AEO Website Strategy
A residential focused roadmap for creating loved-by-AI websites
in the new era of LLM search and citation.
OF PROPERTIES ARE INVISIBLE IN AI SEARCH
OF AI RECS GO TO JUST THE TOP 5% OF COMMUNITIES
Because we spent the last 15 years building sites around reductive SEO constraints that rewarded singular, repetitive language with no regard for imagery, style or story.
That script just flipped and AI now wants a conversational, dialogue-based copy with unique photos and visuals to match – while turning its cheek to botspeak, stock and templates.
THE NEW LANDSCAPE
SEARCH EVOLUTION
THE CRITICAL INSIGHT
Traditional search and SEO were based on mechanically narrowing and repeating. AI is looking for a human narrative, verbally and visually. It's reading — and looking at — your website and asking with human sensibilities and instant discernment:
Are you unique? Are you authentic? Are you quotable? Do you have taste? Do you have a perspective? Do you have a story to tell? Do you have something I can share with my client that will make me look good? Or are you just another forgettable, templated, bot-tailored commodity that's not just to be ignored but steered away from?
OPTIMIZING FOR HOW LLMS ACTUALLY THINK
An LLM revels in finding on-point info, tailored recs, unique finds and sought-after spots. It gets scolded when it delivers underrated, uninspired, same-as, simple ideas.
Its job is to research, curate, and recommend — to take a conversational question and come back with a confident answer. It was trained on how people actually talk, and to choreograph a response in kind.
Google rewarded keywords because Google was a librarian — efficient, indexed, scanning your page for terms that matched a short, specific query. So you seeded your site with "new luxury apartments in downtown LA now leasing" and trusted the algorithm to do the rest. AEO rewrites that contract. When an LLM lands on a page that says "luxury apartments now leasing," it sees a thousand other property sites saying the exact same thing — decides you have nothing distinctive to offer — and routes around you.
VERBAL AUTHORING SAMPLE
Imagine telling your PA: Can you find me a new apartment near DTLA – you know my style, high-end, refined, luxurious but niche and personal. If they came back with Park La Brea, you'd fire them.
What you actually want is the assistant who comes back with something like:
This is the ideal LLM response. And notice what made it into the recommendation. It wasn't a single SEO keyword. It wasn't repetition. It wasn't drawing from a bullet list of finishes. It was a vibe. A story and perspective that spoke to a narrowed taste, distinct design aesthetics, a neighborhood texture, a peek into fellow residents, local retail that aligns to known likes, and a sense of "I found your perfect match."
VISUAL AUTHORING SAMPLE
SEO is word-centric. AI sees the whole picture. And it carries an originality bias that rewards unique photography and true context — while actively ignoring or punishing overused stock and generic scenes.
"Modern luxury kitchen with white countertops, stainless steel appliances and tile backsplash."
"An East-facing kitchen at Mysa with morning light over a honed marble island. The courtyard's fig tree through the window. A vintage Danish table lamp adding a mid-century accent. Fresh groceries from Erewhon calling."
EXECUTION
THE STRATEGY
REFERENCE WIREFRAME
A best-practices blueprint applying every principle from this deck. Use it as a reference when scoping, designing, or auditing a multifamily site for the AEO era.
Each top-level item resolves to its own substantive page at a real URL. Deeper pages live one level down where it makes sense (e.g. /floor-plans/the-larkin, /journal/[slug]).
/
First impression and AI's first read. Establishes voice, perspective, and the primary entity schema for the building.
Organization, ResidentialBuilding, Place at page levelFAQPage on the inline FAQ blockBreadcrumbList across the sitealt text + ImageObject schema/residences
The lived experience. Interiors, finishes, materials, design — where prospects come to feel the place and AI infers a distinct aesthetic and identity.
ResidentialBuilding / Place at page levelImageObject for each detail photo with descriptive captionsPerson / Organization for design partners with sameAs linksCreativeWork for awards, design press mentions/floor-plans
The unit-finding layer. Plan types and current availability live together — citable plan types on top, dynamic inventory inside each.
/floor-plans/[name]Apartment / Accommodation per plan typenumberOfBedrooms, numberOfBathrooms, floorSize, leaseLengthrobots.txt if exposed/amenities
Show the specifics, not the list. Each amenity gets descriptive prose AI can quote, not a tag in a grid.
LocationFeatureSpecification for each amenityamenityFeature array on the building-level schema/neighborhood
Texture, not a map. This is the page that paints AI a true understanding of the location and how it lives, not just geo data points.
Place / AdministrativeArea for the neighborhood itselfLocalBusiness entitygeo + distanceTo schema between residence and named entitiesaria-label, link to Google Maps for interactive/journal
The editorial heart. The building's own publication — interviews with the architect and interior designer, notes from the landscape team, nearby retail discoveries, the Tokyo vinyl bar that inspired the lounge, a sit-down with the developer on their vision. Each post adds named voices, narrative texture, and the kind of authoritative cross-references AI trusts.
/journal/[slug]BlogPosting / Article per postauthor as Person with sameAs linksdatePublished + dateModifiedimage as ImageObject with captionsameAs to canonical sources/journal/feed.xml/team
Faces and verifiable bona fides. The "who's behind this" page that gives AI the trust signals to cite confidently.
Person schema per team membersameAs links to LinkedIn, Twitter, Substack, personal sitesCreativeWork with author + publisherOrganization/faq
Direct, citable Q&A. The single most AI-friendly page format — and the one most often broken with accordions.
/faq#pets) so categories are linkableFAQPage with Question / Answer pairs<h3> or <dt>, answer in <p> or <dd>/contact
The verification layer. Where AI confirms the basics it'll quote — and where every fact must match GBP exactly.
LocalBusiness with PostalAddress, OpeningHours, telephone, emailGeoCoordinates matching map embedContactPoint for each role (leasing, maintenance, press)