lpark

M Posted 1 year ago

t 9 min read

Search is evolving faster than ever—and that’s opening up a big new opportunity for PR teams.

Thanks to AI-powered search engines like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, more people are getting direct answers without ever clicking a link. These AI systems aren’t just listing websites—they’re making recommendations. And when your brand is mentioned in those answers, it’s a powerful signal to the user: this is someone to trust.

That’s where PR comes in.

This shift doesn’t mean PR has to become something completely different. In fact, AI search rewards exactly what PR already does well—building credibility, earning trust, and shaping the brand’s story in places that matter. What’s changed is that now, those efforts can directly influence how (and whether) your brand shows up in the new discovery layer of search.

Here’s how PR teams can take advantage of this moment—by focusing on the sources AI trusts, understanding how citations work, and using new data to guide their strategy.

AI Answers Are Becoming a Brand’s First Impression

When AI Overviews show up in Google search results, they take up serious screen space. BrightEdge research shows that when an AI Overview appears, the click-through rate on the top organic listing drops from 25.8% to just 7.4%.

That’s not bad news—it’s a wake-up call. It means users are getting what they need from the AI answer itself. And if your brand is recommended in that answer, that’s where discovery begins.

This changes the role of PR in a good way. Instead of hoping a media placement gets picked up and shared, you now have a direct path to helping your brand get cited where people are actively looking for trusted answers.

Drop of in CTR when an AI Overview is present - Being part of the AI recommendation matters more than ever:

Why PR Is in a Great Spot to Win Here

Search engines powered by AI don’t just pull from top-ranking content—they pull from sources they view as credible, clear, and relevant to the query.

We used BrightEdge Generative Parser™ to compare sources across multiple AI Engines and found important patterns:

• Google AI Overviews tend to cite content that’s concise, updated, and comes from trusted domains.
• Perplexity leans into content that’s rich in facts, citations, and comparisons.
• ChatGPT with browsing pulls from Bing’s index and often favors content that’s fresh and consistently authoritative.

None of that should sound intimidating to PR experts. If anything, it’s encouraging. Because what AI is really looking for is well-communicated credibility. And PR is already great at that.

What’s different now is that you can see which mentions are showing up in AI search, and take action based on that. PR doesn’t need to guess which placements matter most anymore. With platforms like BrightEdge AI Catalyst, you can actually track which domains get cited in AI answers—and use that data to guide your outreach.

What to Focus on If You’re in PR

Here are four areas where PR teams can have an immediate impact in the AI search landscape.

1. Know Which Sources AI Engines Trust

The first step is figuring out which websites and publishers AI engines are pulling from in your space.

BrightEdge’s AI Catalyst makes this easy. It tracks the domains cited in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other AI engines for the topics and prompts that matter to your brand. That means you can:

• See which media outlets, expert blogs, and publishers consistently get cited and for what articles.
• Prioritize those for outreach and earned media
• Align with SEO and content teams on where to build visibility

You don’t need to overhaul your PR strategy—you just need to aim your efforts where they’ll make the biggest difference.

2. Pitch to the Lists, Roundups, and Reviews AI Loves

When someone asks Google “what’s the best software for nonprofits?” they’re not just looking for a brand—they’re looking for a list they can trust.

AI engines love structured content. Many responses from AI draw on sources like this. If your brand is mentioned in one of those pieces—and that piece is on a site the AI trusts—you’ve just earned a shot at being in the answer.

This is a natural fit for PR. Pitching for inclusion in these types of articles, or collaborating with journalists who write comparison pieces, is already part of the job. Now, it comes with an added upside: you’re influencing how AI introduces your brand to potential customers.

3. Highlight What Makes Your Brand Worth Mentioning

The more clearly your brand is positioned, the more likely it is to be picked up by AI engines.

When PR teams pitch stories, submit product info, or provide quotes, highlighting these kinds of attributes gives AI more to work with. Over time, this messaging builds up across the web—and increases your chances of being pulled into AI-generated summaries.

4. Track AI Mentions Like You Track Media Coverage

If you’re already tracking media pickups and share of voice, it’s time to add a new layer: share of AI voice.

Using BrightEdge AI Catalyst, PR teams can:

• See where and when your brand is mentioned in AI answers
• Monitor sentiment and positioning in those mentions
• Compare visibility against competitors
• Spot new opportunities for outreach

You don’t have to guess whether a placement had downstream impact. You can now see if it helped you earn a spot in AI recommendations—and if it didn’t, you have the data to see what did.

PR’s Role Is Expanding—in the Best Way

This new AI-powered landscape isn’t pushing PR to become something it’s not. It’s giving PR a bigger stage and better data.

You still pitch stories, build relationships, and shape narratives. Now, you also get to see how that work shows up in the new front door of brand discovery: the AI answer.

Best of all, this doesn’t mean overhauling your day-to-day. It means:

• Aiming your outreach where it counts most
• Understanding what makes a brand recommendable in AI
• Using data to prove your impact

In a time when users are asking AI what to buy, who to trust, and how to solve problems—being cited in those answers is the new PR win.

Final Thought: This Is a Big Opportunity for PR to Lead

AI is quickly becoming the first stop in a user’s journey. That means PR is no longer just supporting awareness. It’s influencing the recommendation engine at the heart of modern search.

With capabilities like BrightEdge AI Catalyst, PR teams can take control of this new channel—tracking what’s working, spotting what’s missing, and steering the conversation in the right direction.

And the best part? This is already in your wheelhouse.

You’ve been shaping brand perception all along. Now you get to do it in the one place where trust matters most: the answer people see first.