The bottom line – it is all about earned media
By Megan Johnstone-Mackie, PR & Marketing Head, allpoints
Okay, don’t panic. We know the information is overwhelming and rapidly changing, but don’t worry – we have done the tough bit. We have reviewed the research and put together a playbook for making sure your business shows up in AI.
AI tools are becoming the place people go first when they’re hunting for agencies, venues or production partners, especially for complex event briefs. Instead of scrolling pages of search results, they ask a chatbot a long, human question – and trust the short‑list it gives back. That means your reputation now needs to live inside AI answers, not just on page one of Google. Let’s explain what this actually means…
What GEO Actually Is
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is simply: “how to show up when someone asks AI a question.” Traditional SEO tries to get your website high on a list of links; GEO tries to get your brand name and proof points written into the AI’s actual answer.
For event and creative agencies, this means optimising not just web pages but the whole footprint AI can see – coverage, reviews, profiles, directories, panels, even community threads.
How Buyers Are Using AI Instead Of Search
According to Nightwatch, recent UK and global studies show that more than half of people have now used AI chatbots, and usage is highest among professionals using them for work tasks. Traffic and search analyses suggest informational queries are steadily shifting towards AI assistants, even though Google still dominates classic search. In practice, a marketing lead might ask: “Which UK agencies specialise in sustainable live events for luxury brands?” then let AI propose a starting list – and only then click through to websites and LinkedIn. If you’re not in that first AI‑generated list, you may never even get searched.
Where AI Gets Its Answers From
When researchers look at the links and sources AI tools cite, they see a clear pattern: most of what gets pulled into answers is earned and third‑party content, not your owned channels. One widely shared analysis suggests that the large majority of URLs used in AI answers come from editorial coverage and other independent sites, with a tiny share from social posts and ads.
AI assistants lean heavily on:
- High‑authority news and business outlets.
- Trade and vertical media (marketing, events, sector titles).
- Community and reference platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia.
- Structured review/directory sites with clear ratings and descriptors.
According to Fastcompany, owned content still matters, but mainly as raw material for those third parties to quote and link to, AI is more likely to surface the article about your work than the case study you wrote yourself.
How To See What AI Is Really Saying About You
Tools like The Mark, developed by The Remarkables and powered by GEO leaders LEOPRD, give brands a way to stop guessing and start measuring how they actually appear inside AI answers. Instead of just checking search rankings, these audits run structured prompts across major AI platforms, analyse which sources are driving the responses, and benchmark how you show up versus competitors.
For agency leaders, this is the GEO equivalent of media monitoring and share‑of‑voice tracking: you can see the narratives AI is repeating, where sentiment skews positive or risky, and which gaps in earned coverage or online reputation are holding you back. Led by reputation and communications specialist Kerry Parkin, The Remarkables and LEOPRD then translate that insight into practical PR and content recommendations, from the trade titles you need to be in, to the kinds of proof points AI currently can’t find about your work.
PR’s New Job In The GEO Era
If GEO is “how AI finds you”, PR is how you feed AI with the right stories. According to Linkedin, classic PR tasks, getting you quoted in trade titles, placing op‑eds, securing award write‑ups, landing interviews and panels, now double as GEO work, because every credible mention becomes another signal AI can reuse.
For agencies, that means:
- Prioritising earned coverage in trade and business media so there is something trustworthy for AI to grab when a client asks “who’s good at X?”
- Making sure your “proof” lives off your own site – in directories, partner case studies, speaker bios, award books, and community spaces where AI is allowed to train.
- Treating PR, SEO and GEO as one strategy: every announcement, thought‑leadership piece or case study should be designed to work for humans, search engines and AI answer engines at the same time.
PR puts your best stories into the biggest, most trusted books in the library; GEO is about making sure the robot librarian reads those stories out loud when someone asks for an idea.