PR Is the New SEO in an AI-Powered, Zero-Click World
On a recent work trip to London, I met a bright, young digital marketer for a meal. She took me to a cosy Indian restaurant in Pimlico. It was one of those tucked-away spots where you expect the staff to passionately tell you which dish their chef is most proud of. But instead of asking them, she opened her phone and typed a prompt into ChatGPT: “Top 5 dishes to try at the Pimlico-based restaurant?”
As someone who grew up trusting people more than machines, it caught me off guard. I’ve always leaned on human recommendations—the seasoned waiter, the chatty bartender, or the person next to me in a queue—because people come with context and lived experience. Machines? They can be trained, gamed, and manipulated. Humans? Less so.
But credit where it’s due—ChatGPT got it right. We ordered from its list. The food was fantastic. The service? Not so much.
Yet what stayed with me wasn’t the chicken tikka. It was the speed and trust with which she turned to AI. It reminded me how quietly—but completely—the way we seek answers is changing.
From Query to Answer—No Clicks Needed
We’re moving toward a world where search doesn’t begin with a question and end with a list of links. Increasingly, it ends with an AI-generated response—a single, confident answer. No scrolling. No site visits. No “click here to learn more.”
A decade ago, Google would send one visitor for every two pages it indexed. Today, that number is closer to one in six, according to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. That’s not just a dip in traffic—it’s a structural disruption.
And for public relations, it changes everything.
PR has always been about shaping perception, building trust, and influencing what people believe. But now, it’s also about influencing what the machine believes. In an AI-powered world, the real question becomes: What does the algorithm think of you?
PR is your New Homepage & CV in the AI Age
Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity don’t invent content—they assemble answers from what’s already out there. If you’re not present in credible media, cited in expert commentary, or featured on trusted platforms, you may not appear in the response at all.
In a “zero-click” world, where users no longer visit your site to learn about you, your PR footprint becomes your de facto homepage, pitch deck, and CV—compressed into a few lines of AI-generated output.
According to Bain & Company’s 2024 research, 80% of users said AI resolved nearly 40% of their queries without them needing to visit a single site. That’s not just changing how we market—it’s changing how we matter.
The future of influence lies in ensuring your brand’s voice appears in response to the right question, at the right time, in a single search or prompt. PR will evolve from media visibility to algorithmic relevance.
AI Might Give the Menu—But It’s PR That Sets the Table
In that London restaurant, I thought: this is how future brand discovery will happen. People won’t ask, “Which is the best educational institution for studying architecture?” and scroll through a dozen links. They’ll ask an AI assistant—and trust the first answer.
PR, then, becomes less about visibility and more about discoverability.
The difference? Visibility gets you seen. Discoverability gets you picked.
And to be picked, your brand must exist across all the right digital touchpoints: Credible media coverage. Executive quotes. Podcasts. Explainers. Analyst reports. Reddit threads. Influencer shoutouts. AI pulls from everywhere—and listens more closely to voices that are confident, consistent, and credible.
What This Means for PR Practitioners
The rules are shifting. Here’s what modern communications leaders must embrace:
- Think multi-format: Text-only press releases won’t cut it. Podcasts, videos, data visualisations, and explainer content all enrich the AI’s understanding.
- Be the source, not just the story: Get your leadership quoted. Publish research. Share insights. Partner with authoritative outlets. AI loves expertise.
- Update or fade out: Static bios and outdated blogs won’t make the cut. PR must ensure that brand narratives stay current, relevant, and findable.
- Own your audience: As search traffic declines, brands need direct, ownable channels—communities, social media and platforms where they control the narrative.
The Stakes Are Higher—And so Is the value of 'Good PR'
As traditional search declines and AI-powered discovery rises, the brands with strong, earned media footprints will lead the conversation. But high-impact visibility won’t just be harder to earn—it’ll be more valuable than ever.
This isn’t the moment for shortcuts or surface-level storytelling. The future belongs to those brands who invest in PR for credibility, consistency, and context—those who build for an ecosystem of trust and influence.
PR is no longer just about spinning stories. It’s about transmitting signals via stories—the kind that AI can detect, decode, and deliver with authority.
Because AI doesn’t just read your story. It ranks it, weighs it, chooses it. In the end, AI may serve a recommendation. But PR is what puts your brand on the menu.
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