What PR agencies need to know about the AI search opportunity

Summary of the SUSO Digital & Hard Numbers webinar - Sept 4th 2025

Sep 05, 2025

Webinar Overview

This session, the first in a three-part series on AI and search, brought together Cara Corbett from SUSO Digital and Darryl Sparey of Hard Numbers. Their discussion centred on how AI-powered search tools are reshaping brand discovery, and why PR agencies, with their deep expertise in storytelling and relationships, are well placed to help clients become more visible in this new search landscape. The event attracted a wide mix of agency professionals keen to understand both the challenges and practical opportunities that come with the rise of AI in search.

The Changing Nature of Brand Discovery

The webinar began by setting out how consumers now discover brands through a wider range of channels, from Instagram and Reddit to Amazon and classic search engines. What’s new is the prominent role of AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI search features. Increasingly, people are relying on these tools not only for facts, but for recommendations and opinions, often as part of interactive conversations. The influence that PR professionals already exert through earned media, reputation management, and relationship-building is central to how these AI models make recommendations and surface brands in their answers.

How AI Search Tools Work

Cara explained that AI tools don’t operate in the same way as Google. While Google’s algorithms lean heavily on website content, AI models pull information from across the Internet: news coverage, blogs, forums, and social media chatter all feed into the answers an AI model provides. Structured, authoritative, and up-to-date information is especially valued. The webinar referenced studies showing that a high proportion of AI-generated search results cite earned media, editorial pieces, for instance, when making brand recommendations. PR work is therefore directly shaping brand visibility in AI search, often more than agencies might realise.

The Research Backing

Darryl brought depth to the discussion by sharing Hard Number’s recent research. They analysed how ChatGPT responded to questions about the world’s top 100 brands, focusing on four core reputation traits: quality, trust, innovation, and value for money. The research found that 61% of all cited sources in those responses were editorial coverage, with trust and value for money relying most heavily on third-party articles. Meanwhile, brand-owned content was the second most referenced source, particularly for traits such as innovation and quality. Customer reviews played a limited role, featuring meaningfully only in relation to product quality. The finding underlined that earned media is evolving rather than being overshadowed by digital change.

Why PR Agencies are Well Positioned

The presenters were clear: PR agencies already excel in crafting compelling narratives, securing media coverage, and building trust. These are the very elements AI models reward when recommending brands. However, the speakers cautioned that while PR agencies are influential, there’s still a technical gap. PR content often isn’t optimised for AI discoverability. Most agencies haven’t ventured into the territory of web development and technical SEO, which is becoming increasingly necessary if brands are to appear in AI-generated results.

Bridging the Gap: Technical Optimisation

Cara introduced the idea of merging PR’s authority with technical SEO expertise, a practice sometimes called generative engine optimisation. The practical advice focused on making website content as accessible as possible for AI ‘robots’, the crawlers that check live sites for fresh information. Fast-loading websites, use of clear coding, schema markup (structured data that helps AI interpret context), and well-organised content with proper headings and standalone sections were cited as vital. The experts stressed that neither PR nor SEO alone is sufficient. PR needs technical optimisation to ensure it’s found by AI tools, while SEO needs credible, authentic storytelling to avoid being ignored.

Practical Steps for Agencies

To meet this new challenge, agencies were urged to consider three routes:

build technical skills in-house
buy or merge with an established SEO agency
partner with technical specialists such as SUSO Digital.

The most important thing is to ensure that PR teams can offer a full suite of services spanning earned media, technical site optimisation, and structured digital content. SUSO Digital is already partnering with agencies to provide free workshops, training, and visibility reports analysing how brands appear across both traditional and AI search engines through its free Partner Club - details here: http://bit.ly/4mNmIcM

Responding to Industry Developments

Cara and Darryl addressed live questions about indexing, partnerships, and content strategies. Recent changes mean platforms like Instagram are now indexable by search engines, which further expands the sources from which AI models can draw. Whenever possible, agencies should not only create high-quality owned content, but also ensure it is structured in a way that AI tools can access and use. Schema markup was recommended for press releases and articles, with news article schema being one option.

AI’s Partnership Ecosystem and Implications

Darryl noted the adoption of reciprocal content deals between AI companies and major media outlets such as the Financial Times. These partnerships mean some sources may be prioritised in AI-driven answers, so agencies should keep an eye out for lists of preferred partners and adjust their media relations strategies accordingly. The speakers also drew attention to ethical issues around AI platforms reproducing content without clicks or referrals, which impacts media revenue streams and could threaten the health of the media ecosystem. PR professionals were encouraged to help support media outlets through paid content collaborations and event sponsorship.

Making the Business Case for Investment

A recurring challenge for agencies is convincing clients to invest in AI search when budgets are tight. The advice is to start by benchmarking: use Google Analytics and other tools to track what proportion of website traffic comes from AI platforms. Many brands underestimate this percentage, sometimes by a large margin. SUSO Digital offers free visibility audits for partners, making it easy to show real data to clients and guide smarter strategic investment.

Final Takeaways and Call to Action

In closing, Cara and Darryl reiterated that now is the moment for PR professionals to get ahead. AI search is moving fast and is easier to measure than traditional PR, providing clearer data on impact and ROI. Agencies should seize free resources—workshops, help desks, and audits—and begin integrating technical optimisation into their offering. The next webinar in the series will focus in greater depth on tactical steps and measurement standards, with expert input from leading voices in the field.

For those wanting to explore further, resources including a primer on generative engine optimisation and curated training links are available from the presenters. The sense of urgency is clear: PR agencies can and should take the lead in shaping the future of brand visibility in a post-search world powered by artificial intelligence.

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What PR agencies need to know about the AI search opportunity

Summary of the SUSO Digital & Hard Numbers webinar - Sept 4th 2025

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