Changes to how Digital PR works
Digital PR has long been about backlinks, media coverage, and brand awareness, all with the aim of improving search visibility and credibility of the brand’s websites. But with AI tools like ChatGPT, Bing Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews changing how people search, that’s no longer the full story.
Today, your brand needs to be part of the conversation AI tools are pulling from, even when no one clicks your website. In this blog, we will explore what this shift means and how your strategy should adapt.
What is Digital PR?
To begin, let’s start with a definition. Digital PR is all about getting the big publications and people talking about your brand online, and more importantly, getting links back to key pages on your website. Traditionally, this meant creating newsworthy campaigns, earning backlinks from top-tier media, and improving your SEO.
Backlinks helped Google decide which sites to trust, and getting covered by reputable publications sent signals that your business was worth paying attention to. We have been working in these spaces for years and have been able to get our clients into big names like Vogue, The Independent and The Financial Times.
Alongside a strong SEO strategy, getting links back to your website was the main contributor to getting your website higher on Google, as well as increasing organic traffic and ultimately, revenue.
How AI is reshaping the PR landscape
Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google’s generative AI are getting more and more popular by the day. People are even using them in the traditional way that we use Google Search, but they don’t serve search results in the same way.
They generate direct answers by pulling information from across the internet, news articles, blogs, product reviews, Reddit threads, expert roundups and presenting it all in a single reply, usually conversational.
This changes the rules. If someone asks, “What are the best skincare brands for sensitive skin?”, an AI might say, “Brand X is often recommended,” even if Brand X isn’t top of Google. There might not even be a link.
So, to be discoverable in this new landscape, your brand has to show up in the kinds of content AI tools are trained on, and spoken about in a way that is positive and makes sense in context.
Why brand mentions matter more than ever
In the past, links were everything. Now, brand mentions are just as important, if not more so.
Recent studies show that brands with more unlinked mentions are significantly more likely to appear in AI-generated responses. These models rely on patterns they’ve seen, so if your brand is regularly associated with terms like “reliable HR software” or “eco-friendly paint,” that’s how AI will start to speak about you.
It’s not just frequency either. Sentiment and context matter. If your name keeps coming up in expert guides, helpful how-to content, or top 10 lists, with a positive tone, you’re training the AI to associate you with quality.
Negative press or inconsistent messaging can have the opposite effect. AI models don’t know what’s official and what’s not; they just reflect what they’ve seen the most.
The rise of recommendation models
People now use AI tools the way they used to use search engines. Instead of Googling, “best CRM for small businesses,” they just ask ChatGPT or Gemini.
And these tools often respond with answers like: “Many businesses recommend [Brand A] for its ease of use and affordability.”
So where does that come from? Often, it’s scraped from buyers’ guides, round-ups, and ‘best of’ lists, the kind of content digital PR already targets. If you’re not included in these kinds of resources, you’re unlikely to appear in AI-driven recommendations either.
Being part of these lists means your brand becomes a “go-to” suggestion, even if users never land on your website. It’s the new digital word-of-mouth.
Reframing Your Digital PR Strategy
So how do you stay visible in this new AI-first world? Here are three areas to focus on:
1. Build a Consistent Narrative
Make sure your brand story is reflected consistently across different channels and publications. If you want to be known for innovation or affordability, make sure that’s how others talk about you, too. From journalists and bloggers to customer reviews.
Previously, digital PR professionals would send out a press release that said something along the lines of ‘[brand] has discovered that [data]’.
However, LLMs are looking for descriptions of brands and services to know what to recommend. As a new strategy, digital PR professionals should be explaining more about the brand in the release. The revised version should be something along the lines of:
‘[Brand], [what the brand does and some of the services it offers], has discovered [data]’.
2. Focus on Strategic Mentions
Not all coverage is equal. Work to be mentioned (positively!) in places AI tools are likely to learn from: well-known media, review sites, blogs, Reddit threads, and industry publications.
Positive, natural mentions, even without links, are more influential than ever.
Some publications are more reputable than others. For example, sites such as The Independent, The Telegraph and The Times are key sites to feature in. However, it also varies by industry; for financial brands, sites such as Financial Times, The Economist, The Independent and even The Sun rank highly on LLMs.
One frequent site that comes up is Reddit, and if that isn’t getting incorporated into your PR strategy yet, then it should.
3. Aim for Inclusion in Roundups and Lists
Push to be included in “best X for Y” content. These lists heavily inform recommendation engines and LLMs. If your product or service is consistently featured, you’re more likely to appear in AI-generated suggestions.
If your product is getting featured in five ‘best’ round-ups, then LLMs will see the frequency of this and know it’s recommended in not just one high-quality publication, but five.
Also consider contributing to expert round-ups or commentary articles, especially on platforms that are known to influence search or are publicly crawlable.
A whole new world
AI is changing how people find and trust brands. Search is becoming more conversational and curated, and traditional metrics like backlinks and keyword rankings aren’t enough.
Digital PR now plays a crucial role in shaping how AI sees you. If you’re not being mentioned in the right places and in the right way, you risk becoming invisible, even if your SEO is solid.
That means PR is no longer just about visibility; it’s about controlling your narrative in the training data. The brands that invest in smart, strategic digital PR now will be the ones that AI remembers later.
