To get found on Gemini and Perplexity as a real estate agent, your site has to be readable by Google's crawler and by PerplexityBot, and your pages have to answer the questions buyers and sellers type, with your name, city and brokerage stated plainly. Gemini leans on Google Search. Perplexity runs its own crawler and shows numbered sources with every answer. This answer covers how each one finds pages, the robots.txt settings that matter, and the steps we take on our own sites.
We track AI-crawler visits on our group's sites at The Kenna Group at Keller Williams DTC every week. What follows is what Google and Perplexity publish, plus what we see. Our methods are labeled.
How Gemini finds sources
Gemini is Google's AI assistant, in the Gemini app, in Chrome and inside other Google products. When a question needs current information, Gemini can ground its answer in Google Search results and show the sources. Google's developer documentation describes grounding as connecting the model's answer to information retrieved from Google Search, with links to the sources it used.
That means the foundation for Gemini is the same as the foundation for Google Search: a page Google has crawled, indexed and understands. An agent who is invisible in Google for "[city] real estate agent" has little chance in Gemini for the same question.
The Google-Extended setting
Google documents a robots.txt token called Google-Extended. It is not a separate crawler. It controls whether content Google crawls can be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini apps and the Vertex AI API. Google states that Google-Extended does not affect a site's inclusion in Google Search and is not a ranking signal.
Our opinion: an agent who wants Gemini to cite their pages does not block Google-Extended. An agent who cares more about keeping content out of training can block it and still rank in regular Google Search. Make the choice on purpose. Do not let a plugin make it for you.
How Perplexity finds sources
Perplexity is an AI answer engine that shows numbered source links in every answer. Its documentation describes two user agents:
- PerplexityBot crawls and indexes pages for Perplexity's search results. Perplexity recommends allowing it in robots.txt and permitting its published IP ranges to make sure your site appears in results.
- Perplexity-User visits a page when a person asks Perplexity a question, so it can give an accurate answer and link to the page. Perplexity says it is not used for web crawling or to collect content for training AI models.
Perplexity's visible source list makes it the easiest assistant to audit. Ask it a question about your city and you see exactly which pages it used. If those pages are Zillow, a directory and a competitor's market report, you know what you are up against.
Steps to get found on Gemini and Perplexity
1. Check robots.txt and your firewall
Open yoursite.com/robots.txt. Look for rules naming Googlebot, Google-Extended or PerplexityBot, and for a "User-agent: *" line followed by "Disallow: /". Then ask your host or CDN whether they block AI crawlers at the network level. Some do by default, and robots.txt will not show it.
2. Get indexed in Google first
For Gemini, Google's index is the front door. Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console and use URL Inspection on your main pages. A page marked "Crawled, currently not indexed" is not a candidate for anything.
3. Put the answer in the first 100 words
Both assistants quote short, early answers. A first line in this format: "Parker homes for sale: [count] active listings, median list price [price], updated [date]." Then explain. Your name, city and brokerage belong in the first two sentences of your agent page.
4. Cite your own sources
Perplexity's whole design is citation. Pages that show where each number came from and when it was pulled fit that design. The 2023 generative engine optimization study by Aggarwal and colleagues found pages with statistics and cited sources were used more by generative engines, by up to about 40 percent in their tests.
5. Build pages for the follow-up questions
People ask Perplexity and Gemini a question, then three follow-ups. "What are Castle Rock home prices?" becomes "What are property taxes there?" and "How do metro districts work?" Each follow-up is a search. Our method is a daily missed-search list: real searches from autocomplete compared against our sitemap, with a page built for each gap.
6. Keep facts identical everywhere
Same name, phone, brokerage line and license on your site, Google Business Profile, Zillow, Realtor.com and your brokerage roster. In Colorado, Commission Rule 6.10 requires the brokerage name in advertising, including with any team name, which helps you use one full line everywhere.
7. Keep a strong Google Business Profile
Gemini is built on Google data, and Google Maps results come from Google Business Profiles. A verified, complete profile with current hours, categories, photos and replies to reviews gives Google one more trusted source for your name, phone and service area.
8. Read your server logs
Count weekly visits from PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User, and from Googlebot. Note which pages each reads. On our sites, crawlers return most often to pages with daily-updated numbers. That tells us which pages to build next.
How to check your progress
Pick ten questions your clients ask about your city. Ask each one in Gemini and in Perplexity on the same day each month. Save the answers and the sources. Track whether you are named, whether your pages are cited, and whether the crawlers visited. Perplexity's numbered sources make this fast. In Gemini, open the sources panel when it appears.
AI Answer Watch runs this every month across five assistants, Gemini and Perplexity included, with 20 prompts, a crawler visit report and two fixes a month. It is $149 a month and in beta. It can help you see where you stand and improve it. It does not promise a mention.
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Does blocking Google-Extended remove me from Google Search?
No. Google says Google-Extended is a robots.txt token that controls use of your content for Gemini training and grounding, and that it does not affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search.
Which Perplexity bot should I allow?
Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot so your site can appear in its search results. Perplexity-User fetches pages when a person asks a question and, per Perplexity, is not used to train AI models.
Do Gemini and Perplexity cite their sources?
Yes. Perplexity shows numbered source links with every answer. Gemini shows sources when it grounds an answer in Google Search results.
Is getting found on Gemini different from Google AI Overviews?
They share Google's search index, so the same indexed, clear, current pages help with both. The Gemini app is a separate product with its own way of deciding when to search.
Brian Lee Burke is the founder of PadLeaders, a Colorado real estate broker licensed since 2003, team leader of The Kenna Group at Keller Williams DTC (formerly Kenna Real Estate Group) and the author of Mastering Real Estate and The Real Estate Playbook. More about Brian.
- Google Search Central: Google's common crawlers, Google-Extended, accessed October 2026
- Google AI for Developers: Grounding with Google Search, accessed October 2026
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers (PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User), accessed October 2026
- Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, arXiv 2311.09735, November 2023
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, accessed October 2026
- Colorado Real Estate Commission Rule 6.10, advertising (4 CCR 725-1)
- PadLeaders AI-crawler log review, kennarealestate.com, October 2026