The New Relevance of PR in the Age of AI Search
Last Friday, in a chat with our wonderful Media Director, Andrea Lenig, about AI and search, she said something (with a smirk) that stuck with me all weekend: “PR is relevant for the first time.”
At first, I bristled (PR has always been relevant!). But the more I reflected, the more I realized what she really meant, and she’s right: PR is relevant in a whole new kind of way. In the world of AI-driven search, the rules are changing—and for those of us in communications, this is the moment to lean into the shift, not defensively but confidently. The work we’ve always done is being recognized and rewarded in visible, quantifiable ways.
PR Has Always Mattered. Now It’s Just More Measurable.
PR has always delivered value. But quantifying that value, in hard numbers, hasn’t always been easy to do. Many people think of PR as splashy headlines, interviews, viral crises…but those are just the visible tip of a pretty substantial iceberg. The real value of PR is that we build credibility and trust through third-party storytelling—media, influencers, and analysts. It’s a voice besides your own delivering outside validation.
But PR is about more than just being talked about—it’s about architecting how you’re being talked and thought about. It’s crafting messaging that becomes the foundation for all business communications. It’s ideating and telling stories to the right people, at the right time, in the right places.
Sometimes, the payoff is direct and tangible: I once lined up a speaking slot for a CEO at a niche industry event. There happened to be an investor at that event who later reached out cold to our client. The company landed funding. All because a story was told in the right room, at the right time, by the right person.
But, more often, PR’s impact isn’t so linear or easily measured. Did we shift the conversation among our key stakeholders? Drive awareness? Boost authority or traffic? There are always other forces at play—marketing, demand generation, and paid campaigns. But PR is the undercurrent raising the collective tide.
Now Enter: AI Search
As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity reshape how people search, PR—more specifically, earned media—has become the new gold standard for trust and visibility. For years, SEO and PR ran parallel: SEO focused on keywords, backlinks, and clicks; PR told the story, shaped reputation, and earned visibility. But as AI transforms search, those lines are blurring fast.
AI-driven models don’t just crawl your website and count your keywords. They “listen” for what the wider world says about you—across news articles, podcasts, and analyst reports. Large language models (LLMs) aren’t swayed by polished ad copy. What moves the needle? That quote in Bloomberg, your guest appearance on a reputable podcast, or a feature in a critical industry trade. These mentions don’t just elevate your profile; they fuel the AI’s understanding of your brand, becoming part of the training data that dictates what the internet “knows” about you.
It’s a real-time evolution: Gartner predicts that by 2026, classic web search will drop by 25%, with AI chatbots and smart agents playing a much larger role in how people seek and trust information.
The shift is already visible. Google’s “AI Overview” now summarizes answers at the top of search results, which will inevitably lead to fewer, but better clicks. That means where you’re mentioned matters more than how often. I’ve seen brands with just five or six strong media hits appear more in AI summaries than companies with 50 blog posts. Why? Because those hits were credible, consistent, and well-placed. These models are trained on consensus, and consensus is built from repetition across trusted sources.
Seize The Change
For PR professionals, this isn’t a sea change in what we do. It’s validation for how we’ve always done it: intentional, thoughtful, strategic work that yields consistent, third-party support. Building a great communications and PR strategy has never mattered more, but the rules have changed. Move beyond your blog and your press release. Seek earned media wherever trusted conversations are happening: industry podcasts, trade newsletters, and credible community sites. Map your calendar to the questions people are asking AI tools, so when someone queries ChatGPT, your message is what gets served up.
People worry that AI will replace creators and PR pros. I think the opposite is true. We’re still in the early innings. AI models are still learning. But one thing is clear: the next generation of search is being built on trust. And that’s the business PR’s been in all along.
