AI/ GEO Search: Why PR Matters More Than Ever

If you’re not undertaking in any PR activity look away now!  It might be your brand won't be appearing in any AI searches anytime soon. 

And with AI search projected to capture a significant portion of the $750 billion in US consumer spending decisions by 2028, that could be an expensive mistake.

For a long time, SEO was all about tweaking your website and trying to outsmart an algorithm. Keywords here, backlinks there and seemingly keeping your fingers crossed. But search has changed. Today, earned media and therefore PR has to sit right next to any SEO effort and that goes for AI search too. 

When your brand is featured in respected publications, quoted by journalists, reviewed independently, or talked about in the right communities, it sends a powerful signal. Not just to audiences, but to search engines and AI systems too. 

Tools that generate answers don’t work like old-school Google rankings. They scan the wider internet looking for patterns of credibility. Who is mentioned most often? Who is associated with expertise? Which brands show up repeatedly in trusted sources? If your brand isn’t part of that conversation, AI has very little to work with.

That’s where PR comes in. Good PR doesn’t chase coverage for vanity. It builds a credible digital footprint over time, so articles, interviews, thought leadership, commentary, reviews. Each piece of earned media becomes another trusted reference point. Stack those up and your brand looks like the obvious authority in your space.

At the heart of this is trust. Trusted media channels have spent decades building credibility with their audiences. Search engines and AI models mirror that human behaviour. They value independent validation far more than self-promotion.

SEO isn’t dead, it’s just changed. The technical stuff still matters, but it’s no longer the full picture. If you want to win visibility today, especially in AI search, you need to be talked about in the right places, by the right people, for the right reasons.

That’s why PR isn’t nor has it ever been a “nice to have”. It’s the foundation of modern search visibility and the most powerful way to earn trust in an AI-driven world.