Last week’s PRmoment webinar on ‘GEO, Misinformation and the News: The Impact of AI on Trust of the Media’ was absolutely fascinating. Here are my takeaways for PRs.
The top-line message was essentially what we already know: that PRs need to understand how large language models (LLMs) work so we can optimise our brands to appear in relevant searches (Generative Engine Optimisation – GEO). But it was also refreshing to hear that the media wants to receive HUMAN-WRITTEN [caps intended] content and that branded content has a significant role to play in GEO.
Richard Woodward, chief news editor at PA Media, cheered me up when he said that the Press Association “wouldn’t like any element of AI in a press release”. When asked if a pitch marked as “written by a human, not AI” would stand out, he said yes. PA journalists also never use AI-generated images.
I have long advocated that PRs should *never* use GenAI to create content intended for publication. In my view, it’s lazy, it’s inauthentic, and it risks plagiarising others’ content. Plus, you’re entering client confidential information into a learning machine that could spit that out in another user’s search results [even if set to private, I’d be cautious].
Katherine Arnull, UK Group Strategy Officer at Golin, provided a brilliant overview of what modern GEO PR should look like, including building a narrative ecosystem, engineering multiple conversations, and activating communities/advocates. This approach focuses on outlets and influence, and PRs need to pivot quickly to align with changing audience needs and queries.
Next up, Alex English, SEO Director at Brainlabs, provided a technical deep dive into the sources that search engines and LLMs utilise, highlighting which searches are more accurate and the importance of recency. (This is the sort of talk that would do *very* well at BrightonSEO).
Finally, Felix Danczak, head of AI and growth at Pembroke VCT, discussed whether LLMs are lying to us and warned us against being “tempted to mistake form for substance”. Felix’s talk made a great argument for authentic customer case studies, as “lived experiences” are very important for LLMs.
I asked about the role of branded content, as I’ve observed that it is being surfaced in ChatGPT, at least. Felix confirmed that it is still important.
In summary:
✅ Understand how LLMs work
✅ Get the right tools in place
✅ Build a narrative and content strategy based around search engines and LLMs
✅ Focus on the right media (some are more likely to surface in LLMs due to agreements etc.)
✅ Use humans to write and pitch your content
✅ Be flexible, so you can pivot quickly to changing audience needs
✅ Monitor, measure, pivot
In my recent post for the CIPR Crisis Communications Network on the role of LLMs and reputation management. Thanks again to Ben Smith for arranging this webinar. I was absolutely glued for 90-odd minutes!
If you need help understanding what GEO means for your organisation, please get in touch.
NB: Despite Copilot’s best efforts to get involved, I wrote this all myself. Image made in Canva.
