The AI search era has arrived swiftly, with major implications for how B2B SaaS brands earn visibility and credibility. While marketing leaders scramble to decode the mechanics of search generative experiences (SGE), generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search visibility (ASV) or whatever your acronym of choice is, an often-overlooked power player is sitting at the center of it all: public relations.
PR has always been about context. It’s about telling the right story, at the right time, in the right channel. That hasn’t changed. The channels themselves are constantly changing—how and where that story gets discovered. PR people aren’t strangers to riding this wave—we’ve embraced new media like podcasts, social media trends like the rise of LinkedIn video and now GenAI. AI-powered search tools like Google’s AI Overview, Perplexity and ChatGPT aggregate and synthesize content in a new, dynamic way we need to strategize around.
Learning to train the algorithm
Now, PR isn’t just about prospect awareness, investor attention or crisis comms. It’s also about training the algorithm. When a trusted third-party outlet publishes your perspective, your internal AI expert answers a question on Reddit or your CEO shares her perspective on Medium, these PR tactics not only boost credibility with human readers, but they also boost visibility in the AI search index. Generative AI pulls from reputable sources to form its answers. This makes media relations and thought leadership even more essential for all stages of the funnel, not only a branding play.
But not all content is created equal in the eyes of AI.
AI search surfaces authoritative and contextually rich content. AI craves clarity, citations and substance. PR pros, long trained in shaping narratives that resonate with real people, are uniquely positioned to deliver this. We know how to blend story with substance and sentiment, in the right place and time.
Playing the AI search game
The stakes are especially high for the B2B SaaS brands my agency works with. Complex buying journeys and high-consideration products demand trust, and trust is built through validation. That validation now comes not only from peer recommendations, media coverage or analyst reports like it used to, but from GenAI platforms that surface information in seconds. If your brand isn’t showing up in those results, you’re not even in the first conversation.
Like the early days of SEO, AI visibility is still somewhat of a black box, but with tools and elbow grease, it’s time to ditch the guesswork. Instead of just hoping your company’s content shows up in AI search, dig in and see what sources are really ranking. This isn’t about broad, generalized content strategy anymore. It demands an in-depth analysis of your competitive landscape and a deep dive into the specific sources AI models are prioritizing.
As we’ve started analyzing our clients’ AI search visibility, we’ve seen unexpected channels rank for them and their competitive sets.
LinkedIn content is getting its spotlight moment (finally)
LinkedIn Pulse is emerging as a dark horse in the AI citation race. Those long-form Pulse posts you’re publishing on LinkedIn aren’t just for engagement mining anymore; they’re becoming highly visible PR assets. AI models are referencing these as thought leadership posts, transforming them into a direct pipeline for your expertise to be recognized and cited.
LLMs are also referencing LinkedIn newsletters, both from brands and individuals, in query results, so consider expanding your email newsletter into a publicly available LinkedIn newsletter.
Niche communities are your friend beyond networking
Medium articles, Reddit discussions and even Quora responses are ruling AI search results for niches like the developer community. You have to be visible on these platforms to even have a shot at showing up in search results. In short, if your audience lives on these platforms, so should your thought leadership strategy.
For one of our developer-focused clients in the FinOps space, ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI overviews referenced Medium articles in 60% of results over 30 days for the competitive space and prompts we’re tracking, showing the power of contextually relevant influencer and thought leader content on the platform.
Industry awards will never die
If you’ve been in PR or marketing for even a year, you know the power of industry awards when it comes to brand visibility. So, if you’ve spent hours and hours building a list of awards and crafting the perfect submissions for your brand, you’ll be happy to know that industry awards continue to carry substantial weight in the world of AI search.
For one of our cybersecurity platform clients, we see SC Media and CRN product awards as highly cited for our client and its competitive set. So instead of writing it off as a vanity project, keep that award program going for your GEO strategy.
Cozy up to competitors
Say it with me: competitor content is your friend. Company blogs featuring “Top X Solutions” lists are getting heavily referenced by AI, even when they mention numerous competitors. For our own agency AI search rankings, we’re seeing blogs referencing the “Top B2B SaaS PR Firms” are the most referenced by LLMs, even when the company posting the blog is on the list.
Sometimes, being mentioned alongside the established leaders in a relevant context is far more beneficial than not being mentioned at all. It signals relevance and authority to the AI.
Paywalls aren’t a threat
Here’s another fascinating insight: paywalls don’t stop AI. Sure, you might not be able to promote an inclusion in an article that’s behind a paywall as heavily as you’d like on social, but that doesn’t mean it’s not helping you win deals. Even premium, subscriber-only content from authoritative sources is showing up in AI responses. For our venture-building studio client, we saw both WSJ Pro Venture Capital and their local business journal (both heavily paywalled) appear in AI search sources.
The takeaway? Quality and authoritative sources still matter, regardless of access barriers for human readers. If it’s a valuable, credible source, AI will find and cite it.
While most brands are still scrambling to understand this new dynamic, there’s a massive opportunity to dominate the source citations in your space. But that window of opportunity won’t stay open forever. It’s time to act and adapt your PR strategy to the realities of AI search right now. PR is no longer a peripheral player in brand visibility. It’s foundational to AI search.
