AI optimisation: The new channel brands can't afford to overlook
Discovery has shifted. For the first time in decades, brands are losing direct control over how they're found, compared, and recommended online. This isn't a tweak to search mechanics - AI now mediates visibility, attribution, and even brand narrative across interfaces consumers actually use.
According to McKinsey, half of consumers now intentionally use AI-powered search, and many say it's their top source for purchase decisions. Expect traditional search traffic to fall 20%-50% for many brands. AI optimisation is a channel. Treat it like one.
Forget the acronym debate. Build the channel.
Call it AIO, AEO, GEO, or GSO - the label won't win you buyers. What matters is a clear plan for showing up inside AI answers, comparisons, and agentic flows. If your brand isn't present there, your story is being told without you.
For PR and communications, this is a mandate: create the authority signals AI systems trust, and deploy them where models look for proof.
How AI has changed product discovery
People ask full questions and get conversational answers. They don't scroll. They don't click ten blue links. They get a distilled view that blends brand sites, expert commentary, reviews, and trusted editorial.
Ranking rules have changed. AI platforms pull from the wider ecosystem and weigh credibility, consistency, and corroboration. That makes this a reputational challenge as much as a content challenge.
Translation for PR: your work isn't just reach and mentions. It's building the signals that increase the odds your brand is cited, summarised, or recommended inside AI answers.
Agentic commerce is collapsing the funnel
Instant, conversational checkout compresses awareness, consideration, and purchase into one flow. The friction that funded a lot of performance media is disappearing. Search ads, comparison engines, and retail media will feel the pinch.
If LLMs can own the full path from question to transaction, they'll become commercial platforms. Your job: make your brand the obvious, high-confidence pick at the moment of intent.
What PR and comms teams should do now
- Engineer authority, not just awareness. Secure expert quotes, independent testing, academic references, and analyst notes. Land reviews and long-form explainers on credible outlets. Consistency across sources beats a single glossy launch.
- Own the facts everywhere. Publish clear product specs, pricing ranges, availability, and policies. Keep them current. Ensure third parties repeat the same numbers and claims.
- Make content machine-readable. Partner with web and product teams to use structured data (FAQ, HowTo, Product, Organization). Clean entity data (company, people, products) so knowledge graphs resolve correctly.
- Upgrade the newsroom. Host media kits, executive bios, certifications, awards, safety data, and methodology pages. Provide original datasets and downloadable assets that journalists and models can cite.
- Widen your proof surface. Target sector podcasts, trade journals, standards bodies, and community forums where practitioners share real outcomes. AI systems weight these signals heavily.
- Tighten claim governance. Align legal-approved messaging, claims, and references across owned, earned, and paid. Retract or update outdated claims in the wild.
- Instrument for AI discovery. Track citations inside AI answer layers, product picks in comparison snippets, and referral patterns from AI interfaces. Treat these like channel KPIs.
Data and content foundations your brand will need
- Product data that's decision-ready. Clear titles, attributes, benefits, compatibility, reviews, warranties, and availability. Keep it structured and stable.
- LLM-ready explainer content. Plain-language FAQs, comparisons, and buyer's guides that answer intent-rich prompts. Avoid fluff. Answer the question fast.
- Third-party corroboration. Independent tests, certifications, and standards compliance published on trusted domains and kept current.
Media owners still matter - maybe more than ever
AI answer layers are driving more zero-click behaviour. Some publishers have seen sharp traffic declines as platforms surface summaries before links. Google's AI Overviews underline that shift.
Here's the catch: high-quality editorial is the credibility scaffolding AI relies on. If trusted outlets weaken or retreat behind paywalls, the ecosystem that teaches and validates models degrades. Brands have skin in this game.
- Back credible journalism. Sponsor research, fund independent testing, and support long-form reviews. Seek licensed partnerships that keep content accessible and citable.
- Create higher-signal stories. Provide data, third-party experts, and operational access so reporters can publish original analysis - the kind AI ranks and quotes.
A practical AI optimisation plan for PR and comms
- Map high-intent prompts. What questions should trigger your brand? Write answers, source proof, and place them on trusted domains.
- Authority sprint. In 90 days, secure 10+ credible citations across analysts, trade media, and practitioner communities. Prioritise depth over volume.
- Entity hygiene. Align company, product, and spokesperson entities across your site, Wikipedia (if applicable), knowledge panels, and major directories.
- Structured data rollout. Implement and QA schema across top pages. Monitor for errors and keep parity with on-page content.
- Claim library. Centralise approved claims with sources. Train spokespeople and agencies to stick to what models can verify.
- AI answers monitoring. Set a monthly review of AI answer surfaces. Track citation frequency, sentiment, and competitor presence. Feed gaps back into pitching and content.
- Agentic-commerce readiness. Coordinate with product and ecomm on feeds, availability, returns, and warranty clarity. Remove uncertainty that could cost you the final pick.
Rethink the mix
If comparison and consideration compress into a single conversation, you'll need fewer mid-funnel tactics and stronger authority signals up front. Shift some budget from interruption to verification - testing, reviews, analyst coverage, and structured proof that AI can cite.
Treat AI optimisation as its own line in your plan with owners, KPIs, and a weekly cadence. This isn't a checkbox on SEO. It's a channel with rules, incentives, and momentum.
Where to skill up
If you're building this muscle inside PR or comms, explore practical training and certifications that focus on AI-driven discovery and content operations. See courses by job and the AI certification for marketing specialists to speed up capability building.
Do something now
Consumer behaviour is shifting in real time. The brands that show up inside AI answers and agentic flows will set the baseline others have to catch. Those that wait risk fading from view for people who may never see a traditional search result again.
Build the channel. Prove credibility. Keep your facts straight everywhere. That's the work.
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