In this blog we discuss:
- How AI-powered search is changing visibility
- Why GEO complements SEO, and how PR builds the credibility, authority and consistency AI systems rely on
- Practical ways to measure AI visibility using citations, quality coverage, sentiment and domain authority
“Search engines are dead!”
It’s the kind of bold claim marketers love to throw around whenever something new comes along and shakes things up. But this time, there’s almost certainly a real shift. Since Google’s global rollout of AI Overviews in 2024, users are now getting more instant answers – created by artificial intelligence – in the SERPS than lists of links.
And it’s not just Google’s AI Overviews, other AI-powered engines are also being adopted more widely; ChatGPT now sees around 700 million weekly users, up from 350 million at the start of the year. Google’s AI Overview reaches two billion monthly users and Microsoft Copilot has surpassed 100 million monthly activities.
This matters because AI is changing how people search, discover and make decisions. Instead of browsing pages, users are now increasingly relying on AI-generated answers that pull together information for them. That means fewer clicks through to websites and less visibility for brands focused only on traditional search. To stay visible, brands need to make sure their content and reputation feed the information AI tools use to create those answers.
What determines visibility in AI search?
In the past, the goal was to get your web pages to rank for key phrases. Now, the goal has shifted from ranking to inclusion: being cited or referenced within AI-generated responses. To achieve that, your brand needs to be recognised as a reliable source the AI can draw from when forming its answers. That’s what we call AI visibility – how often your brand, products or content are mentioned or referenced in AI-powered tools like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT or Perplexity.
SEO vs. GEO
As AI changes how people discover information, the race for rankings is giving way to a new goal – inclusion. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is emerging as the way to help content appear in AI-generated answers and summaries. If you’re a B2B tech brand, you might be thinking: we’ve spent years on SEO – creating content, earning backlinks and targeting keywords – and now we need to learn GEO too? The short answer is yes, but if you’re already investing in PR, especially digital PR, you’re ahead of the curve.
AI systems are trained to identify credible voices and surface reliable sources. Brands featured in reputable publications, backed by expert commentary and linked to by authoritative domains are more likely to be included in AI-generated results. And those are exactly the outcomes strong PR delivers.
Why PR and GEO belong together
So if PR can shape the datasets which AI uses to define authority, then really we shouldn’t be thinking about them as two separate disciplines at all. They’re two parts of the same engine driving how your brand gets seen and trusted online. As we’ve been exploring through the Silo Series, we need to start breaking down barriers between how we think of PR and other channels. In the series we’ve already talked about how PR fuels pipelines and now it’s obvious that we should also be thinking of AI-powered search in the same way.
How your PR engine can power AI visibility
- It creates the credible content AI wants to feature: Authoritative, well-placed PR stories make your brand more likely to be cited as a trusted source because AI systems look for these kinds of voices when generating answers. Thought leadership, expert commentary and original research from PR offers that credibility.
- PR builds the digital signals AI recognises as authority: Media coverage, podcasts and interviews across respected outlets create the consistent signals AI models use to decide who to trust. The more visible your brand, the more likely AI is to include it.
- PR helps your brand’s long-term visibility: As AI search favours evergreen, informative content over fleeting news, any PR which focuses on analysis, advice and insight will be more likely to be included in AI summaries.
- Good PR builds trust: Accuracy and transparency are core to PR and essential to AI visibility. Fact-checked stories, reliable messaging and credible coverage help ensure your brand is surfaced in AI results.
The above fundamentals – credibility, authority, consistency and sentiment – sit at the heart of everything PR already does. They also happen to be the same signals AI uses to decide which brands to feature and trust. That means if you’re already investing in PR, you’re going to be in a good position for AI visibility. And as we’ve said throughout the Silo Series, that’s proof that PR, SEO and AI visibility aren’t separate disciplines.
These factors also align closely with Google’s E-E-A-T model – experience, expertise, authority and trust – which still shapes how brands are recognised and represented online. And, just to add, it is thought that backlinks from respected domains remain one of the strongest signals of reliability. So all that SEO work that you’ve done over the years wasn’t in vain!
Measuring AI visibility
So, how do you track and measure your AI visibility in LLMs in a world of endless prompts and AI-generated responses?
Third-party AI visibility platforms are starting to make this possible, promising to help brands track and improve their presence. Most are still in their early stages, and some perform better than others.
Even without these tools, you can measure the signals that build AI visibility. Track where your brand is mentioned, the quality of coverage and the backlinks it earns. Monitor sentiment, message pull-through and domain authority to gauge credibility and trust. Share of voice and engagement show how visible and relevant your brand is across channels. These are the same indicators AI uses to assess authority, so strengthening them through PR already improves your standing in AI search.
If you want your brand to appear where your audiences are searching – in AI-generated overviews and search engines – talk to us about Visibility+. It’s our integrated PR and GEO service for B2B tech brands, designed to align your content with what AI tools and search engines prioritise.
