AI-powered search is changing the parameters around discoverability – making it more important than ever for brands to build authority through trusted content and original thought leadership, optimized for answer engines.

As part of its Predicts 2026 series Gartner highlights how Comms leaders are facing rapid change as AI transforms the landscape. Delving deeper, an AI search on what Gartner’s research predicts for Comms budgets reveals that leaders are most likely to consider increases in PR and earned media budgets, with the potential for spend to double in this area by 2027. Increased spend is also expected on corporate brand, public websites and social media presence.

Certainly, with earned, shared and organic-owned content (including company blog posts, social media updates, reports and videos) being favoured over paid promotion in AI search results, a sustained focus on creating authoritative content is essential.

Appealing to AI for discoverability

Search engines today are able to automatically deliver summaries because AI searches the web and extracts information that appears reliable, such as relevant data and statistics from credible sources. The generative side of the AI then synthesizes a response, derived from these sources. Often, only a small number of brands will be cited, with the answer engine basing its judgement on the sources it trusts best.   

Being cited in these AI summaries requires well-structured and high-quality content, designed to respond to the types of questions posed by customers, potential buyers and other relevant audiences. It also requires relevant content to appear across authoritative sources, with trusted publications scoring highly in this regard. Recency is another important consideration. Those brands that are able to ensure a steady stream of news reinforcing a particular narrative are more likely to show up when users ask AI to seek out the latest information.

The good news for Comms and PR professionals is that very little has to change. In fact, the key shift is the increased importance that should be ascribed to the activities that are common elements of any PR strategy: building relationships through traditional media relations and sharing interesting and insightful content that target audiences value.

Brands that communicate frequently, providing viewpoints from real subject matter experts on defined topics, will be better placed for AI discovery – or AEO (answer engine optimization).

Targeting the machine reader

AI systems don’t “read” reputations the way humans do to decide which sources are worth citing but rather infer them from signals that we might recognize as credible. These signals include thought leadership articles and blogs, the online footprint and authority of the websites where this content appears, and consistent facts and statistics across multiple domains, such as those that might be featured in a piece of research a brand has undertaken and the news coverage from sites based around such research.  

In this regard, every comment featured in an article, and every piece of content placed on a website, acts as third-party validation, creating a footprint or signal for AI to discover. In simple terms, PR activity creates a network of signals that build “trust” in the source. 

There is no set formula when it comes to the sources that AI selects as trustworthy, but proactive PR activity that helps secure a steady stream of news stories, opinion pieces and commentary across target digital media will help ensure content can be more easily discovered and extracted by AI.

It’s here that the expertise of PR professionals comes into play – understanding what journalists need and advising on and crafting content that cuts through and resonates. Success in securing coverage in authoritative third-party publications is a crucial component in building brand visibility and trust in a world driven by answer engines. It should form an integral part of any brand’s marketing strategy.