PR Was Built for the AI Era. We Just Didn’t Call It GEO.

85.5% of AI citations point to earned media, according to Muck Rack’s analysis of more than 1 million AI prompts.

That’s a pretty significant finding. But for those of us in PR, it’s also not exactly a surprise.

Everyone in the PR/media industry is talking about GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and how brands need to rethink visibility in the age of AI-powered search. Brands are asking how they can show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI-generated answers, and what they need to do differently to stay discoverable.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t new for PR. We just didn’t call it GEO.

At its core, good PR has always been about making a brand visible, credible and relevant beyond its own channels. It’s about earning mentions in trusted publications, creating third-party validation, establishing expertise and telling stories that people (and now AI) can find.

You Can’t Optimize Your Way Into Credibility.

A brand can optimize its website, tweak its content and try to anticipate the questions people will ask AI. But if there isn’t a meaningful body of third-party information validating that brand, there’s only so much optimization can accomplish.

AI-generated answers are increasingly influenced by the information available across the web. That makes the broader ecosystem of brand mentions, expert commentary, media coverage and authoritative sources even more important.

And that’s where PR has an advantage.

Whether it’s a founder being quoted in a story, a product appearing in a gift guide or a company being named as a leader in its category, these are not vanity metrics or nice-to-have brand awareness. They become part of the digital footprint that helps establish who a brand is, what it knows and why it matters.

That’s what good PR has been doing all along.

What This Means for Brands

1. Invest in earned media consistently. One big placement is great but a sustained pattern of credible coverage is more valuable for building authority over time.

2. Prioritize quality and relevance. Not all mentions are equal. Coverage in publications that are trusted within your industry or audience can help reinforce your expertise and credibility.

3. Build a story, not just a keyword strategy. AI can surface information, but brands still need something meaningful to say. Strong positioning, compelling expertise and a clear point of view give media (and AI) something to work with.

4. Think beyond your own website. Your website tells people what you want them to know about your brand. Earned media shows what other credible sources have to say about you. You need both.

The Bottom Line

PR has been operating in an AI-advantageous way for years. Sure, we’ll continue to evolve our strategies and adjust to changing technology and consumer behavior. But findings like these simply reinforce something the PR industry has known for a long time:

Earned media matters.

It matters for visibility and credibility. And increasingly, it matters for how brands are discovered in an AI-powered world.

So yes, brands should be thinking about GEO. But they shouldn’t wait for AI to become the next reason to invest in PR.

The train is already moving.