More and more people who want to emigrate to Spain or are looking for a second home no longer begin their search on Google, but with an AI. They type their situation straight into ChatGPT: which estate agent speaks Dutch in Marbella or Estepona, or where can I find a reliable Dutch estate agent on the Costa del Sol. Anyone who isn’t mentioned in those AI answers simply doesn’t exist as far as that customer is concerned. Our client, a Dutch estate agent active in the Marbella and Estepona region, was largely invisible in exactly that spot.
The challenge
The client scored reasonably well in classic Google results, but that is a different playing field from the AI answer. The question was concrete: are we mentioned when someone puts their query to an AI, and if so, in what position? Without measurement, that is a blind spot. You don’t know whether you are visible, and you certainly don’t know whether your changes are having any effect.
The approach
We defined nine conversational prompts that a real customer would ask. All of them followed the same pattern: a question, plus a need (a Dutch estate agent), plus a location (Marbella or Estepona). Think of which estate agent speaks Dutch in Marbella or Estepona, or where can I find a reliable Dutch estate agent. We measured those nine prompts daily in ChatGPT for six months, from 2 January to 19 June 2026. That amounts to 169 measurement points per prompt. In parallel, we carried out technical and content improvements to their findability.
The results
The number of times the estate agent was mentioned in AI answers grew from 32 in January to 73 in June. More than a doubling. In the strongest weeks of June, the estate agent appeared at the top of the answer on almost every question every day, usually in second or third position. Of the nine questions tracked, the estate agent came top for seven of them at least once, in first position. The final week of measurement closed at nearly 89 per cent visibility, the highest level of the entire period. Importantly, that high level held for six days in a row. Had it been a fluke, it would have dropped straight back. That didn’t happen.
The insight every business owner should know
This is where the data gets most interesting. The questions on which the estate agent scored best were the conversational ones that touched their core promise. Which estate agent speaks Dutch averaged position 2.2. Where can I find a reliable Dutch estate agent came in at 2.5. These questions were mentioned on 20 to 37 days.
The weakest questions were the two shortest, purely commercial ones: who sells apartments and who sells villas. No target audience, no personal need, just a transaction. Those scored only 5 and 4 days of visibility out of 169 days.
The lesson is crystal clear. In AI search results you don’t win with short commercial keywords the way you were used to with old-fashioned SEO. You win with conversational questions that combine a question, a need and a location. That is exactly how real people talk to an AI, and therefore exactly what the AI is listening for.
An honest caveat
AI answers fluctuate more sharply from day to day than ordinary Google results. One day you’re mentioned, the next you’re just missed. That is why we don’t steer by individual days, but by the pattern across weeks. And over this half-year that pattern was unmistakably heading in the right direction. Improvements also often become visible with a delay, because the foundation you lay only takes effect over time. The strong June figures fit that picture precisely.
What this means for you
When your ideal customer puts their question to an AI, the only question that matters is: are you mentioned? We make that measurable, and we keep steering until you are consistently at the top. Not with promises, but with a graph.
