For around a decade and a half — once the marketing industry figured out how to really game Google — SEO has been the king of discovery and awareness. The power of a backlink was all important when it came to top-of-funnel marketing.
But this is changing, at speed.
Large-language model (LLM) powered generative AI offers a complete sea-change in the discovery game. It isn’t a simple need to up the game; it’s a completely new playing field, one where PR will be the central player.
Gen AI is killing off “search” as we know it
Perhaps this is being a bit reductive, but search is essentially all about generating lists. Search engines crawl the web to index and rank content based on relevancy to a users’ query.
From this, a whole, highly competitive industry — SEO — was built around gearing and gaming website content (owned and third party) to favour a particular brand. The aim being to ensure the right content is placed as close to the top position as possible.
By contrast, LLMs don’t immediately give you links. Instead, they provide full, contextualized and direct answers (though to varying degrees of quality).
They do this by pulling as much relevant information as possible from news articles, blogs, social posts and so on. But it’s not just one source, as LLMs rely on seeing patterns across numerous webpages in order to justify the information they present to a user.
For marketers, it means that the current search toolset can’t work for this brave new world of generative AI search. Indeed, it creates new challenges around visibility and increasing “zero-click” searches (upwards of 70%), as users get answers without having to go anywhere else.
Media provides a solid reference layer
The likes of ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s Gemini need to seek trusted, verified and structured sources to pull and cite information from.
In short: news articles.
Generative engines are actively prioritizing national and regional publications, alongside industry and trade outlets and platforms like Wikipedia and Reddit. These are the reference layer for the ongoing development of LLMs; training them to provide the right results.
On the media side, this has led to a “sue or sign” dynamic. Some, like the AP, Politico, or Axel Springer’s portfolio of publications (Bild, Welt, Business Insider) signed on the dotted line. Others, like The New York Times, The Intercept and several News Corp. outlets have decided to fight back.
But regardless of the boardroom discussions, it is clear that the media holds significant power over the future direction and quality of output from generative AI. It no longer just influences how we view the world, it is influencing how we will use this next-gen technology, and what we get from it.
The value of PR in GEO
The importance of media to generative search and the requirement for patterns across various webpages combine to place a stronger emphasis on the need for multiple mentions in differing publications, blogs and social channels.
Fortunately, there is a long-standing solution: public relations.
Despite an increasingly fractured media environment and the blurring of lines between “traditional” media and social-first journalism, LLMs are ensuring the future value of earned media.
Visibility is no longer coming from links. It is derived from references; namely, media coverage. The bread and butter of PR.
The new tactical playbook for online visibility is thus interviews, op-eds, expert commentary, and yes, even press releases. And the need for consistency to create patterns means visibility is a long-term play, not quick-fire tactics. Which is just how PR works best.
The growth and adoption of LLMs means that businesses can no longer afford to overlook the fundamental value of PR. Brands that invest now are those that will reap the long term benefits sooner; those that don’t risk becoming essentially unsearchable.
The future of search, visibility and awareness has come home to PR.
Are you worried about the impact of LLMs on your online visibility? Are you seeing a drop in click throughs? We can help: