources monthly scored 34% higher than those with quarterly or annual publishing schedules. AI engines favor current information, especially for market data and guidance.

• Schema markup correlates strongly with extractability: Brokerages implementing structured data saw extractability scores 35% higher on average
• Educational hubs outperform promotional content: Comprehensive guides generated higher authority scores than marketing-focused pages
• Question-and-answer format enhances visibility: Well-structured FAQ sections scored higher across multiple factors
• Market leaders aren’t guaranteed AI leaders: Several top brokerages by volume scored in the bottom half of the rankings

What Brokerages Can Do to Improve AI Visibility

The gap between top performers and the rest isn’t insurmountable. Brokerages can take specific steps to improve their AI visibility and competitive positioning.

Refresh and optimize content for AI readability. Start with your most important educational resources, buyer guides, and market reports. Structure information in clear, scannable sections with descriptive headings that AI engines can easily parse and cite.

• Implement structured data across key content: Add schema markup for articles, local business information, and real estate listings
• Establish a consistent publishing schedule: Fresh content signals authority and relevance to AI engines
• Build comprehensive answer-style content: Create resources that directly address client questions in citation-ready formats
• Monitor and benchmark regularly: AI visibility enhancement strategies require ongoing assessment and optimization

The Future of AI Search in Real Estate

Generative AI will continue reshaping how clients discover and evaluate brokerages. Current adoption rates represent the beginning of a fundamental shift in consumer behavior.

Market forecasts suggest this trend will accelerate. Deloitte reports that 76% of real estate organizations are researching, piloting, or implementing AI solutions. With most firms still sitting in the mid-60s, these adoption forecasts suggest the window for early-mover advantage is rapidly closing. For firms wondering about the ROI of this investment, early adoption patterns show clear advantages.

• The global AI in real estate market is projected to exceed $5 billion by 2025, according to XByte Solutions
• Organizations with mature AI adoption “benchmark both internally and externally,” according to Gartner research
• Early movers will maintain advantages as competition for top AI positions intensifies, especially as SEO AI agents become more sophisticated

Ready to See How Your Firm Ranks?

Understanding your AI visibility is the first step toward improving it. While this benchmark provides industry context, every brokerage needs to know exactly where they stand and what specific improvements will drive the biggest impact.

When selecting partners for this work, brokerages should ask the right questions about methodology, track record, and approach. Our digital strategy and SEO services provide the same analysis we used for this study, customized for your specific website and competitive landscape.

Get Your AI Visibility Audit

Methodology: How We Measured AI Visibility

This study originally attempted to analyze the top 20 residential real estate brokerages in the United States, selected based on sales volume and transaction data from RealTrends, RISMedia, and T3 Sixty. All data collection and scoring occurred during Q3 2025 to ensure consistency and comparability.

We successfully analyzed 12 brokerages from our initial target of 20 firms. Eight additional major firms could not be scored due to site access restrictions, crawl blocking, or technical limitations that prevented our tool from gathering sufficient data for analysis.

Our AI Visibility Tool evaluates websites across four critical dimensions, each supported by external research and industry best practices. Our approach aligns with findings from the GEO-16 framework, which shows that semantic HTML and clear content structure correlate with AI citation likelihood.

• Extractability: How easily AI systems can pull discrete facts and answers from page content
• Freshness: How recently major site content was published or updated, reflecting content recency research from SEMRush
• Authoritativeness: Presence of credible citations, domain reputation, and supporting evidence that establish expertise
• AI Citation Readiness: Valid structured data that makes content machine-readable, following Google’s structured data guidelines