Modern Public Relations (PR) dates back to 1900 when the “Public Bureau” was first established in Boston. With the internet boom of the 1900s and the subsequent rise of social media in the 2000s, PR has transformed itself into a real-time, two-way communications tool. Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), what will PRs next legacy be?
In a series of articles, we explore the impact history has had on PR and how advances in technology aren’t replacing it but instead making it more relevant than ever before. In this first blog, we discuss the role of PR for online brand visibility from SEO to GEO and AEO.
Sarah Thomas
Marketing and PR Account Manager, Radical Moves Ltd
In a career spanning 30 years that started in editorial, I have always understood the importance of original content. The press release was a key part in seeking out that headline grabbing story. It was the foundation, back then, to getting your words on the (litho) printed page.
Even today, while rarer, articles in print still hold a special accolade. However, with the emergence of search engine optimisation (SEO) in 1997, the importance of the humble written word started to increase in value, not only to us as readers but to companies, as webmasters realised they could improve visibility by tweaking page content and structure.
Understanding the wizardry of SEO and algorithms was the first noticeable shift in gaining brand visibility and PRs ability to lift words on a page into a spider’s web of search terms and results. The way in which copy was produced changed as stories needed to work across an increasing number of outlets with electronic media growing in importance.
PR is set for its next big reset
Now that we’ve mastered the art and science of SEO, we have yet more acronyms that we’re not just writing about, but as with SEO we have to write for, which is giving much more depth to PR. What we are talking about here is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).
With SEO, search results are influenced by content written and placed on a company’s own website such as news, blogs, product and service information. GEO and AEO are influenced by authoritative, third-party sites away from the controlled environment of a single website. Conversational AI tools are increasingly replacing traditional search engines with AI answer engines favouring non-paid, earned media.
The developing shift in how people search puts original material back in fashion, but now you have to understand what those earned media placements need to secure them, which where good PR comes into its own.
Good writing has always been crucial for brand visibility, but today you’re not just writing for your own website and the eyes of the reader, but increasingly for the hidden view of large language models (LLMs) that serve up brands in search results.
PR: The influencer of tomorrow
PR is important for building new capabilities around GEO and AEO in the AI era where visibility will centre less on paid search and more on authoritative third-party validation.
No longer does news quickly become irrelevant vanishing in the first 24 hours, instead it’s a citation footprint that AI systems can’t ignore. Getting those earned placements aren’t just for the reader today, they are the new backlinks from the SEO era that are shaping the narrative that LLMs surface and how AI will describe a company in the future.
So, far from being replaced by AI, PR is instead becoming AI’s biggest influencer with today’s PR the source content AI will be quoting tomorrow. It has moved from being searchable to being referenceable, and to achieve the ‘new’ utopia you need to earn your place in the LLM ‘hall of fame’.
If you want to get more from your PR, corporate brand, owned platforms and external social, Radical Moves can help to build new capabilities around SEO, GEO and AEO. Get in touch.
