At our recent Spring client lunch, we welcomed James Stables, co-founder of Reputable and former journalist, for an in-depth Q&A on how LLMs and AI are reshaping the mechanics of how brands show up online. Increasingly, weâre seeing a new layer of search and brand visibility emerge: GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), bringing both new challenges and clear opportunities for brands.
The key takeaway from the session was simple: AI isnât just changing search, itâs changing who gets talked about, and why. Tools like ChatGPT and Claude donât rank sources (or âcitationsâ as James describes them) in the traditional sense but instead, building answers from sources they trust.
From a PR perspective, that puts your coverage, credibility, and narrative at the centre of whether your brand shows up at all.
Hereâs how GEO is reshaping PR, and how your brand can make the most of it.
PR is no longer just about visibility; itâs about shaping what AI says about your brand.
In traditional search, success was largely about driving clicks through ranked links: your brand appeared if your website performed well in SEO. In AI search, there are often no links at all, and platforms will generate a single answer pulling from multiple citations.
That means your brand isnât just being found – itâs being interpreted, sweeping through various sources and citations. What AI says about you is pulled from the coverage, commentary, and content it trusts most, making credible media exposure and consistent messaging far more influential than Google page rankings alone.
Media coverage has become a direct input into AI-generated answers.
AI systems lean heavily on third-party validation, so the quality, relevance, and consistency of your press coverage can determine whether your brand is included or overlooked entirely.
PR now defines how your brand is categorised.
LLMs such as ChatGPT and Claude will connect brands to topics based on patterns across coverage; they scan huge volumes of content and learn which words, themes and topics appear consistently alongside your brand.
What does this mean? The coverage your PR agency secures â and the language used within it â directly shapes how your brand is categorised. As a very general example, if your PR messaging is focused on themes such as innovation, sustainability or a specific sector, AI is far more likely to surface your brand in responses on those topics. The more deliberate and consistent the messaging, the more likely AI is to pull your brand into the right conversations and prompts.
Clear, factual content can be more impactful than creative alone.
While big ideas still matter, AI favours information it can easily extract and reuse, which puts greater weight on structured, unambiguous content. In addition, strong PR reduces the risk of AI getting it wrong; where there are gaps or inconsistencies in available information, AI will fill them in for you – sometimes inaccurately – so a solid body of coverage acts as a stabilising force.
Owned content is now part of the PR ecosystem, not separate from it.
When there isnât enough third-party coverage – or itâs inconsistent and conflicting – AI turns to what you say about yourself, making your website and owned channels a critical source with significant influence.
Sentiment is becoming a deciding factor in AI visibility.
Itâs not just about being mentioned; itâs about how youâre talked about, as AI systems interpret tone and consensus across sources when constructing responses. PR shapes positive sentiment, which AI actively interprets. If sentiment is mixed or unclear, a brandâs presence in responses can weaken or disappear altogether.
The impact of PR is becoming more immediate – and more visible.
Changes in coverage and content can quickly affect how your brand appears in AI outputs, offering a faster feedback loop than weâve been used to. For the first time, you can actually see – and improve – your AI presence. PR has long since had a reputation for being hard to track, but with PR strategies focusing on AI visibility and sentiment, itâs now possible to measure and adjust accordingly. For PRs â this is invaluable in proving the critical success of press coverage.
What does this mean in practice?
 GEO doesnât replace PR â not by a long stretch. The brands that show up in AI are the ones building clear, credible, and consistent narratives across the right places.
 In line with our conversation with James, weâre delighted to now be offering The Little Red Rooster Soundcheck; a service designed to show you exactly how your brand is being represented across AI platforms, where youâre strong, where youâre missing, and whatâs shaping that.
We look at visibility, sentiment, citations and content performance. We can then work with you to turn it into a set of clear priorities for your PR and content strategy.
If you want a proper read on how AI sees your brandâand what to do about it, get in touch with us at everyone@littleredrooster.co.uk, or you can reach out to our CEO and founder, Victoria Ruffy, on LinkedIn.
