How do we increase AI visibility? And how are you approaching AI optimisation? These are the biggest questions we’re seeing in digital marketing right now from clients in professional services.
AI is everywhere, and it’s unavoidable.
Clients are eager to know what’s changing and, most importantly, how to keep up.
If an agency tells you they know the definitive answers to these questions, they are bending the truth.
Right now, AI and LLM optimisation are like the early days of SEO.
Everyone has opinions on how they work and how to get the best results.
In reality, it’s only by examining the research and testing theories that we can find out which tactics will deliver the right results for your business.
In this blog, we’ll look at recent research and how we can apply learnings to a professional services marketing strategy.
How to optimise for AI search
So far, research is showing us that we don’t need to rip up the rule book when it comes to organic search strategies and tactics.
It shows that an integrated digital marketing strategy combining PR, SEO and organic social media improves visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
That means your current marketing plans probably need tweaking rather than overwriting to help your business optimise for AI search visibility.
As a business in the professional services sector, aligning these core marketing channels can improve your visibility in both AI and traditional search engines like Google and Bing.
The benefits of optimising for AI search
It’s important to note that AI search is still only a small percentage of search behaviour overall.
Research from digital agency Kaizen notes that while 2025 saw a 527% increase in LLM traffic, it’s still a very small proportion of search traffic overall.
Less than 1% of traffic is being driven by LLMs, in fact.
But AI search’s conversion rate is 12 times higher than organic search.
So being visible across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini can support lead generation and AI visibility is worth the time and investment.
You just need to ensure that your optimisation is keeping up with this rapidly changing search landscape.
Read on to learn how to adapt your PR outreach to support your AI search visibility strategy.
Using PR for AI brand visibility
Earned media, particularly press coverage, has long been recognised for its ability to build brand awareness and help a business shape how it is perceived by customers and the wider public.
But it’s also become pivotal to search engine and AI brand visibility.
In the digital world, media coverage, and the backlinks it can earn alongside brand mentions, have long been central to a successful SEO strategy.
They work as a signal of trust and authority, helping to boost credibility in search engines and drive referral traffic.
Research shows that this is especially true when it comes to AI.
An in-depth study from software specialist Muck Rack found that 95% of AI citations come from non-paid media, with 89% of results from earned media and 27% from journalistic content.
It shows that PR can do the heavy lifting when it comes to increasing a brand’s AI visibility.
PR’s value in the AI era
As search behaviour is becoming more fragmented and more sophisticated, PR’s value is increasing.
Where and how your business is mentioned really matters for AI brand visibility, so the traditional spray and pray approach of aiming for coverage anywhere will not cut it.
That’s because not all media titles allow AI tools to crawl their websites.
And if they can’t crawl these sites, the tools can’t access their content or learn from it.
There are a raft of national and regional news sites that don’t allow AI crawling – MailOnline, iNews, Metro and BBC News block 91% of crawler bots, research from SEO tool Screaming Frog has revealed.
It also found that 75% of sites block at least one AI crawler bot, with regional news sites the most likely to block crawling, blocking eight crawlers on average.
What does this mean?
Well, it doesn’t mean that having your business mentioned in these titles is less valuable, so don’t strike them from your media lists just yet.
There can be huge PR and SEO value in having your brand mentioned in a positive way and gaining a backlink to your website from these high-quality sites, if they are relevant for reaching your audience.
What it does mean is that this information won’t be picked up by AI and won’t help to increase your visibility in AI search.
How to adapt your PR outreach for AI
Knowing which websites can be crawled by AI bots will enable you to supercharge your media list, because you can ensure you target titles that will support your AI strategy while also delivering PR and SEO results.
So, which news websites are visible to AI crawlers?
Digital agency Distinctly has completed an AI study to identify which media titles you should target to increase AI search visibility, broken down by sector.
The research shows that sector-specific and trade media offer the strongest opportunities to gain coverage that supports an AI visibility strategy.
For professional services, knowing which B2B titles and trade vertical titles to target can give you an advantage over your competitors – and help your business to gain a big share of voice in AI search.
Recency delivers results in AI search
Research shows that recency plays a part in AI visibility, particularly for time sensitive searches.
Breaking news, recurring events and changing industry trends are some of the examples where fresh content is more likely to be cited.
Ahrefs’ analysis of 17 million AI results found cited content is 25.7% fresher than organic Google results, with ChatGPT showing the strongest preference for recently published sources. What does this mean for your business? It shows that you need to keep your PR activity rolling if you want to keep your professional services brand visible in AI.
Especially if there are topics in your industry where the conversation moves fast.
Muck Rack’s study found that 49% of citations for recent queries originate from journalistic content.
So, for example, if you’re an accountancy firm talking about measures announced during the Budget – a recurring event – publishing your analysis of how the measures will impact different audiences on your website is unlikely to help you be cited in AI.
Having previously been quoted in the press following the previous Budget is unlikely to be much help either.
To gain visibility and be cited on the topic, you need to be quoted in the media and, specifically, the titles that ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. can crawl.
If you’re looking for greater AI visibility, then current evidence shows that investing in PR will support that goal, providing it’s executed correctly.
TLDR: Key takeaways for your professional services PR strategy
Here are the key actions for your PR team to consider:
- Don’t rip up your PR rule book completely
- Do research and understand which media titles will support your AI visibility – and make sure they’ve on your media list
- Don’t just use PR occasionally – AI feeds on fresh content
- Do ensure your PR activity delivers an ongoing drumbeat of news – it’s more likely to deliver the right results
Feeling overwhelmed by AI? Talk to our team to find out how our integrated digital marketing approach can help your business to be seen in the right places.
