My prediction: You'll be writing listing descriptions very differently within a year

Here are three reasons why I say that:

1. AI is teaching people to treat the traditional search bar as the start of a conversation.

Several studies have shown that people are typing longer search queries since AI and LLMs became popular, and Google has confirmed this many times in public statements. This is from a Google blog post this past May (emphasis added by me):

While we’re seeing growth in both short and long queries in AI Mode, the average AI Mode search is triple the length of a traditional Search query.

Consumer behavior changes slowly, but it does change.

2. The real estate portals are in the process of rolling out AI search.

Have you seen the search bar on Realtor .com's home page lately? Have a look at the searches it suggests.

Zillow, Redfin, Homes .com, and other national sites are in various stages of launching AI/natural language search. This allows buyers to do longer and more specific searches for exactly the home features they want. In the early days of its natural language search rollout, Realtor .com said users who search that way convert at a 4.6X higher rate than people who use traditional search filters, and they browse more listings per visit.

3. Real estate website platforms and IDX providers are also adding AI search capabilities.

Sierra Interactive launched an AI search product called Intellisearch for its website clients last year. IDX Broker did the same. BoldTrail has done the same, too.

You can see where this is going, right?

Your listing description has two jobs now

That standard 3-4 paragraph "flowery narrative" listing description you've been writing isn't going to serve your sellers as well in the future as it has in the past.

For decades, you've written listing descriptions to sell the home. Today, you also need to write them to get the home found.

That's why I predict that you'll be writing a very different listing description within the next year.

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