Beyond the ILS – Where Renters Actually Start Their Search Today

The renter journey has changed—and relying only on ILS platforms is no longer enough to win leases.

In this episode of The Multifamily Marketers Podcast, hosts Josh Grillo and Caroline Mills discuss how renters actually search for apartments today and why communities need to think beyond traditional listing sites.

From Google and social media to reviews, AI search, and Google Business Profiles, this episode explains how modern renters research across multiple touchpoints before ever submitting a lead—and why visibility everywhere matters.

You’ll learn:

• Why ILS platforms are still valuable—but no longer the entire renter journey
• How renter search behavior has shifted beyond traditional apartment directories
• Why Google, Maps, reviews, and Google Business Profiles are critical discovery tools
• How social media influences apartment decisions through lifestyle and authenticity
• Why AI search and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are changing visibility strategies
• The importance of auditing your online presence across every channel
• How full-funnel marketing creates more opportunities to reach renters

To suggest a topic, get in touch!

For more multifamily marketing help, connect with us at Resident360.

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TRANSCRIPT

Episode 46: Beyond the ILS – Where Renters Actually Start Their Search Today

Podcast Co-Hosts: Josh Grillo and Caroline Mills, Resident360

Josh: Welcome back to the Multifamily Marketers Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Grillo, and I’m joined by my co-host, Miss Caroline Mills, fresh off a trip to Disney World. How was that trip, Caroline?

Caroline: It was good. It was hot, I’ll say that. We’re in our Florida heat, but it was great.

Josh: And you told me you went all out and got annual passes to Disney World.

Caroline: We did. We’re officially annual passholders, so we can go to the parks whenever we want. It’s a good time.

Josh: Do you wear the Mickey Mouse ears when you go?

Caroline: Oh, we have all of it. I’ve got ears, backpacks, shirts. We got it all.

Josh: Oh, man. You’ve got to take a picture. I have to see that.

Caroline: I will. We’ll put me in the podcast thumbnail with my ears on.

Josh: All right, all right. Jumping into today’s topic: We’re talking about going beyond the ILS, and where renters actually start their search today. Are you ready for this one? My question to you is: Are ILSs dying?

Caroline: You’re not the only one asking. I just had a conversation with a client about this last week. We want to clarify: We’re not saying ILSs are disappearing tomorrow. But we are saying the renter journey has changed dramatically. Many marketers are still looking, budgeting, and strategizing as if it were 2018, the pre-2020 era. The market has changed a lot, so we’ll dive into that today. It’s an ever-changing landscape out there.

Josh: I know ILSs are still a major part of marketing, but to your point, search behavior has changed dramatically. Let’s start with how people search today. Actually, let’s go back a little. How did it used to work?

Caroline: It was pretty simple. Back in the day, someone needed an apartment, so they went to an ILS. Everyone knew Apartments.com and the other ILSs out there, like Apartment List, whoever it was at the time. They’d start filtering by bedrooms, price, or location, and just browse from there.

Josh: So in a lot of cases, the ILS was the first stop, and for some people, probably the only stop. What was the old printed guide? Was that Apartment Finder?

Caroline: Yes, it was.

Josh: Oh, that’s taking it back.

Caroline: And that was the case for years. Apartment marketers built entire strategies around that behavior. That’s where they set their budgets and strategies, and that’s really what they went after.

Josh: Probably because it worked, right?

Caroline: It did. It absolutely did.

Josh: So what’s changed?

Caroline: I think the biggest shift is that renters now have more ways than ever to gather the same information. Think about how you search for anything today: a restaurant, a vacation destination, a contractor for work on your house, a hotel. You don’t start with just one directory anymore. You go to Google, ask friends, check reviews, watch videos, and look at social media. We have so many outlets to check that it’s no longer just going to Hotels.com for hotels. There are so many ways to search, and renters are doing the same.

Josh: So apartment searching has followed that same trend. People are doing a lot more research before they ever land on an ILS.

Caroline: And often before they ever fill out a lead form or contact a property.

Josh: So let’s talk about where they start. What’s the first stop? Is the big answer still Google?

Caroline: For now, it’s still Google. We’re definitely seeing a shift, and if you’ve been in the industry this year, I’m sure you’ve heard about the move toward AI and social media. But right now, Google is still the biggest draw and has the biggest share of searches, even though it’s trending down. Someone searches “apartments near downtown,” “pet-friendly apartments in Orlando,” or “luxury apartments near Disney,” and Google is their first interaction.

Josh: And let’s not forget the most important part: Google doesn’t just show apartment websites anymore. It shows maps, videos, AI-generated answers, Google Business Profiles, and yes, sometimes ILSs as well.

Caroline: Absolutely. So the battle isn’t just about going beyond the ILS. It’s about showing up everywhere you possibly can while renters are researching, flooding the market, as we like to say.

Josh: And what about Google Business Profile? Is that still one of the first places people land when they do a Google search?

Caroline: Yes. It’s still one of the most underrated marketing assets, I’d say, and it feeds into all of the places you just listed.

Josh: Okay, let’s jump over to social media. Are you seeing it at the start of the search, and is it becoming a bigger part of it?

Caroline: Oh, it’s huge, especially for younger renters entering the market. People aren’t just looking for apartments anymore; they’re looking for a lifestyle. They want to know: What’s the neighborhood like? What do residents do? Is this community active? Does it feel like somewhere I’d like to live?

Josh: Got it. A polished website is obviously important, but Instagram and TikTok often provide proof as well, right?

Caroline: Absolutely. Renters want authenticity. It’s no longer just staged photos of an apartment interior. They want to see people there, interacting. They want to see what it’s really like to live on site, beyond the four walls of the apartment.

Josh: And if we dig into AI search, that’s kind of the elephant in the room, because it’s changing this whole type of search. What’s happening there, would you say?

Caroline: AI search is the fastest-growing platform we’re seeing right now. Instead of typing “luxury apartments Orlando” into Google, someone might ask an AI search engine, “What are the best apartment communities near Disney for young professionals?”

Josh: Or, “Which neighborhoods in Orlando are best for remote workers?”

Caroline: Absolutely. The answer they get comes from an AI-generated result before they ever click through to a website, and that’s the major shift we’re seeing right now.

Josh: So if the renter journey is changing, what should multifamily marketers do?

Caroline: The biggest thing, and something I’m always re-emphasizing, is to stop thinking about your channels individually and think about visibility instead. We talk about this all the time: a full-funnel marketing approach. That means we’re not just thinking about the ILS or just about Google. We’re thinking about how all these channels work together, how they increase your visibility, and whether renters can find you wherever they’re researching.

Josh: And probably the next thing is to invest in your website, because eventually most paths lead back to it.

Caroline: Absolutely. Third, I’d say treat your Google Business Profile like a marketing channel, because it is one, and it feeds so many of these other places.

Josh: And then, obviously, reviews. You’ve got to pay attention to reviews, because they influence decisions long before tours ever happen.

Caroline: That’s one I hammer on all the time. And finally, start preparing for AI-driven search. Like we said, Google is still your biggest driver right now, but AI search is the fastest-growing, and it’s pulling searchers away from Google. That’s where GEO, generative engine optimization, comes into play. Communities that become trusted sources of information will have a significant advantage.

Josh: So let’s go back and answer the question: Are ILSs dead or dying?

Caroline: No, I’d say they’re nowhere close to dying. They’re still generating leads, still driving traffic, and still part of the renter journey.

Josh: But they’re no longer the entire renter journey like they used to be. They’re just part of it. I look at it like a sandwich. ILSs are one ingredient, like the lettuce or the tomato, along with everything else that goes into the marketing strategy to make the sandwich good.

Caroline: Absolutely. I love that analogy; it’s perfect. You still need your lettuce and tomato on your sandwich. Somebody’s going to love their lettuce and tomato, and that’s where they’ll find you. I think the biggest mistake marketers can make is assuming renters only discover communities through ILSs. The reality is that renters gather information from multiple sources before making a decision. So you still want some ILS visibility, and a lot depends on your community, your location, and your package levels. You just want to evaluate it very carefully.

Josh: So the communities that are going to win are the ones that show up consistently across all these different touchpoints.

Caroline: Absolutely.

Josh: All right, let’s do a quick lightning round. Caroline, what’s the most underrated multifamily marketing asset?

Caroline: Ooh, I’m going to go with Google Business Profile.

Josh: Still?

Caroline: Still Google Business Profile. One interesting thing (we talked about this a while ago) is what we learned at the Multifamily Marketing Summit: The reviews on your Google Business Profile can actually influence whether you show up in AI search engines at all. So even if you think, “People are moving away from Google to AI search,” AI has to pull its answers from somewhere, and often that’s your Google Business Profile.

Josh: It’s funny, because we talked a lot about Google Business Profiles in our early episodes, but we haven’t covered them in a long time. I was kind of assuming everybody had fully optimized their profiles by now.

Caroline: You’ve got to listen, guys! You should be fully optimized by now if you’ve been listening. We’re almost at a year.

Josh: Seriously. Okay, I’ll go with Google Business Profile too, because we do a lot of audits for multifamily companies, and we still see a lot of profiles that are nowhere near up to par. They’re definitely neglected and not taking advantage of everything Google offers through the profile. Okay, back to the lightning round: most overused marketing tactic?

Caroline: I’d say throwing more budget at lead generation without fixing visibility and conversion issues. We’ve talked about this before: Throwing more money at getting more leads doesn’t equal more leases if those leads can’t convert or something is going wrong in the process.

Josh: Oh, good one. Okay, one thing every community should do this month?

Caroline: My favorite thing, if you’ve been listening: Put your prospect hat on and audit your online presence. We have a whole episode on auditing your online presence. Search for your community. Look at your reviews, your photos, and your website, and ask yourself, “Would I rent here?”

Josh: I’m going to add a quick one, since we started with ILSs and it’s in the name of this episode. Should people be auditing their ILS listings?

Caroline: One hundred percent. It’s about more than just being listed at some package level. Audit your listings as if they were your website, because if somebody finds you there or compares you with other properties there, it’s a first impression. Look at the photos, make sure your hours are correct, and make sure the listing links to the property website. I know those sound obvious, but I often catch listings where they’re not right. Make sure all your floor plans are there, the availability is correct, and all your features are listed. You want it to act like a mini website, just like you’d want your Google Ads to have the right headlines and specials. You want all of it to be correct, and you want your ILS listings to look just as good.

Josh: So it’s really about consistency across all your different sources. Piggybacking on what you said about auditing: You want your website, your Google Business Profile, your ILSs, and your socials all sharing the same information, from photos to copy to floor plans, all updated and consistent. At the end of the day, that’s what you really want.

Caroline: Exactly. You want brand consistency. You want someone to recognize you on an ILS because they saw you on paid social, and then they got a geofencing ad, and they think, “Man, this community looks so cool. I keep seeing it everywhere. Now I want to take a closer look.” You never know which touchpoint will do it, and having that full funnel is exactly what we preach and why we recommend it.

Josh: Love it. Okay, let’s wrap it up right here. Caroline, what’s the one takeaway from today’s episode?

Caroline: The renter journey is no longer linear. People don’t just move from point A to point B. They’re researching everywhere, using every tool out there.

Josh: That’s right: Google, social media, reviews, AI search, your website, and yes, ILSs, too. ILSs are definitely not dying. People are still searching them, and there’s still traffic there. They just need to be part of the marketing sandwich we’re building here.

Caroline: Absolutely.

Josh: With that, we’ll wrap this episode up. We’ll be back next week with another episode. Caroline, thank you so much. Enjoy the weekend, and thanks, everyone, for listening today. Bye-bye.

Caroline: Thank you, guys. Bye!