PR ON THE GO • June 11, 2025

Earned media as the driver for AI-generative engine results

As large language models (LLMs) feed off of reliable traditional media coverage, public relations is taking on a new leading role in business development. AI search engine results are formed by providing accurate brand presence online and earned media coverage.

We asked our PR and growth experts to shed light on the audit process for AI results, the future outlook for brands and products in AI-generated search results, and the role of earned media in AI-generative engine optimization.

Here is the insight from our experts.

• Long-tail keywords are key
• Earned media is an AI trust signal
• PR builds the infrastructure for AI summaries
• Content that speaks directly to what someone is asking
• AI-generated answers depend on clear, consistent earned coverage
• Analyze source attribution from AI results
• LLMs don’t trust your ad copy; they trust your press hits
• AI reuses trustworthy articles, podcasts, and expert roundups
• AI audits your brand’s integrity
• AI engines seek patterns in credible coverage
• Media coverage feeds AI results more than ad texts
• Branded presence in AI search like Wikipedia-style authority
• Mentions in local news or trusted blogs carry more weight with AI
• It's about context building and narrative consistency
• It's about being accurately and positively summarized by the AI
• Earned media for AI-generative engine optimization (AI-GEO)
• The future of visibility in AI depends on earned trust
• As brands increase their media presence they will strengthen their AI search rankings
• Trusted sources mentions for AIO (AI Overview)
• Earned media is affecting the way AI decides who is an authority
• AI search results depends on what’s said about you

Long-tail keywords are key

Emily Reynolds-Bergh, Owner at R Public Relations

"AI-generated search results rely on long-tail keywords. If you want your content to appear in AI search engine results, incorporate long-tail keywords (keywords using at least three to five words) in your web copy. You can also use search engine results to inform everything from blog posts to press releases.

Earned media will be impacted by AI-generated search results in a similar way; we will likely see the use of long-tail keywords in headlines, sub-headers, and even body copy. It’s important to ensure AI engines understand the content in your press materials so they are prioritized in search results."

Earned media is an AI trust signal

Pilar Lewis, Public Relations Associate at Marketri

"As a PR associate, I’ve seen a major shift in how our work feeds directly into AI-generated search results. LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity don’t crawl the web like traditional search engines. Instead, they prioritize structured, authoritative, and trustworthy sources, and that often means earned media.

Auditing AI results today means manually prompting LLMs with strategic queries and reviewing whether our clients show up in responses or citations. It’s no longer just about keyword rankings. It’s about being recognized as a credible entity. That makes our media placements, unlinked mentions, and expert bylines more valuable than ever.

Looking ahead, brand visibility in AI-driven search will hinge on EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust). That’s PR’s domain. A quote in Forbes, a feature in TechCrunch, or a bylined piece in a respected trade outlet isn’t just exposure but it’s an AI trust signal. These mentions help establish our clients in the knowledge graph and increase their chances of being surfaced in zero-click environments.

To show up in AI answers, you need more than SEO. You need a consistent, credible narrative that’s shared in credible places."

PR builds the infrastructure for AI summaries

Bryan Long, Executive Communications Strategist at Jackson Spalding

"Here’s how I’m thinking about it after advising Fortune 500 comms teams on this topic:

The New Front Door to Your Brand Is an AI Summary

Search used to be about rankings. Now, it’s about answers.

Tools like Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT are synthesizing what the internet says about you — and if your story isn’t told clearly by credible sources, the model will either skip you or get it wrong.

That’s where earned media steps in. A quote in Reuters, a feature in Forbes — these aren’t just PR wins anymore. They’re AI training data. What’s said about you in high-authority media doesn’t just echo, it endures.

If it’s not part of the public conversation, it won’t be part of the AI-generated one either.

Earned Media Is No Longer a Campaign Tactic. It’s Infrastructure.

We used to say PR builds awareness. Today, it builds authority.

AI models favor consensus, and consensus comes from repetition across reliable sources. That’s why earned media needs to be intentional, strategic, and steady — not just splashy.

If your brand isn’t showing up in quality coverage, generative engines will fill in the blanks. And you may not like what they write. That’s why I don’t think of PR’s role in AI optimization as “supporting.” I think of it as foundational."

Content that speaks directly to what someone is asking

Kumar Vaibhav Tanwar, Founder & Digital Marketing Expert at Clickworthy Digital Marketing

"Auditing AI-Generated Search Results I usually kick things off by brainstorming the key questions someone might ask an AI about a brand or product—think “What does Microsoft do?” or “How is Hubspot different from Salesforce?” From there, I run those prompts through major AI platforms (Google AI Overviews, Bing Chat, Perplexity, etc.) and save their exact responses. Then, I sit down with our official messaging and product specs to compare notes: does the AI snippet match what we actually offer, or is something outdated or off-base? After pinpointing any gaps, I dig in to see which press articles, blog posts, or Knowledge Panel entries the AI is referencing. Finally, I suggest fixes—like updating a press release, refreshing our product page with new specs, or pitching a fresh story to a high-authority outlet—and schedule a quarterly audit so we catch anything new that pops up. This routine makes sure we’re not surprised when AI search starts quoting the wrong info.

Future Outlook for Brand & Product Presence in AI Search I think AI engines will keep leaning into fresh, trustworthy content. So brands that churn out timely press coverage, well-structured product pages, and clear Schema markup are going to be the first ones AI pulls from. On top of that, I see AI highlighting more multimedia assets—infographics, demo videos, or interactive tools—right in the search results. As AI becomes smarter about personalizing answers (say, based on someone’s location or search history), having geo-targeted pages and conversational FAQ sections will be huge. Essentially, if your content feels current and speaks directly to what someone is asking, AI will pick it up faster.

Role of Earned Media in AI-Generative Engine Optimization To me, earned media is the heartbeat of AI’s trust signals. When big-name outlets—Forbes, Wired, technical journals—write about you, AI models see those mentions as gold. They’ll pull quotes straight from those articles into their summaries. Each reputable mention adds a node to AI’s “knowledge graph,” so the more solid coverage you get, the stronger your AI footprint becomes. On the flip side, if AI is quoting something outdated or inaccurate, you need to swoop in with a quick correction or a fresh thought-leadership piece to override that old info. In practice, our PR strategy should focus on landing timely stories in sources we know AI trusts—and keeping a close eye on which sites AI actually cites, so we know exactly where to double down."

AI-generated answers depend on clear, consistent earned coverage

Alec Loeb, VP of Growth Marketing at EcoATM

"The audit process for AI-generated results starts with checking what LLMs are surfacing about your brand. That means searching your company name, products, leadership, and key phrases in AI tools and reviewing the summaries they produce. Cross-check those results with earned media, owned content, and third-party sources. You’re not just looking for misinformation, you’re looking for gaps. If your best product story is missing, or an old price point is still showing up, that tells you where the work needs to start.

The future of brand presence in AI-generated search will depend on clear, consistent earned coverage. LLMs weigh reputable sources like news articles and government sites more heavily than your blog. That means PR teams are not just promoting, they’re anchoring your truth. If a new product gets three solid pieces in respected publications, you increase the chance that AI will repeat it accurately. The same applies to executive thought leadership, product recalls, and pricing changes.

At EcoATM, we focus our PR on stories that drive user confidence and product clarity. When a local outlet covers how our kiosks help reduce e-waste, that’s not just a win for brand visibility, it’s an input that AI can repeat to users asking where to recycle phones."

Analyze source attribution from AI results

Dionne Jayne Ricafort, Marketing Manager at CSO Yemen

"I first noticed our content appearing in AI-generated summaries when a donor mentioned learning about us through a chatbot. It wasn’t a press release—it was a small earned media mention that got amplified because it matched what LLMs prioritize: authority, clarity, and contextual accuracy.

Auditing AI results begins by querying brand-related prompts across AI platforms to analyze tone, accuracy, and source attribution. We look for outdated facts, misattributions, or missed media citations. Then we reverse-engineer: where are these models pulling from? Often it’s traditional media, high-authority backlinks, and clear, schema-structured web content. So, we focus on those.

Looking ahead, AI-generated search results will likely become the first touchpoint for users seeking brand info. That shifts SEO from keyword stuffing to contextual brand reputation management. Your mentions in reputable publications matter more than ever—not just for human audiences, but for machines that now serve as intermediaries.

That’s where earned media takes the lead. It acts as a training data beacon for LLMs. When your brand is quoted in credible articles, you're not just reaching readers—you’re teaching algorithms what your brand stands for. In an AI-first world, PR isn’t a support function. It’s infrastructure."

LLMs don’t trust your ad copy; they trust your press hits

Lars Nyman, Founder & brand growth strategist at nyman.media

"AI-generated search is becoming the new front page of the internet. Unlike Google’s neat little link stack though, generative engines conjure up narrative (and they can do that partly because people usually feed in far more context vs. a simple search entry).

That said, they hallucinate with confidence. If your brand isn’t showing up in clean, high-authority coverage, you don’t exist, or worse, you exist "incorrectly".

My audit process starts with asking: What does the AI think about you? Prompt GPT-4, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini like a curious customer. If the summary is outdated, off-brand, or silent, then you’ve got a signal problem. Then, race the sources. LLMs weight authority, consistency, and context. Your press hits, bios, About pages, even Crunchbase blurbs all become training data.

The future outlook is that your brand's “truth” will increasingly be shaped not by your website's blog content, but moreso by what others say about you across the web. AI search collapses the funnel -- no more ten blue links. You get one blurb, one box, one impression. Either you're known or you're invisible.

Which brings us to earned media, which is critical to generative SEO. LLMs don’t trust your ad copy; they trust that Forbes quote, that analyst report, that podcast interview. PR now is representation inside the AI hive mind.

I see smart companies are reverse-engineering prompts and seeding high-trust media as LLM bait. The laggards will wake to find an AI confidently describing their competitor as “the industry leader” based on a few interviews and a TechCrunch headline."

AI reuses trustworthy articles, podcasts, and expert roundups

Kristiyan Yankov, Co-founder & Growth Marketer at Above Apex

"Right now, the audit process for AI results is still manual, but it’s become part of our routine. We test prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI overviews using keywords and questions related to our clients. Then we check what shows up — who’s mentioned, what sources are cited, and whether there’s any consistency. It’s like reverse-engineering how the AI sees the brand.

The real insight is that earned media is starting to matter as much as search rankings.

The backlinks are still the backbone of the SEO optimisation, as the AI should still be able to recognise your website as a reputable source in order to feature your content and brand in the overview. However, If your brand keeps showing up in trustworthy articles, podcasts, and expert roundups, that’s what the language models remember and reuse.

I think in the near future, AI-generated search results will act more like curated narratives than ranked lists. That means PR, thought leadership, and digital presence need to work together. You’re not just optimising content just for Google anymore — you’re training the machines that summarise your brand to the world."

AI audits your brand’s integrity

Sienna Hart, SMM & VP of Sales at Chatrandom

"Forget keyword density, AI now audits your brand’s integrity directly. When LLMs like Gemini or Claude scrape results, they’re hunting for trust loops. Does Forbes cite your ESG report? Did a niche blog dissect your product’s ethics?

We use tools like Memo.AI to map our "citation web," tracking how Tier-1 media contextualizes us versus competitors. A big red flag is when an AI summarizes Chatrandom as "video chat app" instead of "Gen Z’s anti-loneliness tool." We’ve lost the narrative war. The fix was to flood earned coverage with structured context, not just mentions, but analyst quotes framing our safety protocols, or user stories in TechCrunch validating our impact. Every citation is a brick in your AI-generated truth.

Search Generative Experience boxes will be huge this year. Brands winning here treat PR as data scaffolding, Press releases packed with schema markup, expert roundtables transcribed for LLM training, and multimedia press kits (think: embeddable charts, voice notes from our CEO).

The golden rule here is that earned media MUST feed AI’s hunger for EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). A single NYT quote about our moderation AI is worth 10,000 backlinks."

AI engines seek patterns in credible coverage

Mariana Delgado, Marketing Director at DesignRush

"As AI-driven search results and generative engines continue to advance, brand authenticity and alignment will be foundational in determining how a business is discovered and perceived by consumers. The process for auditing for AI results is essentially a hybrid- taking into consideration established PR practices, while thinking critically about how LLMs see and prioritize information.

When auditing results for AI-generated content, you should assess both consistency and the reliability of your brand's digital footprint. AI engines seek patterns in credible coverage and backlinks, as well as levels of engagement. This means being conscious of how your brand is represented in news, blogs and digital publications, and ensuring your messaging is accurate, timely and consistent with SEO practices. Additionally, brands should think about their visibility within the platforms AI is sourcing information from and optimizing for not only keywords, but creating their story through credible earned media.

The future of brand presence as it relates to search results in AI is going to be about much more than paid ads or sponsored posts in AI search results. AI engine rankings will increasingly prioritize earned media as a trustworthy signal of brand credibility, which means that PR will be an important driver of business development, not just for earned media with traditional media outlets, but as a major driver of AI visibility for brands. The recognized brands that can consistently earn good coverage, engage with influencers, and participate in industry conversations will be in the best position. These signals will directly influence AI's perception of a brand's authority and relevance.

Earned media is going to be valuable for SEO, but it will also be a powerful lever in optimizing AI-generative engines performance. Once you establish your brand and develop a role as a thought leader and you are engaging in organic conversation in your sector, you are giving the algorithms authoritative content that aligns with AI's intent-based search. Ultimately, brand conversations create an environment where businesses are not just showing up in the search results at the top but being placed at the top for the right reasons. Not because of manipulation but because of trust and genuine engagement."

Media coverage feeds AI results more than ad texts

Matthew Tran, Engineer & Founder at Birchbury

"I just searched for products and brands in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and similar sources to check the AI findings. I want to know who they are drawing information from, how many times they mention us and whether our points are present in their content. When I tried to find the most comfortable men’s minimalist sneakers using these keywords, we didn’t show higher on the search results until I discovered that Reddit, affiliate blogs and customer reviews were considered more important than our ad text. This revealed which areas did not get enough attention and what required an extra effort. As soon as we did a product review on a podiatrist’s website and it made a GQ list, I became aware of more AI-based content mentioning our products within a month.

Media coverage will feed those results more than paid advertising. One article in Men's Journal got us both a bump in search rankings and AI pull-ins. I use PR as long-term training data. If a source is indexed in AI models and your brand is mentioned there frequently enough, it sticks. Right now, we’re working on building out our founder story through industry podcasts and newsletters, since those show up more than press releases. It’s not about shouting louder, it’s about feeding the machine the right way."

Branded presence in AI search like Wikipedia-style authority

Adam Yong, Founder at Agility Writer

"I usually run a basic test first when it comes to auditing AI results. I prompt tools like ChatGPT or Gemini using branded keywords or product descriptions and compare what comes up with what we have actually published or want to be known for. If AI is picking up outdated info or missing major pieces, that’s a red flag. We once noticed the AI kept referencing an older version of our feature list. That told me we were not getting picked up properly through our newer blog updates or media features so we adjusted the metadata and refreshed some backlinks from sites that had mentioned us earlier.

I think branded presence in AI search is going to look a lot more like Wikipedia-style authority. The content needs to match across multiple places. Your site, press coverage, knowledge bases and even FAQs others write about your tool. Earned media matters more than ever now. If a respected site or tech blog talks about you, that gets pulled into training data and ends up influencing what AI spits out.

It's not about keywords now but more about consistent and meaningful mentions across the web. That’s why I treat every third-party mention like a long-term asset."

Mentions in local news or trusted blogs carry more weight with AI

Daniel Vasilevski, Owner at Pro Electrical

"Running a trades business, I’ve seen the shift in how people find trades. It used to be word of mouth, some local ads, maybe a feature in the paper. Now, people are talking to AI tools to find businesses, and what shows up in those results isn’t always what you want them to see. A lot of the time, it’s pulling from old articles, reviews, or websites you’ve forgotten about. If that info is off, it could cost you the job before they even call.

What I do now is run regular checks. I plug my business name into search tools, even the chat ones, and look at what comes back. If something looks outdated or wrong, I figure out where it came from. That might mean updating my listings or reaching out to whoever posted the original. Sometimes it’s as simple as cleaning up what’s already out there.

The part that helps the most is being mentioned in local news or trusted blogs. Those mentions seem to carry more weight with AI. When a real person writes about what you do and it’s accurate, those tools pick it up and show it to others. That kind of online presence can speak louder than your website. For someone in my line of work, that matters. It can be the reason a client picks up the phone."

It's about context building and narrative consistency

Dr. Chad Walding, Co-Founder & Chief Culture Officer at NativePath

"When we analyze our AI search presence we begin not only analyzing backlinks but also brand mentions across web articles, podcasts, and directories first. We see how consistently the brand is described, because, as LLMs are trained on disruptive models, they are trained on patterns detected in context. If our mission or core products are described in too many contexts with too many differences it creates confusion about how the brand gets summarized in AI snippets.

Media mentions without links still apply. We've worked with wellness publishers to discuss collagen or gut health trends and even with no links, the articles created more contextual content around our name. That level of earned coverage seems to be picked up in AI summaries, mainly in voice search tools or chat-style engines.

AI-generated search is only going to continue to refine how it extracts trusted resources. The brands that stay consistent in tone, messaging and authority with their earned coverage are the most likely to stay on top. For now, we operate under the assumption PR efforts are a long game. It isn't just about backlinks, it's about context building and narrative consistency."

Earned media for AI-generative engine optimization (AI-GEO)

Tracie Crites, CMO at HEAVY Equipment Appraisal

"When it comes to the audit process for AI results, I think it's still an evolving area, but the core idea is about validating the accuracy and sentiment of what AI is saying about your brand or product. Because LLMs process huge amounts of information, including traditional media content, they can also sometimes ingest outdated information or misconstrue details. So for us, an audit would also include, routinely searching for our company, our services, or even types of heavy equipment appraisal using AI search platforms or directly receiving prompts from the LLMs, and we would review the output based on factual accuracy, consistency of brand messaging, and tone. Are the facts accurate? Are we communicating our value proposition? Are there any inaccurate representations? So, it involves an auditing process that is continuous and outward-facing to traditional media tracking, but focused on what and how AI interprets information. We would also look at the sources the AI reported, if available, as part of reviewing where the AI sourced its information. If we find inaccuracies, the next step is to ask how we make the correct and authoritative information available to the channels the AI is likely to consume.

Looking at the future outlook for brand and product presence in AI-generated search results, I believe it's going to be less about simply appearing at the top of a list of links and more about being accurately and positively summarized by the AI. Rather than click through ten websites, itll give you a succinct AI generated answer. This means the brands will have to go from focusing on having good SEO, to making sure their brand story is so strong and so consistently represented across trusted online sources, that AI can accurately pull and compile that story into a single paragraph. For a company like Heavy Equipment Appraisal, this means everything we post, everything we are mentioned in, every quote by an expert has to prove our accuracy, expertise and reliability all in the same content. Our contribution won't even simply be a link, but a poured essence of our overall brand placed as a direct answer.

Finally, the role of earned media in AI-generative engine optimization (AI-GEO) is, in my opinion, taking on a leading role. LLMs are trained on vast datasets, and reputable news articles, industry publications, and expert commentary are considered highly trustworthy sources. When a traditional media quote or article correctly and favorably covers your brand or product what you have done is contribute to the knowledge base LLM's pull from. So with media attention, seeking positive media coverage is no longer only about brand awareness, it is also about controlling the factual "truth" that AI models present. The way we measure success is by receiving mentions in respected industry related publications or our appraisers being quoted as experts. For us this ascertains whether AI engines correctly think of Heavy Equipment Appraisal. This process serves as an authentic, third-party verification that establishes brand veracity, and authority in the AI's presentation. It continues to make PR an actionable unit of measurement on how our brand is defined within the new search environment."

The future of visibility in AI depends on earned trust

Mark Friend, Company Director at Classroom365

"As the Director of a company managing IT strategy for dozens of schools across the UK, I’ve watched directly how search behavior changes from Google toward generative AI. These models pull from structured sources, yes but they fill gaps with summaries from trusted outlets and aggregate mentions. In other words, they don’t just “crawl” websites, they infer brand reliability through repeat citations, consistency, and publication tone.

We ran an audit last quarter comparing AI mentions of our edtech partners across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. The results were sobering. Tools with strong earned media across Gov.uk, education-focused news, and regional BBC coverage were described in more accurate, detailed terms. Brands with heavy website content but no third-party coverage came out vague or even omitted. That alone shifts PR from nice-to-have to operational infrastructure.

The future of visibility in these systems depends on earned trust, not self-published content. If a brand isn’t being cited in editorial pieces, industry databases, and educational portals, it’s a blank slate to the AI. We now actively pitch IT case studies to TES and LocalGov because we know how those citations shape LLM summaries."

As brands increase their media presence they will strengthen their AI search rankings

Sahil Kakkar, Founder & CEO at RankWatch

"The audit process for AI results should first ensure that the brand’s key messages are accurately represented in online content. Tracking earned media is vital as AI algorithms use mentions and articles from authoritative outlets to build their understanding of a brand’s credibility. These factors influence how AI generated engines rank results.

In the future earned media will become even more essential as AI search engines rely on verified authoritative content to determine relevance and trust. As brands increase their media presence they will not only strengthen their online visibility but also improve their AI search rankings."

Trusted sources mentions for AIO (AI Overview)

Claudia McKenzie, Outreach Lead at Orange Line

"There’s no doubt the industry is changing and brand presence in AI-generated search results is going to be a focal point of any marketing strategy. As AI models continue to evolve, they’ll rely more on earned media and online mentions as they are seen as less manipulated than backlinks. I believe that over time, brands with a strong, consistent presence in niche-relevant media outlets will become more visible and trusted by AI search engines, leading to higher search visibility and better organic performance. That’s because the more trusted sources that mention and feature a brand, so appearing in reliable content sources, the more likely AI algorithms are to consider your own brand authoritative and thus worth including in their AIO (AI Overview). So whilst brands will still need to focus on producing authoritative, high-quality content that can get picked up by AI overviews, they also really need to invest in securing media placements on other websites that follow best practice and will also be featured in AI results. Securing earned media also helps offer that second point of validation for the user who is offered the AIO result, as often they seek confirmation of what the generative AI has presented as an answer."

Earned media is affecting the way AI decides who is an authority

Marcus Denning, Senior Lawyer at MK Law

"For me, I consider that being visible in AI results protects the digital reputation of the brand. I monitor trends in information to spot and stop fast-spreading misinformation. I had a commercial client who I was able to support, as their AI-summarized information presented the wrong details about their regulatory background because of one older news article being repeated several times.

Nowadays, earned media is affecting the way AI decides who is an authority. There have been times when my legal commentary appeared in generative search without me doing anything. If your company’s information is not present in reliable sources, these models tend to overlook your brand.

Potentially, businesses will have to include this as a key part of their legal risk planning. Based on what I do, I observe that there are more cases where AI results in the public sphere show brand claims that are not accurate. Beginning your discussion with AI at the beginning lets you mold its answers, compared to only cleaning up mistakes made by AI.

The lack of accountability in technology will cause it to be harder to fix errors that quickly spread online."

AI search results depends on what’s said about you

Burak Özdemir, Founder at Morse Code Translator

"To audit how a brand appears in AI-generated answers, I treat it like a reverse SEO check. Instead of looking at keyword ranks, I start by asking AI tools direct questions about the brand, product, or category. I log responses across multiple platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to see what they consistently say. I then match those replies against known media mentions and owned content to find mismatches. This usually takes about 4 to 6 hours for one brand snapshot.

The future of brand visibility in AI search results depends more on what’s said about you than what you publish. LLMs often rely on trusted sources like Reuters, Bloomberg, and tech blogs. So even if you have a polished blog, if Wired or TechCrunch has never mentioned your product, your presence in generative answers stays thin. I’ve seen brands with just 3 or 4 earned media articles show up more often in AI answers than those with 50 SEO blog posts.

Earned media is now one of the strongest signals for shaping what AI says about you. These engines don’t just pull your press release. They echo what the internet says and repeats. Third-party mentions are necessary if you want your product to appear in “best of” lists or recommendation-style answers. It’s not about volume. It’s about showing up in places the model trusts.

PR and SEO should no longer be run in separate lanes. I often advise brands to align their media outreach calendar with what people ask AI tools about. That way, the timing works in your favor, and the content you get picked up for gets embedded into LLM training data or retrieval systems."

#PRontheGO