You’ve marketed apartments for decades. Or maybe you’re new to multifamily. Either way, you’re facing the same challenge right now: AI is changing how renters search.
It feels overwhelming—especially when your portfolio’s visibility, leasing performance, and revenue depend on you.
In the past, you at least knew how renters found you on Google. But now, more are using ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI tools to ask: “Find me a pet-friendly apartment near downtown with in-unit laundry.” Suddenly, it feels like you need a whole new playbook.
What you really need, though, is clarity on three things…
- Where do AI tools actually gather information about apartments?
- Why do they choose certain sources over others?
- What does this mean for your apartment marketing strategy?
That’s what we’ll cover here.
Forget all the confusing acronyms—SEO, GEO, LLMEO. As you'll learn, helpful, renter-centric content on your website and other marketing sources will always win, no matter how search evolves.
Where do AI tools actually gather information about apartments?
AI tools scrape, crawl, and summarize information about apartment communities from multiple online sources—and while it's really hard to predict exactly which sources they will use, you can control how content about your community shows up.
Let’s see how this plays out with a real-world renter-style query:
"What apartment communities near the Plaza in Kansas City allow large dogs,
have in-unit laundry, and available studio floorplans?"
We'll start with ChatGPT—one of the most widely-adopted AI tools today. Here's its response:
It pulled data from more than 30 different sources, including:
- Multiple ILSs (Apartments.com, RentCafe, ApartmentList, Zillow, ApartmentFinder, etc).
- Community websites
- Local directories like LeasingKC or PlazaForRent.com
- Social channels like Facebook
- Forums like Reddit
- Rating and review sites like Expedia
Now, let's try Google Gemini. Here's its response:
Gemini used less sources, but unlike ChatGPT, cited a property management website (Bourgmont Luxury Apartments) for one of its answers.
In both cases, notice the pattern: neither tool made anything up. The AI tools simply pulled real information from the same familiar online sources renters frequently use in their apartment search.
Next, let's breakdown the sources AI consistently relies on, what it's looking for in each, and how that impacts you:
Apartment Listings on ILSs & Databases
- What AI looks for: Basic details about floorplans, rent, availability, location, and more.
- What it means for you: ILSs often become the default source AI tools use to find basic information when apartment websites lack renter-centric content or aren't user-friendly.
Individual Community Websites
- What AI looks for: The most comprehensive details about floorplan and unit-level details—like live pricing and availability, policies, and photos—as well as a community's location and amenities.
- What it means for you: Think back to our example prompt above; your website should clearly address where a community is located (near the Kansas City Plaza), its pet policies (large breed dogs), its amenities (in-unit laundry), and real-time availability (studios). When it features comprehensive, clear content that's easy to understand, the website can give AI more renter-centric details and context than an ILS.
Property Management Websites
- What AI looks for: Portfolio-level brand context, leasing policies and procedures, contact information, or other details.
- What it means for you: While not as helpful for specific searches, AI tools will scan property management websites to research individual communities. However, individual communities should still have their own website with their own URL. A landing page on a property management website about an individual community doesn't carry the same weight as an ILS listing.
Google Business Profile (GBP) & Google Maps
- What AI looks for: Verify a community's location, directions, office hours, contact information, and other details.
- What it means for you: These sources are especially present in location-specific searches—and location is a significant factor for renters as they discover, evaluate, and choose apartment communities. It's critical that your GBP is verified and its content is accurate.
Ratings & Review Sites
- What AI looks for: Context involving renter sentiment about an apartment community, such as their experience—positive or negative.
- What it means for you: AI shows no bias. It could cite a renter's story on a review site about the cleanliness of the dog park, or a renter's negative experience with surprise pet fees. Don't ignore your community's reputation. Respond to all reviews, and leverage your current renters' good experiences to generate more positive reviews.
Social Media, Forums & Communities
- What AI looks for: Real renter experiences or more context about a community's features, neighborhood, or general lifestyle.
- What it means for you: These sources are heavily prioritized in lifestyle-related searches. Ensure your social media channels are active and features content focused on your residents' experiences (i.e. 'Day in the life' videos, work from home setups, etc.)
So why does AI pick one source over another when building an answer? Let’s look at the factors that influence its choices.
Why does AI choose certain sources over others when displaying information about apartments?
There are five factors that determine which sources are used:
1. Search Intent & Query Type
As large language models, ChatGPT and Gemini specialize in using the information they gather and instantly summarizing it into answers that best address a renter's individual search. How many sources AI chooses to draw from, however, depends on the type of search.
In broader searches (i.e. 'best apartments in Kansas City), AI usually prioritizes fewer sources, like an ILS, which has enough of the essential details.
The more specific a search is, like the one in our example above, AI will go to websites, ILSs, GBP, and multiple other sources to get the information a renter is asking about (if those sources include the right content).
2. Authority & Trustworthiness
One of the ironies of optimizing your apartment marketing strategy for AI search is that ChatGPT, Gemini, and others, look at many of the same signals as a traditional search engine like Google would to determine what sources it priorities.
(For example, studies show ChatGPT uses none other than Google's search engine when generating answers.)
That's why following SEO best practices today are more important than ever—because those same tactics that you're most likely already familiar with are still how search engines and AI tools find information.
One example of how AI follows SEO signals? Domain authority, or the predictability for how a website will rank in Google. Domain authority is heavily weighted toward the big-name ILSs, apartment websites, and GBP.
The same goes with trustworthiness. Sources that provide truly helpful and accurate information will appear in AI results more often.
3. Freshness of Content
Renters want to know the pricing and availability of your units right now. But if you don't show it on your website (i.e. "Call for Details!"...bad) or it's not accurate across your marketing sources, AI may disqualify one of your most important sources, and that could mean diminished visibility.
It's not just about price and availability—sources like your social media channels that haven't been touched in years signifies to AI that it's not a valuable source, so it may feature other apartments with optimized social profiles instead.
4. Technical SEO & Crawlability
AI can't cite what it can't crawl.
That's why sources like your community website, when it's built with a strong technical SEO foundation for crawlability, indexability, and user-friendliness, helps AI tools clearly understand what the content is about so that it can generate the best answer.
5. Relevance to the Query
Again, go back to our example prompt from earlier. The communities that AI features specifically call out relevant keywords throughout their marketing messaging about location ('Apartments near Kansas City Plaza'), pet policy ('pet-friendly'), and specific floorplans ('studio').
That's why understanding what keywords interested renters use in searches, and applying them strategically throughout your marketing messaging and on-page SEO elements of your apartment's website, can improve AI visibility.
Conclusion: What does this mean for my apartment marketing strategy?
In the world of AI search, every one of your apartment marketing sources matter. No matter how many ILSs you use or what your social media strategy is, ensuring that you're staying on top of the content of each source will always be important.
Your apartment website is your most critical source.
That said, no other source of yours gives you more control into how your community appears in AI searches than your apartment's website.
- Answer renters' essential needs
- Clearly detail floorplan and unit-level details like policies, fees, and amenities
- Show live pricing and availability
- Feature comprehensive information about your community's features, location, and lifestyle
- Be built with a strong technical SEO foundation
That's the blueprint of a high-converting apartment website that renters, search engines, and AI tools favor.
Need help with your apartment website?
RentVision's Community Websites are the blueprint for what content and features your site will need to help renters make the best decision, and elevate your online presence wherever they search. Schedule a demo today to see our community websites for yourself.