How an AI Visibility Strategy Is Changing PR

Public relations has always changed with the way people discover information. Newspapers, television, websites, social media, and search engines have each influenced how companies build awareness and reputation. Now AI search is changing that process again.

People are asking platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode to research companies, compare products, understand industries, and find recommendations. Instead of receiving a page of links, users can receive a direct answer based on information gathered from several sources.

For PR teams, this means visibility depends on more than getting media attention. It also depends on whether credible information about a company is available for AI systems to find and reference. This is making an AI visibility strategy an increasingly important part of modern PR.

AI Search Is Changing Brand Discovery

Traditional search gave companies a fairly clear goal. They wanted their websites to appear when someone searched for a relevant keyword. AI search changes that experience because people can ask complete questions and receive a summarized response.

Google has continued expanding AI Overviews and AI Mode as part of this shift. In May 2026, Google announced new features designed to help people discover relevant websites, original content, and different perspectives through its AI search experiences. The company has also introduced a “Highly Cited” label to help users identify original reporting and influential coverage. (Google's update on AI Search and original content.)

For PR teams, this creates a different question. Instead of asking only whether a company ranks for a keyword, they need to consider what an AI system might say when someone asks about the company, its executives, products, competitors, or industry.

That answer can draw on many different sources. A company website may provide basic facts, while an industry publication may explain its expertise, a customer review may describe its product, and an interview may provide information about its leadership. Together, these sources can contribute to how the company is understood.

Earned Media Has a Bigger Role

One of the strongest pieces of evidence comes from Muck Rack. Its May 2026 research analyzed more than 25 million links from ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini across 17 industries. The study found that earned media accounted for 84% of AI citations, while journalism alone represented 27%. Paid and advertorial content accounted for only 0.3%. (Muck Rack's AI citation research)

For PR professionals, that is significant. Earned media is based on third-party coverage rather than information a company publishes about itself. When a respected publication writes about a business, its products, executives, or expertise, that coverage becomes part of the wider information available on the web.

The same research also shows that the publication itself is not the only consideration. Muck Rack found that journalism citations came from more than 20,000 outlets, suggesting that relevant industry publications can matter alongside major national media.

This changes how PR teams can think about media outreach. Getting a company into the right publication may be more useful than simply collecting as many media mentions as possible.

Patagonia Shows Why Third-Party Coverage Matters

A real example comes from Patagonia. Semrush's 2026 AI Visibility Index analyzed 126 million U.S. AI search prompts across major AI search platforms. Its research found that Patagonia maintained an AI visibility score of approximately 79 to 80 throughout the study period. AI visibility strategy also identified consistent descriptions of Patagonia across third-party sources including OutdoorGearLab, REI, Switchback Travel, GearJunkie, and Reddit. (Semrush's 2026 AI Visibility Index findings)

The Patagonia example is useful because it shows that AI visibility does not come from one company-controlled page. Information exists across independent publications, retailers, communities, and other sources.

For PR teams, the lesson is practical. A company needs credible information outside its own website. Media coverage can help create that wider record, especially when different sources provide clear and consistent information about what the company does.

AI in Public Relations Is Changing the PR and SEO Relationship

PR and SEO have traditionally been treated as separate functions. SEO teams work on search rankings, website structure, keywords, and organic traffic, while PR teams focus on media relationships, reputation, interviews, announcements, and earned coverage.

AI search is bringing those activities closer together.

The growing role of AI in public relations is not simply about using AI to write press releases. It is also about understanding how AI systems discover and interpret information about companies.

Semrush's research found that AI platforms use information from company websites as well as customer reviews, community discussions, independent publishers, retailers, and industry sources. Its study also found that only 36 brands maintained top-100 visibility across all four AI platforms it analyzed during every month of the study.

This shows why companies cannot assume that strong visibility on one platform will automatically translate to another. AI platforms can rely on different sources and produce different answers.

For PR teams, a media article can therefore have value beyond its immediate audience. It can become another credible source available to AI systems when they are researching a company or industry.

PR Coverage Needs More Substance

The shift toward AI search also raises the standard for the kind of stories companies should pursue.

A short announcement that only describes a company as “innovative,” “leading,” or “best-in-class” does not give readers much useful information. Stronger PR coverage explains what the company actually does, who it serves, what problem it addresses, and why its work matters.

Consider an executive interview. If an article only repeats an executive's career history and company description, it offers limited insight. But if the executive explains a major change in the industry, shares original research, discusses a specific customer challenge, or provides a clear perspective on where the market is heading, the article becomes more useful.

That type of coverage can also strengthen AI brand visibility because it gives external sources more specific information about the company and its expertise.

The goal is not to write content simply because an AI system might cite it. The goal is to produce information that is useful enough for journalists, readers, search engines, and AI systems to understand and reference.

Shopify Offers Another Real Example

Shopify provides another useful example of how a company's wider information footprint can affect AI visibility.

Semrush has reported that Shopify receives significant AI visibility and is represented across third-party sources such as G2, Capterra, Reddit, and LinkedIn. The example illustrates an important point: AI systems can develop an understanding of a brand from many different sources rather than relying only on the company's own website.

This is especially relevant when thinking about brand visibility in AI search. A company can publish excellent material on its own website, but independent reviews, industry coverage, customer discussions, and expert commentary can provide additional context.

For PR teams, this means media strategy should consider where relevant conversations are already happening. A technology company may benefit from technology publications and analyst coverage. A healthcare company may need healthcare publications and specialist sources. A B2B software company may benefit from industry reviews and professional communities.

The objective is not to appear everywhere. It is to appear in places that make sense for the company and the questions its potential customers are asking.

What PR Teams Should Focus On

PR teams do not need to become technical SEO departments. Their primary job remains creating credible stories and developing relationships with relevant media. However, AI search makes it useful to think about what happens to that information after publication.

• Build relationships with journalists and publications that genuinely cover the company's industry.
• Provide specific facts, original research, expert commentary, and useful insights rather than broad promotional claims.
• Develop studies, surveys, reports, and other information that independent publications can reference.
• Keep important company information accurate and consistent across its website, media coverage, profiles, and other trusted sources.
• Monitor how AI platforms describe the company, its products, executives, and competitors.
• Check whether important information is missing, outdated, or inaccurate in the sources that appear around the brand.

These activities support an AI search optimization approach without turning PR into a technical exercise. The objective is not to manipulate AI answers. It is to make reliable information easier to discover, understand, and reference.

Measuring PR Beyond Traditional Traffic

PR teams have traditionally measured success through media placements, impressions, backlinks, referral traffic, mentions, and audience reach. These measurements still matter, but AI search introduces another question: how is the company being represented when someone asks an AI platform about it?

This matters because an AI-generated answer can give a user enough information without requiring them to visit every website used to create that answer.

Muck Rack's research makes the connection with PR particularly clear. Its analysis found that earned media accounted for 84% of AI citations, while journalism represented 27%. The consistency of these findings across multiple editions of the study suggests that third-party coverage remains an important part of the information ecosystem used by AI platforms.

PR teams can therefore start tracking more than traditional media coverage. They can monitor whether their company appears in relevant AI answers, which sources are cited, how competitors are represented, and whether the information presented about the company is accurate.

The Next Chapter of PR

AI search does not make traditional PR less important. It changes the environment in which PR works.

Google is actively developing AI search features that connect users with original content and sources, while research from Muck Rack shows how heavily AI-generated answers can rely on earned media.

The Patagonia example shows how consistent information across independent sources can support AI visibility. Shopify provides another example of how a broader online information footprint can contribute to how a company is represented.

For PR teams, the answer is not to chase every new AI trend. It is to focus on what makes good public relations valuable in the first place: credible information, useful stories, strong media relationships, original insights, and accurate representation.

The difference is that these efforts now have a wider reach. A media story can influence reputation with its immediate audience, appear in traditional search results, provide a reference for other websites, and potentially become part of the information used by AI search systems.

That is why an AI visibility strategy is becoming part of the modern PR conversation. The strongest brands will not necessarily be those that publish the most. They will be the ones that have useful, credible, and consistent information about them across the sources people and AI systems trust.

FAQs

1. How is AI changing public relations?
AI is changing how people discover companies, making credible online information more important for PR teams.

2. What is an AI visibility strategy?
An AI visibility strategy helps ensure AI platforms can find, understand, and mention a company accurately.

3. Why does earned media matter for AI search?
Earned media gives AI platforms independent and credible information they can use when generating answers.

4. How can PR teams improve brand visibility in AI search?
PR teams can earn relevant media coverage, share expert insights, publish original research, and maintain accurate company information.

5. Is AI search optimization replacing traditional PR?
No, it adds a new consideration to PR while strong media relationships and credible coverage remain important.

About the company

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