Digital PR for GEO & AI Visibility

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It refers to the strategies and activities that make a brand more likely to be referenced, cited or recommended by AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. While traditional SEO focuses on achieving rankings in conventional search results, GEO is concerned with ensuring your organisation appears – by name, and with authority – in the responses that AI systems generate. Because those systems draw on trusted editorial sources, earned media and Digital PR sit at the heart of any effective GEO strategy.

AI tools are trained and continuously updated using high-quality, editorially credible sources such as national and regional press, respected trade publications, peer-reviewed content and established online media. A Digital PR programme that secures consistent coverage in these outlets directly improves your brand’s AI visibility. The more your organisation is cited, quoted and referenced in the sources that LLMs trust, the more likely those LLMs are to surface your brand in relevant responses. Digital PR is, in effect, the most direct route to AI discoverability.

Large language models are trained on vast datasets and continue to ingest content from trusted sources across the web. They do not rank brands the way a search algorithm ranks pages; instead, they surface organisations, people and ideas that appear frequently and credibly across authoritative sources. Brands that are regularly quoted in respected publications, whose spokespeople are recognised as sector authorities, and whose research or data is widely referenced will naturally feature more prominently in AI-generated responses. Consistent, high-quality earned media coverage is the most effective way to influence this.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) focuses on improving the visibility of web pages in traditional search results through technical optimisation, keyword strategy and link building. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) focuses on ensuring your brand is cited within the direct answers that AI-powered tools generate, often replacing or supplementing traditional search results entirely. While there is some overlap – both benefit from authoritative content and strong backlink profiles – GEO places a much greater emphasis on earned media credibility, editorial presence and the authority of the sources in which your brand features.

Yes — and it is one of the most effective ways to do so. AI tools draw heavily on editorial content from trusted news sources and industry publications. If your organisation has a strong, consistent presence in those outlets – through press releases, expert commentary, feature coverage and thought leadership – you are more likely to be represented accurately and positively in AI-generated responses. PR also helps establish your spokespeople as recognised authorities in a given field, which further increases the likelihood of being cited. Over time, a sustained PR programme builds the kind of authoritative profile that AI systems recognise and rely upon.

The simplest starting point is to prompt the major AI tools – ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews – with questions your target audience would ask, and observe whether your brand is mentioned. If competitors appear and you do not, that is a clear signal that your earned media presence needs attention. At Catalyst PR, we can conduct an AI visibility audit to assess where your brand currently stands, which sources are shaping responses in your sector, and what a targeted Digital PR programme would need to achieve to improve your position.

As with traditional SEO, building genuine authority takes time. A well-executed Digital PR campaign can begin generating coverage in credible outlets within weeks, but the cumulative effect on AI visibility – where breadth, consistency and longevity of coverage all matter – typically builds over several months. Brands that invest in sustained PR programmes see the most significant improvements, as AI tools respond to patterns of credibility rather than one-off appearances. We set honest expectations at the outset and agree KPIs that reflect meaningful progress rather than vanity metrics.