As AI search engines reshape how people find information, third-party validation has become a more decisive visibility factor in both traditional and AI search. AI tools review not just your own content, but also external mentions, to understand your brand’s online reputation before deciding what to surface. That’s why any smart marketing strategy pairs PR with SEO and GEO to earn positive coverage from credible, third-party sources that get your brand shown in AI results. Learn how public relations strengthens your brand’s authority and visibility in AI-driven search below.
- Why Your Brands Need AI Visibility
- Why Earned Media Matters to AI Tools
- Best Earned Media to Show Up in AI Search
- Tips for How to Improve AI Search Visibility with PR
Why Your Brands Need AI Visibility
Just as people turn to expert sources to decide which brands to trust, AI tools—like Google Gemini and Perplexity—draw from authoritative domains to determine which information to display to users. When high-authority, respected publications mention your brand, AI models interpret it as a vote of confidence and are more likely to cite you. Here’s why it’s important to show up in AI search results:
- AI Tools Are Increasingly Popular: With ChatGPT alone reaching nearly 700 million weekly active users, your brand has an opportunity to get in front of people where they’re actually searching.
- AI Summaries Dominate Search Results: More than half of all Google queries have AI summaries. So, AI Overviews (AIOs) on Google and other AI-generated summaries on search engines allow your brand to be seen.
- AI-Featured Content Drives More Engagement: Webpages featured in AIOs see up to 3.2x more clicks than organic search results, even with the rise of zero-click searches.
Why Earned Media Matters to AI Tools
Earned media tells AI that your brand is a reliable source of information. The more you’re mentioned positively by other trusted publications, the more confident AI is that your content is helpful and accurate. This makes it more likely to use your content to generate responses to its users. Simply, earned media creates three powerful trust signals for AI:
- Authority: Mentions in respected publications confirm your brand is legit, active and worth talking about by others.
- Consistency: Repeated coverage across reputable sources helps AI tools recognize and associate your brand with the right offerings and contexts.
- Verifiability: External citations and backlinks help AI confirm your claims are backed by independent, trusted sources — not just your own.
Hurrdat’s SEO Manager, Molly Q., explains,
“Positive coverage from respected third-party sources—such as news websites—often provides valuable, high-quality backlinks and signals that your website is a credible and trustworthy resource. This can lead to improved visibility in search engine results pages.”
Those who invest in earned media gain a lasting advantage. Paid media coverage and brand-owned content can only go so far —mentions from authoritative media outlets are more durable, long-lasting and difficult for other brands to compete with.
| Brand Signal | With PR | Without PR |
| Visibility | Brand appears more often in authoritative, credible AI sources | Brand is less likely to be mentioned in trusted AI-generated answers |
| Trust & Authority | Brand gains third-party validation that boosts trust with audience | Brand may be overlooked or seem less reliable |
| Long-Term Impact | Earned media drives ongoing AI discoverability and sustained presence | Visibility fades quickly and is easily replaced by competitors |
Best Earned Media to Show Up in AI Search
Not all coverage has the same impact — the types of earned media that most influence how AI systems view your brand include:
- High-Authority Media Outlets: National publications, respected journals and other well-known oulets in your industry signal higher credibility than brand-owned content.
- Expert Commentary: Executive insights and thought leadership features show topical expertise and establish authority.
- Optimized News Releases: Fact-based news releases optimized for LLMs help legitimize your brand and the templated structure helps AI more easily retrieve information.
- Positive Reviews & Endorsements: Third-party endorsements like awards, case studies and reviews reinforce authenticity and trust signals.
- Verified Directory Listings: Claimed and optimized profiles on Google Business Profile, Yelp and other relevant local directories help confirm your brand’s legitimacy.
Tips for How to Improve AI Search Visibility with PR
Here’s what PR professionals can do to help your brands appear in large language model (LLM) and AI answers.
- Pitch Stories to High-Authority Sites: Around 89% of links cited by AI models come from earned media, so focus on gaining coverage from reputable news outlets, industry leaders and other credible sources.
- Maintain Consistent Brand Mentions: Align your messaging across all outlets and channels to help AI generate accurate, unified brand narratives.
- Use Simple & Strategic Metadata: Prioritize clean HTML, meta titles, and meta descriptions to help AI systems more easily and accurately process your content.
- Make News Releases Easy to Find: Keep news releases on an accessible, well-organized part of your site so AI tools can crawl and verify them without issue.
- Expand Beyond Traditional Media: Thought leadership on LinkedIn, appearances on podcasts and YouTube videos, submissions to newsletters and responses to discussion forums reinforce your credibility and diversify across all the sources AI might be using to retrieve information.
- Media Train Leaders: Empower executives with media training so they can deliver clear, consistent and authoritative messaging. When these appearances earn coverage, this will help AI form a more accurate understanding of your brand.
- Manage Perceptions Proactively: Create solid brand reputation management and crisis communication management plans to help prevent outdated or negative mentions from impacting your AI reputation.
Appear in More AI Search Results with Our PR Services
Want to strengthen your brand’s authority and visibility in AI search engines and LLMs? Our PR experts help you earn credible media coverage and build long-term trust signals that increase your chances of showing up in AI summaries. Contact Lukas Partners today!
