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How Do Realtors Show Up in ChatGPT? Start With Bing

Written by Coach Emily on . Posted in Uncategorized.

By Emily Terrell — Top Coach and Speaker at Tom Ferry International. Active San Antonio agent closing 70+ transactions a year.

Real estate agents show up in ChatGPT answers when ChatGPT search can find and cite their pages, and that search leans heavily on Bing’s index plus OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot crawler. Most agents have never opened Bing Webmaster Tools. This guide covers the five-step Bing-first setup, the robots.txt check, and how to track citations monthly.

Key Takeaways

  • ChatGPT search pulls most of its citations from pages that already rank in Bing, so a Google-only SEO plan leaves the main door closed.
  • Blocking OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt removes your site from ChatGPT search answers, while blocking GPTBot only opts you out of model training.
  • Bing Webmaster Tools, IndexNow, and Bing Places are free, and the full setup fits in one afternoon.
  • Retrieval gets your page considered; specific numbers, named sources, and direct answers get it cited.
  • Bing’s AI Performance report is the closest first-party citation data an agent can get, but it covers Microsoft’s AI surfaces, not ChatGPT itself.

What does it mean to show up in ChatGPT answers?

Showing up in ChatGPT answers means your name, business, or page appears in a response, ideally as a linked citation. ChatGPT answers in two ways: from what its model learned in training, and from a live web search it runs when a question needs current or local information. Local questions like “best agent in Stone Oak” or “closing costs in San Antonio” tend to trigger search, and search is the only mode you can influence on a timeline you control.

Training data updates on OpenAI’s schedule. Search the web this week.

Why this matters for real estate agents

Where ChatGPT searches matters more than most agents realize. According to Seer Interactive (February 2025), 87% of ChatGPT Search citations match Bing’s top results. In the same study, only 56% matched Google’s results. Seer’s sample was about 100 questions, so treat it as directional. The direction is still clear: if Bing can’t find you, ChatGPT search mostly can’t either.

ChatGPT is also its own system. According to Profound’s analysis of 680 million AI citations (2024–2025), only 11% of domains are cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity. “Optimize for AI” isn’t a plan. Optimizing for the retrieval layer each tool actually uses is.

Here’s the thing nobody wants to tell you: most agents have spent years fighting for Google rankings and have never once logged into Bing. That’s the gap, and it’s the cheapest one in your marketing to close.

“Most agents are optimizing for the search engine ChatGPT leans at least. One afternoon in Bing Webmaster Tools will do more for your ChatGPT visibility than another month of Google-only blogging.”
— Emily Terrell, Tom Ferry Coach

The Bing-first setup: five steps to show up in ChatGPT

Run these in order. The first two are one-time technical checks. The last three are a system you maintain.

Can ChatGPT’s search crawler read your site?

Check yoursite.com/robots.txt first, because nothing else matters if OAI-SearchBot is blocked. Per OpenAI’s crawler documentation, sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won’t be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and that setting is independent of GPTBot, which governs model training. You can block training and stay visible in search.

IDX and template sites sometimes ship with restrictive defaults the agent never chose. I walk through the full robots.txt and profile audit in What Does AI Say About Your Real Estate Business? If you change the file, OpenAI notes it takes about 24 hours for its search systems to adjust.

Is your site verified in Bing Webmaster Tools?

Bing Webmaster Tools is Bing’s free counterpart to Google Search Console, and it’s where you confirm Bing can crawl and index your site. Sign in at bing.com/webmasters, add your site, and submit your sitemap. If you already use Google Search Console, you can import your verified site instead of starting over.

Then search Bing for site:yourdomain.com. If your key pages don’t appear, ChatGPT search has very little of yours to retrieve.

Do you rank in Bing for the questions buyers and sellers ask?

Take the ten questions your clients ask most and search each one in Bing, not Google. Seer found most matching citations sat in Bing’s top 10, but many came from positions 11 through 20, so page two still counts. Seer also observed that ChatGPT appears to shorten long questions into search-style queries, so “what are the best neighborhoods for families in San Antonio” becomes something closer to “best San Antonio neighborhoods families.” Check both versions.

Every question where you don’t rank is a page you need to write. One page per question, the answer in the first sentence, published under your name.

Does Bing know when your pages change?

IndexNow is a free protocol that notifies participating search engines, including Microsoft Bing, when a URL is added, updated, or deleted. Without it, a search engine can take days to weeks to notice a change. Microsoft ties this directly to AI answers: when it launched the AI Performance report, it pointed publishers to IndexNow so AI systems reference the current version of a page.

Check whether your website platform or SEO plugin has an IndexNow setting, and turn it on. This matters most for market updates. A stale market report that ChatGPT keeps citing is worse than no report at all.

Is your business listed in Bing Places?

Bing Places for Business is Bing’s version of Google Business Profile, and Microsoft specifically recommends it for keeping local business details current and eligible for AI-generated answers. Claim your listing, then copy your name, brokerage, service area, phone, and bio exactly as they appear on your Google Business Profile. Matching details let AI treat you as one business instead of two.

Your Bing Places listing is advertising. In Texas, TREC’s advertising rule (22 TAC 535.155) requires your broker’s name, and other states set their own requirements. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the specifics with your broker.

What makes ChatGPT cite you once it finds you?

Retrieval puts your page in the candidate set; the content decides whether it gets cited. According to the Princeton GEO study (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024), adding statistics, quotations, and citations to web content can boost AI citation visibility by up to 40%.

For agents, that comes down to three habits:

  • Numbers instead of adjectives. Transactions closed, years licensed, neighborhoods served. “Experienced” gives AI nothing to quote.
  • The answer in the first sentence. Every question-style heading gets a direct answer before any context.
  • A named source for every market statistic. Your MLS, NAR, or your local board, with the date.

How do you measure whether ChatGPT is citing you?

Measure two ways: Bing’s citation data and a monthly manual test. Bing’s AI Performance report, released in public preview in February 2026, shows how often your pages are cited across Microsoft Copilot, AI summaries in Bing, and select partner integrations, along with the grounding queries behind those citations. ChatGPT isn’t one of the named surfaces, so read it as a proxy for how Bing’s AI layer understands your site, not as ChatGPT data.

Pair it with a manual check. On the first Monday of each month, ask ChatGPT your top five buyer and seller questions plus “tell me about [your name], real estate agent in [your city].” Screenshot the answers and the cited sources. I break down that monthly test in Do Home Buyers Use ChatGPT to Find a Real Estate Agent?

Common mistakes

Blocking the wrong crawler. Blocking GPTBot to keep your content out of training is a reasonable choice. Blocking OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search, and plenty of agents have done it without knowing.

Treating a Google ranking as proof of AI visibility. Seer’s data showed far weaker overlap between ChatGPT citations and Google results than with Bing.

Updating a page and never telling Bing. A refreshed market report that Bing hasn’t recrawled is still the old report as far as AI is concerned. Turn on IndexNow.

Building a Bing Places listing that doesn’t match Google. A different phone number or service area splits you into two records.

Reading Bing’s AI Performance report as ChatGPT data. It covers Microsoft’s AI surfaces. Use it as a directional signal and keep running the manual test.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my real estate business to show up in ChatGPT?

Make your site retrievable by ChatGPT search, then make it worth citing. Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, rank-check your top client questions in Bing, turn on IndexNow, and claim Bing Places. Then publish pages that answer one question each, with specific numbers and named sources. Expect weeks, not days, before answers change.

Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?

ChatGPT search citations line up far more closely with Bing. According to Seer Interactive (February 2025), 87% of ChatGPT Search citations matched Bing’s top results, compared with 56% for Google in the same sample. OpenAI also runs its own search crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Google rankings still matter for Google, but they don’t stand in for Bing.

Should I block AI crawlers on my real estate website?

Block training if you want; don’t block search. OpenAI treats the two separately: GPTBot covers model training, and OAI-SearchBot covers ChatGPT search. Sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won’t appear in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still show up as navigational links. Most agents who want visibility should allow OAI-SearchBot.

Is Bing Webmaster Tools free for real estate agents?

Yes. Bing Webmaster Tools is free, and it reports indexing, crawl health, search performance, and AI citation data in one place. If you already use Google Search Console, you can import your verified site instead of verifying it again. For most agent websites, setup takes about fifteen minutes, including the sitemap submission.

Can I see whether ChatGPT cites my website?

Only indirectly. Bing’s AI Performance report shows citations across Microsoft Copilot, Bing’s AI summaries, and select partner integrations, which is the closest first-party citation data available to agents. For ChatGPT itself, run a monthly manual test: ask your top client questions, then record whether you appear and which sources get cited.

How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT answers?

Technical fixes register quickly; rankings and citations take longer. OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to reach its search systems, and IndexNow tells Bing about page changes as soon as you publish. Ranking in Bing for competitive local questions and earning citations typically takes weeks to a few months.

Do I need Bing Places if I already have a Google Business Profile?

Yes. Bing Places for Business is a separate listing, and Microsoft specifically recommends it for keeping local business details current and eligible for AI-generated answers. Copy your Google Business Profile details exactly: name, brokerage, service area, phone, and bio. Matching listings help AI treat you as one business instead of two.

Bring this to your team or event

Emily Terrell speaks at brokerage events, real estate conferences, and team trainings on AI, systems, and social media — the exact playbook in this post, delivered live to your audience. As a Top Coach and Speaker at Tom Ferry International and an active agent closing 70+ transactions a year, Emily speaks from the stage about what’s working right now, not theory. Recent stages include NAHREP and eXp Con. See her keynote topics.

Book Emily to speak at your next event:
Email: eterrell@yourcoach.com
Phone: (210) 400-9191
Web: coachemilyterrell.com

For real estate agents who want to implement this: Get the weekly real estate prompt library at weeklyrealestateprompts.com or follow @coachemilyterrell on Instagram for daily systems and AI breakdowns.