Reviews have always been treated as a box to check in multifamily marketing. Someone leaves feedback, the property replies with a polite “Thanks for your review,” and everyone moves on.
But here’s the truth: reviews are no longer just about reputation management. They are becoming fuel for AI search. And if communities keep responding the old way, they’re going to disappear from the places future renters are actually asking questions.
It’s time to stop handling reviews wrong. It’s time to think about them as part of AEO: AI Search Optimization.
🔍 Why Reviews Matter More Than Ever
Until now, reviews were mainly for two audiences:
- Prospects browsing on Google or Apartments.com
- Ownership and PMCs tracking reputation scores
That hasn’t changed. But a third audience has entered the picture: AI search engines.
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude already handle billions of queries daily
- Renters are starting to ask: “What do residents say about parking at Alira?” or “Which apartments in Reno have the best reviews for events?”
- These models pull answers from public text — including review content and responses
Which means every review reply is no longer just customer service. It’s a data point that can decide whether your community is the answer AI serves up.
🤖 What Is AEO?
AI Search Optimization (AEO) is the evolution of SEO. Instead of fighting for a blue link on Google, the goal is to ensure communities show up as answers in ChatGPT.
For reviews, this means:
- Writing replies in Q&A format
- Embedding factual details about amenities, policies, or resident experience
- Avoiding fluff (“Thanks for sharing!”) and instead giving the kind of structured answer AI models crave
Example:
- Resident review: “Love the gym here.”
- Old reply: “Thanks for your feedback!”
- AEO reply: “Thanks! Our fitness center includes free weights, cardio equipment, and a yoga studio — glad you’re enjoying it.”
One of those is disposable. The other is future-proofed for AI discoverability.
⚡ Why This Is the Moment
Right now, no multifamily marketing firm is talking about reviews this way. Agencies still treat them as reputation management tasks.
But reviews are increasingly being ingested into AI training data. That means the first communities to optimize reviews for AEO will dominate visibility when renters ask AI where to live.
This is the same turning point we saw with Apartments.com and SEO 10 years ago. Early adopters got all the visibility. Everyone else has been playing catch-up ever since.
🏗️ How ResidentOS Is Changing the Game
At HeyNeighborly, powered by ResidentOS, we’re reframing reviews as part of an AEO strategy:
- Every review response doubles as a structured, AI-friendly fact
- Every property builds Q&A-style content that can surface in ChatGPT
- Every portfolio builds discoverability in the next era of renter search
đź”® Looking Ahead
This isn’t just reputation management anymore. This is about owning visibility in AI search.
Reviews aren’t being handled wrong because people don’t care — they’re being handled wrong because the industry hasn’t caught up to how AI is reshaping discovery.
With AEO, reviews become more than a score. They become the answers renters see first.
👉 Want to understand the foundation? Read What Is Resident Intelligence?
👉 Explore how AI needs structure, not gimmicks, in You Can’t Just Tack on AI: Why Multifamily Needs Structure, Not Hacks
👉 Rethink reputation management with Why Your ORA Score Doesn’t Actually Help You Lease Apartments
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