Real Estate Review Revolution: How Today’s Consumers Are Choosing Agents

For years, the real estate industry has placed enormous emphasis on curating perfect review profiles across industry-specific platforms like RateMyAgent and realestate.com.au. While these platforms remain important industry standards, recent consumer behavior trends reveal a significant shift that should prompt every agency to rethink their review strategy.

A comprehensive 15-year analysis of consumer review behavior by BrightLocal shows that today’s consumers are more discerning, more objective, and less impressed by perfect 5-star ratings than ever before. For real estate professionals, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity to stand out in an industry where trust remains the ultimate currency.

Why Current Real Estate Review Strategies Fall Short

The reality is stark: when every agent boasts a perfect 5-star rating on industry platforms, those ratings lose their impact. Consumers have developed a healthy skepticism toward review ecosystems that appear too polished. This is particularly relevant in real estate, where:

• Industry-specific platforms rarely display anything below 5-star reviews
• Reviews often lack the depth and specificity that help buyers make informed decisions
• The review collection process often filters out anything but the most positive feedback
• Standard text-based testimonials fail to capture the emotional journey of property transactions

As the BrightLocal study confirms, today’s consumers are becoming increasingly aware of these limitations, with trust in online reviews declining steadily since its peak in 2016-2017.

Google: The Overlooked Central Point of Truth

While most Australian real estate professionals focus their review efforts on industry platforms, they overlook a critical reality: Google remains the starting point for roughly 40% of realestate.com.au’s traffic. This presents a significant opportunity for businesses who maintain a strong Google presence to intercept traffic before it ends up on someone else’s website.

This means potential sellers are likely evaluating agents on Google long before they visit industry-specific review sites. More importantly, consumers perceive Google reviews as more authentic for several key reasons:

1. Mixed ratings appear more credible – A 4.7-star average with a handful of constructive 3-star reviews often appears more trustworthy than a perfect 5.0
2. Greater transparency – Google’s review system doesn’t allow for the filtering or suppression of legitimate feedback
3. Broader context – Consumers can compare real estate reviews against reviews in other industries, providing better calibration
4. Review responses matter – How agents respond to criticism on Google can be more influential than the criticism itself

As one property seller explained: “I specifically looked for agents who had a few less-than-perfect reviews and thoughtful responses. It showed me they were real people who could handle challenges professionally.”

Video Testimonials: The Untapped Authenticity Factor

Perhaps the most underutilised review format in real estate is the video testimonial hosted on your own digital properties. While collecting written reviews has become standard practice, video testimonials offer distinct advantages:

• Emotional connection – Property transactions are deeply emotional experiences that text alone can’t capture
• Impossible to fake – Unlike written reviews, video testimonials provide unmistakable authenticity
• Storytelling potential – Videos can showcase the journey from listing to settlement, highlighting the agent’s value throughout
• Distinctive branding – Custom-hosted video content differentiates your agency from competitors using identical review platforms

Video testimonials also align perfectly with the evolving “alternative review platform” trend identified in the BrightLocal study, where consumers increasingly turn to visual platforms like YouTube for research.

Example:

Google Reviews: A Critical SEO and AI Search Factor

Beyond consumer trust, Google reviews serve another vital function that many real estate professionals overlook: they significantly impact your search visibility and AI-powered search results.

Google has long confirmed that review signals (quantity, velocity, and diversity) influence local search rankings. For real estate agencies, this creates a compound effect:

1. Enhanced Local Pack Visibility – Properties with stronger Google review profiles are more likely to appear in the coveted “Local Pack” position at the top of search results
2. Rich Snippet Advantages – Star ratings appearing directly in search results increase click-through rates by up to 35%
3. Entity Recognition – Google’s AI increasingly recognises agencies with robust review profiles as authoritative local entities

Real-World Data: Google Dominates Lead Generation

This isn’t just theoretical. Here’s an example from one of our website clients demonstrating Google’s overwhelming dominance as a lead source, despite a significant investment in advertising on other digital channels, due to this business’s dominance on Google search result pages.

• Sales Leads: 58.23% of all sales inquiries originate from Google searches
• Property Management Leads: 52.95% of property management inquiries come from Google

When compared to other channels like social media and direct traffic, Google’s lead generation capability is unmatched in the real estate sector. This makes Google reviews doubly important: they not only influence consumer decisions but directly affect where most of your potential clients first discover you.

With the rapid advancement of AI-powered search, this advantage will only grow. As Google’s search becomes more conversational through AI integration, it increasingly prioritizes businesses with substantial review evidence to support recommendations. When someone asks, “Who’s the best real estate agent in Brisbane?” the algorithm heavily weighs review signals to determine results.

Consider these AI search developments:

• Voice search queries often return only the top 1-3 results
• AI summarises review content to present “overview” information
• Review sentiment analysis (not just star ratings) influences rankings
• Specific keywords within reviews help match to precise search queries

Agencies that build substantial, authentic Google review profiles now are positioning themselves advantageously for the AI-powered search environment that’s rapidly becoming the norm.

Example:?

Turner Real Estate in Adelaide constantly focuses on collecting Google reviews from all parties (tenants, landlords, sellers and buyers) in addition to other platforms where appropriate. It’s important to remember that Google doesn’t care who your Google reviews are from, they only care how many you have and your average star rating. And the aggregate result of focusing on Google reviews over other platforms is your ability to appear at the top of search results and front of mind for searches related to everything you do.

A Three-Pillar Approach to Modern Real Estate Reviews

Based on these insights, forward-thinking real estate agencies should adopt a three-pillar review strategy:

1. Embrace Google as Your Review Foundation

• Actively request Google reviews from all clients, not just the most enthusiastic
• Respond thoughtfully to all feedback, especially constructive criticism
• Highlight your Google presence in marketing materials with authentic average ratings
• Incorporate location-specific keywords naturally in review responses to boost local SEO
• Create a streamlined post-settlement process that makes leaving Google reviews effortless
• Consider review acceleration strategies during slower market periods to maintain momentum

2. Develop a Video Testimonial Program

• Create a streamlined process for capturing client video testimonials at settlement
• Feature these prominently on your website and social channels
• Structure videos to tell complete client stories, not just praise
• Include specific details about challenges overcome during the process

3. Use Industry Platforms Strategically

• Continue collecting reviews on RateMyAgent and realestate.com.au, but don’t rely on them exclusively
• Cross-promote your more authentic review content from other platforms
• Encourage clients to share specific details rather than generic praise

The Competitive Advantage of Authenticity

The agencies that will thrive in this new review landscape are those willing to embrace authenticity over perfection. As consumers become increasingly sophisticated in how they evaluate reviews, a carefully curated perfect rating becomes less valuable than a transparent, multi-platform presence that showcases:

• How you handle challenges
• The specific value you provide throughout the property journey
• The authentic emotional experiences of your clients
• Your willingness to engage with all feedback, not just praise

Implementation Steps

1. Audit your current review profile across all platforms to identify gaps and opportunities
2. Develop a simple video capture process that agents can easily implement at settlement
3. Create a Google review request template that encourages specific, detailed feedback
4. Train staff on responding to mixed or critical reviews professionally
5. Update your website to showcase your multi-platform review strategy
6. Implement structured data markup on your website to help search engines recognise and display your review content
7. Monitor AI search results for real estate queries in your area to understand how reviews are being utilised
8. Develop an SEO strategy that leverages review content for targeted real estate search terms

Preparing for the AI Search Revolution

As AI continues to transform search behavior, real estate agencies must prepare for a fundamental shift in how consumers find and evaluate agents. Consider these emerging trends:

• AI assistants like Google’s Gemini are becoming primary search interfaces for many consumers
• These AI systems extract and summarise review content to form recommendations
• Property-specific searches increasingly trigger AI-generated summaries of agent capabilities
• Voice search through smart speakers and phones often returns only the top-ranked option

Agencies that establish strong Google review profiles now will have a significant first-mover advantage as these AI-powered search methods become mainstream. The historical data already shows a clear direction: consumers rely less on visiting specialised platforms and increasingly expect relevant information to come to them through intelligent search.

Conclusion

The BrightLocal study reveals that consumer review behavior has evolved significantly, with today’s property seekers valuing authenticity and transparency over perfect ratings. For Australian real estate professionals, this represents an opportunity to differentiate through a more sophisticated, multi-platform review strategy that acknowledges where consumers actually begin their search for an agent.

By embracing Google as a central point of truth, incorporating video testimonials, and taking a more nuanced approach to industry platforms, agencies can build a review presence that resonates with today’s discerning consumers. In an industry where trust remains the ultimate competitive advantage, strategically positioning for both current review expectations and emerging AI search behaviors will separate market leaders from the competition.