CAPE CORAL, Fla. - eTradeWire -- LOC8 My Business, a Southwest Florida real estate marketing agency, is telling real estate agents to stop judging their AI visibility from a single search. A BrightLocal study published in September 2026 found that the businesses AI tools recommend change from one search to the next.

BrightLocal ran more than 200,000 localized searches across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews, covering about 1,300 business locations. When the same searches were repeated, the results overlapped only 20 to 33 percent on average: 23 percent for ChatGPT, 21 percent for AI Mode, and 33 percent for AI Overviews. Google Maps mentioned a tracked business in 66 percent of searches, compared with 32 to 38 percent for the AI tools. (Source: BrightLocal, Local AI Visibility Study, September 2026.)

The study looked at local businesses in general and did not break out real estate. Applying it to agents is LOC8's reading of the data, not a BrightLocal finding.

An agent in Cape Coral who asks ChatGPT for the best realtor in town, sees no mention, and panics has learned very little. An agent who sees their name once and celebrates has learned just as little.

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LOC8 measures AI visibility as share of appearances across repeated checks. Ask the same question in each AI tool several times, on different days, and count how often your name shows up. That count is the number to track and improve.

BrightLocal also found that business websites made up 93 percent of the unique domains the AI tools cited as sources, and 42 percent of all citations. For agents, that points back to the basics: a fully built Google Business Profile and a website that says plainly what you do and where you do it.

"Google Business Profile is the most important first step for any realtor focused on online visibility in 2026," said Bobby Kerr, founder of LOC8 My Business.

About LOC8 My Business

LOC8 My Business is a real estate marketing agency based in Southwest Florida. The company builds Google Business Profiles and writes the monthly content for real estate agents, teams, and brokerages across the US and Canada, and has built and trained more than 1,000 real estate profiles. Founder Bobby Kerr is an Inman contributor. Learn more at LOC8MyBusiness.com