Something interesting is happening in search. AI search engines - Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity - are not like Google, scanning keywords. They're having actual conversations about your brand. And most companies aren't ready for that.

The game is getting more complex

SEO, to be overly simplistic, is mainly about fighting for the top 10 spots on Google for a given query - and recent studies are showing a fairly strong correlation between Google rankings and AI mentions. That tells us that traditional SEO still matters, but also that it's just the start.

What’s actually happening when someone asks an AI search about "the best tool for X," is that now they don't just get a list of links. They get recommendations. And they usually follow up with more questions. "What about pricing?" "How does it compare to Competitor Y?" "Is it good for small businesses?". This back-and-forth means your brand now needs to show up intelligently and consistently across an entire conversation, not just for a single keyword.

Where PR fits in

This is where good PR becomes A LOT more important. Traditional SEO gets you discovered. But it's your broad presence across the web that makes AI tools confident in recommending you. If you're a cybersecurity company, your marketing team knows that at the very least, you need to have blog posts on your product updates. But to feature in LLM search, you also need actionable tips in Dark Reading, your experts quoted in broader but still relevant tech coverage, and ideally some spicy takes on socials. These signals demonstrate brand value and reputation, something that LLMs prize. Their job is to synthesise information and deliver the best answer back to the questioner, ideally in one shot. 

Importantly, you can’t just spray and pray. These AI models get confused if you're saying different things in different places. Your message needs to stay consistent whether someone's reading a press release, a blog post, or your CEO's latest LinkedIn long form. Coherent and consistent messaging is only one long-undermined part of PR that we’re seeing become an urgent priority for clients with their fingers on the pulse.

The trade press renaissance

Those niche trade publications everyone used to ignore for lack of good metrics on who actually read them are suddenly certified gold. Why? Because AI tools want to find actual experts, not just good marketers.

Maybe nobody's reading Fertiliser Monthly cover to cover (sorry, Fertiliser Monthly). But when an AI is trying to figure out who really knows their stuff about agricultural chemicals, guess where it looks: those highly specialised trade publications are like catnip for AI recommendation engines.

Think about it - if you're running an insurtech startup, which looks better to an AI:

• A website with great SEO but no external validation

• Or regular columns in The Insurer where you're breaking down industry challenges

The second one, every time.

Content now *really* needs to bring value - no matter what

You also now need to really, really think about what keeps your ideal customer up at night. What would they ask an AI on any given day when they're trying to solve a problem? 

Where the game changes is in the following: writing a detailed, honest breakdown of that problem, along with a comprehensive list of solutions, is worth a multiplier more than generic "Top 5 Industry Trends" posts  - which used to be recognised as fairly valuable by traditional SEO teams. 

For instance, if you're a payment gateway, publish a thorough analysis of every major solution's pricing, feature set and ideal customer profile - including yours and your competitors. Sure, it feels a bit counterintuitive to give your competitors airtime. But when someone asks ChatGPT "what's the best payment solution for a European SaaS company?" and it pulls information from your comparison piece to answer, you are not only visible in the conversation, you are the authority shaping it. 

Making it work

Here's what all this means practically:

1. Keep doing your SEO homework. Those Google rankings still matter.

2. Start thinking in conversations, not just keywords. What questions do your customers ask after the first one? That's where you need content

3. Get your experts out there. Interviews and opinion pieces in industry-relevant publications are going to become more and more beneficial compared to SEO-optimised blog posts

4. Write content with a focus on bringing enormous informational value to your customers, rather than to promote your products - LLMs know the difference between information and advertising

5. Stay consistent. Pick what you're really good at and hammer that message and mentions of your brand home, everywhere

Why this actually makes sense

Think about it: AI tools are trying to do what good journalists have always done: figure out who actually knows what they're talking about. They're just doing it at scale. So while the technology is new, the fundamental principle isn't: be genuinely helpful, know your stuff, and tell a consistent story. I don’t think there is yet a way to "hack" AI search - but finding something worth saying and knowing how to get it out there (in short, the principles behind great PR) has just become crucial. And maybe that's a good thing for the quality of information everywhere.