How Brands Show Up in AI Search
AI-powered search has fundamentally changed how organisations are discovered.
Search engines no longer just retrieve information. Tools like ChatGPT Search, Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini now synthesise content from across the open web to generate immediate responses to user queries. Those responses often include a shortlist of sources, shaping which brands are considered credible before a prospect has clicked through to a website.
In this environment, visibility is no longer determined by keyword rankings alone. AI systems prioritise brands based on signals of credibility, relevance and trust drawn from independent sources.
This is where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes into play.
PR professionals are moving beyond traditional SEO, which focused on technical performance and keyword alignment, toward building the authority signals that influence whether a brand is surfaced, cited or recommended within AI-generated answers. Earned media now plays a direct role in mediating discovery.
What your brand looks like to an AI system
To optimise for AI search, brands first need to understand how these systems evaluate information.
Large language models identify patterns across entities rather than ranking individual pages. They look for consistency in how an organisation is described, referenced and validated across credible environments.
Key signals include:
Coverage in established media outlets and trade publications
Positive customer sentiment across reviews and community platforms
Expert commentary attributed to your leadership team
Mentions within relevant industry conversations
Consistent articulation of your positioning and values
Clear, descriptive messaging also helps AI systems distinguish your brand from similarly named organisations and understand your role within a category.
Rather than rewarding the loudest voice, AI systems tend to elevate organisations that are repeatedly associated with expertise in trusted contexts.
From visibility to recognition
AI discovery is less about exposure and more about recognition.
Earned media contributes to contextual signals that influence how your brand is interpreted within generated responses. These include:
Attributable thought leadership
Proprietary data or original research
Industry benchmarks and case studies
Consistent third-party validation
Over time, this information becomes part of the dataset used to determine whether your organisation is a reliable source to reference.
In crowded ANZ markets, where trust and authenticity are already critical differentiators, these signals can determine whether your brand is shortlisted within AI-generated recommendations.
Optimising for AI search requires more than a compelling story. It requires ensuring that a story is independently validated and consistently represented across the environments where both people and machines look for answers.
At Adhesive, we evolve our approach to help your story surface in this new discovery layer and make it stick.
Learn more at adhesivepr.com.au
Or get in touch at hello@adhesivepr.com.au
