✅ How public relations can lead on AI visibility
AI-powered answers are replacing search results. Public relations needs to respond. It’s time to understand, adapt and lead.
We’ve firmly entered the era of zero-click. Consumers aren’t browsing. They’re asking and accepting the answer that AI large language models (LLMs) and other consumer AI discovery tools provide.
Google’s AI Overviews now reach two billion monthly users in more than 200 countries and 40 languages. As click-through rates drop by as much as a third, publishers and brands are experiencing a sharp decline in search traffic.
Your own web analytics likely reflect this shift.
Website traffic is no longer a reliable measure of brand visibility. If your brand isn’t included in an AI-generated summary, you don’t exist in the public conversation.
At the AMEC Summit in Vienna in June, Golin’s global president of data and analytics, Jonny Bentwood, warned that we’ve entered “the AI Reputation Economy” – a landscape, he wrote in PRovoke, where “AI systems don't just retrieve information, but actively form and share opinions about organisations.”
“When we receive an AI-generated response, we tend to accept it immediately, stopping our search. It’s a phenomenon called anchor bias.”
GEO: The new battleground for influence
This is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). It’s a nascent area where public relations has a significant opportunity to lead.
If SEO is about improving your ranking in search results, GEO is about ensuring you're cited in the AI's answer. And the key to that inclusion? Earned and owned media.
Darryl Sparey, managing director at Hard Numbers, cites a blog post by US venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz from May 2024 as the turning point in the shift from SEO to GEO.
Hard Numbers’ own analysis, published in December 2024, reported that 61% of AI-generated brand content originates from editorial sources. This rises to 72% for brand value queries. The research analysed GPT-4's responses about quality, trust, innovation and value across Forbes' top 100 brands, tracking and categorising all sources cited.
According to a report published last week by Muck Rack, more than 95% of sources cited in AI LLM responses are unpaid, with editorial media accounting for 27% of all citations across all market categories. This figure rises for timely and topical queries. Muck Rack analysed more than a million links from AI responses.
AI models reference trusted journalism, owned content and user-generated feedback. Herein lies the opportunity for public relations to own this strategic ground.
Tailor your public relations strategy to AI query types
AI rewards context and media diversity according to both Hard Numbers and Muck Rack. Generative engines don’t care whether your brand shows up in a tier-one title or a high-ranking webpage. These factors help, but the key issue is whether the page helps answer the question that has been queried.
Each model has its own areas of focus:
ChatGPT tends to lean towards traditional editorial sources, such as Axios, BBC and The New York Times.
Gemini taps into the crowd, pulling heavily from forums, Reddit and other user-generated platforms.
Claude combines the two, drawing from both structured reporting and lived experience, depending on the nature of the query.
Your AI media list now needs to include a diverse ecosystem: earned editorial, UGC forums, technical repositories and trusted review hubs.
To respond effectively, public relations practitioners need to think like machines. That starts with mapping which platforms influence which kinds of questions. This is set to become an important area of planning.
Generative AI demands a new public relations playbook
Public relations practice missed out on SEO. A new marketing discipline emerged in its place. Let’s not make the same mistake with GEO.
Generative AI is where reputation is now being shaped, searched and remembered. Public relations is uniquely positioned to lead on this disruptive opportunity, but only if it starts building strategies for the AI platforms that shape visibility today.
My prediction? We’re on the edge of a wave of investment and innovation in this category, particularly in planning and measurement tools. Hard Numbers is selling GEO consulting services and Muck Rack is promoting an AI insight tool.
Ben Verinder and I have added a new chapter on this to our upcoming book AI for Public Relations. We’d love to connect with others building the next wave of services, technology, or training to help communicators lead in the age of AI.
Public relations practitioners have the tools, experience and storytelling instinct to lead the transformation from SEO to GEO. But leadership means action: understanding how AI finds and values content, investing in new strategies and rethinking what visibility means in the age of LLMs.
Have a good week ahead.
Industry
📉 CONFIDENCE DIPS: The PRCA’s Q2 2025 Global Confidence Tracker reports agency confidence has halved, with just 11% feeling “very confident” amid market turbulence. Yet, the data paints a picture of a resilient industry: agencies are diversifying services, strengthening client ties, and focusing on internal stability. Source: PRCA.
🫳 MIXED FORTUNES: The global public relations industry saw fee income rise by six per cent in constant currency terms in 2024, but this masked a turbulent year with nearly a quarter of the top 250 agencies reporting revenue declines. While European firms led the growth, holding companies held their ground. US-headquartered agencies lagged amid political unrest and backlash against ESG and DEI. Source: PRovoke.
Research and insight
🧠 LITERACY GAP: A new report from the UK’s Communications and Digital Committee warns that weak media literacy poses a threat to democracy and social cohesion. The committee calls for urgent curriculum reform, public campaigns, and a tech levy to fund education. It argues that critical thinking must become a national priority. Source: HM Government Communications and Digital Select Committee.
🗣️ INCLUSION CALL: The PRCA’s Equity, Inclusion Advisory Board is calling on diverse voices from neurodiversity to faith-based identity across the industry to share their lived experiences through a survey and 30-minute anonymous interviews. The initiative aims to uncover what’s shaping or stalling inclusion in public relations practice. Source: PRCA.
Artificial intelligence
⚖️ AI DIVIDE: Substack surveyed 2,000 publishers and found that while 45% are using AI, more than half remain sceptical due to ethical and creative concerns. There's a clear gender divide. Older, male, and tech-focused users tend to embrace AI tools such as ChatGPT, while younger, female, and arts-oriented voices raise concerns over IP theft and the erosion of creativity. Source: Substack.
🕷️ AI SCRAPER THREAT: AI firms are bypassing bot blocks and paywalls by outsourcing content scrapers to third parties, threatening publishers’ revenue and rights. Cloudflare is now blocking scrapers by default, unless they disclose their identity and compensate content owners. Experts warn of an escalating AI arms race. Source: Press Gazette.
Education and skills
💻 DIGITAL DIVIDE: The 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report reports a sector under strain: 69% of charities cite financial pressure as the biggest barrier to digital progress, while just 44% have a digital strategy in place, down from 50% last year. AI use has surged to 76%, although governance and leadership skills lag behind, raising urgent calls for coordinated support to ensure responsible and equitable adoption of technology. The Charity Digital Skills Report.
🌱 LEADERSHIP TRAINING: Socially Mobile is currently accepting applications for fully funded and paid places in its ten-week management communication programme. The impactful programme is designed for those aspiring to a promotion, returning to work, moving into a new role, or considering starting a business. The programme aims to improve diversity in public relations management. Source: Socially Mobile.
I’m a founder and director of Socially Mobile and a non-executive director of Hard Numbers.
Thanks to Prof. Dr Lee Edwards, Alan Morrison, Ishtar Schneider, Sarah Waddington CBE, and everyone who shares and debates the stories in the newsletter via our Facebook and LinkedIn communities.
Wadds Inc. is trusted by 4,000+ practitioners seeking clarity on issues such as artificial intelligence, diversity and societal polarisation from a management and communication perspective. We distil news, research, and industry developments twice a week into actionable briefings to help you enhance your work.