While search engine optimization (SEO) is a fundamental digital marketing strategy for growing a community’s organic online presence, answer engine optimization (AEO) is a newer, complimentary method multifamily marketers should leverage as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more commonplace among renters.
In a recent webinar, Zumper’s CEO and Co-Founder, Anthemos Georgiades, spoke about the value of AEO and how to optimize your marketing to adapt to the shift towards conversational search. Here, we’ve created a guide using that insight to help multifamily marketers better understand AEO, and how to create a multifamily marketing AI strategy to improve your property’s organic online visibility.
What is AEO?
Answer Engine Optimization is the process of structuring content so that AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, and voice assistants like Siri and Alexa can easily find and surface direct answers to users (or in this case, renters). It focuses on clarity, crawlability, and relevance to conversational search.
How does AEO differ from SEO?
While SEO relies on keywords, traditional search behaviors, and website traffic, AEO looks for concise answers, websites with crawlability, and LLM-friendly formatting.
Here are some of the differences between AEO and SEO:
- Content Formatting: AEO (also known as Generative Engine Optimization, or “GEO”) wants concise, direct answers to conversational questions, whereas SEO requires detailed and descriptive keywords.
- Search methods: AEO is helpful for renters using voice search (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.) and AI chats like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc. SEO is used in traditional, text-based search such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
- Website optimization: Optimizing a website for SEO means using detailed keywords in long-form content like adding, “Sky South has the best apartments for rent in Chicago” to a blog post. AEO, on the other hand, looks for short, direct answers and prefers a question-and-answer format, like FAQs.
- Results prioritization: SEO not only relies on keywords, but also looks at website traffic and historical rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). AEO just wants a clean and direct answer. This means if you had trouble performing with SEO, you may still see positive results with AEO strategies.
Why should multifamily properties optimize for AEO?
Multifamily properties should optimize for AEO because today’s renters are using chatbots, voice assistants, and AI-powered search to ask conversational questions and expect instant and clear answers.
In 2024, nearly 60% of all searches in the U.S. were zero-click, meaning users got the answers they needed without ever visiting a website. Additionally, a study by Synup showed 58% of consumers have used voice search to find local business information, and a 2025 survey by Elon University found 52% of U.S. adults use AI tools like ChatGPT for search.
This shift is transforming how renters discover apartments communities, and the results are staggering. Forbes reports that AEO delivers 9X higher conversions than traditional SEO.
This doesn’t mean SEO is dead. But it does mean the strategies to reach renters must evolve.
To stay competitive and show up where renters are searching, multifamily marketers must create content that directly and clearly answers conversational questions, and in formats that AI can easily crawl and surface. By optimizing for AEO, you’re ensuring your properties have the best chance at showing up where renters are searching.
How to optimize for AEO
Multifamily marketers can optimize for AEO by making your property websites crawlable by AI chatbots, creating AI-friendly owned content, improving your star ratings, and showing up with earned content like top 10 lists and on Reddit threads.
How to optimize property websites and content for AEO:
- Property website: Allow large language models (LLMs) to crawl your website using a Robots.txt file, and tell them what content is LLM-friendly with LLM.txt files. You should also add FAQs to your website, where you have specific questions and short, direct answers that immediately follow. Work with your engineering team or website developer for support.
- Owned content: If you don’t already have a blog, create one and start writing content that will help your communities appear in search results. For example, if you manage communities in Denver, CO, write a blog post titled, “How to choose the right apartment for your family and pets in Denver.” Creating this kind of content will increase your chances of surfacing in local search results.
- Earned content: Chase down earned content like having your community featured in a local “Top 10” list or being active on sites like Reddit. LLMs prioritize listicles and user-led forums, making them ideal platforms to be featured on. Reach out and ask to be mentioned!
- Star ratings: Improve your online reputation to ensure your property appears when renters search for “best” and “top” places to live in a given market. Google prioritizes businesses with 4+ star ratings, making your online reputation a key method to improving your local visibility.
Summary:
The AEO shift is here to stay, and property management companies can improve visibility on voice and AI search with a few simple steps. Here’s a recap of how (and why) multifamily marketers should develop an AI strategy to win with AEO.
- More renters are shifting to AI and voice assistants to find apartment communities.
- AI and voice search relies on AEO to surface direct, concise answers for users.
- To optimize for AEO, allow LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc. to crawl and identify LLM-friendly content on your property website.
- You can also create long-tail owned content on your site like blog posts and adding FAQs, and earn content placement on Top 10 lists and Reddit threads to improve discoverability.
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