AI engines don't rank pages, they synthesise answers and they decide who to cite based on how consistently and credibly third-party sources describe your brand. Studies of large brand datasets have found that branded web mentions correlate far more strongly with AI visibility than the volume of content on your own site. In other words, publishing more pages barely moves the needle; getting talked about across the sources AI already trusts is what earns citations. That's precisely the territory digital PR has always owned.
Digital PR, earned coverage, brand-mention outreach and quality link building have always been our discipline. What's changed is the outcome we engineer for. Instead of chasing link volume, we build the signals AI weighs most: recognition of your brand as a clear entity, consistent association with the topics you want to own, credible mentions across the sources AI cites, and positive sentiment around your name. We identify where AI already pulls its answers in your category, find where your brand is absent, and earn your presence there.
Request an AI Visibility AuditWe build the off-site signals AI engines use to judge credibility, so your brand is recognised, trusted and cited across the sources that shape AI answers. It's one of the core brand recognition features within our wider GEO agency strategy, working alongside technical GEO, content optimisation and AI search tracking to provide the clear metrics to validate the LLM investment and grow your visibility across AI search.
Before any outreach, we test how visible you actually are. We run a library of real category prompts known to perform throughout specific AI assistants "best [category] platform for enterprise", "[your brand] vs [competitor]", "how do I [task]" across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. We record where your brand appears (or doesn't), which sources are driving the citations, and where competitors are being cited without you. The output is a clear Share of Citation baseline and a prioritised target list of the exact publications, platforms and threads AI is already using in your category.
AI engines reason about brands as entities, not keywords, so the first task is making sure your brand is clearly defined and consistently recognised. We strengthen the structured sources that feed knowledge graphs and define consistent naming and descriptions across every external platform. A well-defined entity gives AI a stable, trusted reference point to attach your expertise to.
Credible coverage in trusted publications is one of the strongest signals AI uses to assess authority. We plan data-led stories, original research, expert commentary and reactive PR designed to earn mentions in the outlets and trade titles that matter in your sector. the same sources AI draws on when generating answers. Crucially, we target the publications AI actually cites for your category, which research suggests overlap surprisingly little with the outlets PR teams habitually pitch. Each placement is built to reinforce your expertise, not just to win a link.
Original data is one of the few assets AI cites regardless of who publishes it, because it exists nowhere else. We design and place surveys, benchmarks and industry reports that create a factual anchor unique to your brand, the kind of stat-rich, structured content AI engines reference repeatedly. This is among the highest-leverage activities most brands aren't doing.
What the web repeatedly says about you becomes what AI believes about you. We define a clear, repeatable descriptor that pairs your brand with the topics you want to own - for example "UK garden buildings specialists" and apply it consistently across press releases, quotes, author bios and profiles. When trusted sources echo the same association, AI learns the pattern and begins citing you for related questions. We also align bios, staffing numbers and product details across channels, because inconsistencies erode the trust AI places in your brand.
Links still matter, but their role has changed. In AI search they act as topic validation, telling engines your brand belongs in the same cluster as other trusted sources so quality, relevance and in-content placement matter far more than volume. We earn high-authority, topically relevant links, and we find the places where your brand is already mentioned without a link and turn those into linked, fully credited references.
A large share of AI citations comes from community platforms such as Reddit, YouTube, Quora and LinkedIn, where AI finds authentic, experience-led discussion. We identify the specific threads, questions and topics AI is already pulling into answers in your category, then build a genuinely helpful contribution there. The aim is to be the useful source AI reaches for, never thin self-promotion, which gets ignored.
Video is one of the strongest single correlations with AI visibility, because engines can read transcripts and cite them. We help place your experts on established industry channels and podcasts, and structure your own video with clear titles, descriptions and chapters so it becomes a retrievable, citable source rather than an overlooked asset.
Review platforms and structured directories such as G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and sector-specific listings carry strong, schema-rich signals AI engines trust, especially for comparison and "best-of" style prompts. We make sure your profiles are claimed, complete, accurately categorised and consistent with your wider entity, and we help you earn the fresh, positive reviews that influence whether AI recommends you over a competitor.
Wikipedia is one of the most trusted sources AI engines draw on, and a linked Wikidata entry feeds the structured knowledge graphs behind AI answers, so a presence here is a powerful entity signal. It's also strictly governed: a page requires genuine notability and independent, verifiable coverage, and it cannot read as promotional. We assess whether your brand realistically qualifies, build the independent source base that supports notability, and handle creation or correction in line with Wikipedia's guidelines.
We run your category’s real prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to show exactly where you’re cited, where competitors appear without you, and your Share of Citation baseline. Book an AI footprint audit to get your prioritised plan.
Book an AI footprint auditBuyers were researching providers through AI tools like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity and Six Degrees wasn't being recommended.
Our three-pillar GEO strategy fixed that, earning the #1 AI Overview citation for "penetration testing services" and lifting AI Share of Voice from 0% to 20% for core security products in seven days. From a digital PR perspective we sourced resources and best lists to include the brand while additionally making sure the company was listed in partner and accreditation directories (NIST/CREST) that were coming up in the citation requests.
The result: +200% penetration testing conversions and +500% across managed security services.
Read our GEO case study
It's the practice of earning the third-party coverage, brand mentions and citations that AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews use to build their answers. Sometimes called GEO PR or off-site GEO, it shifts the goal of digital PR from rankings and link volume to becoming a credible, citable source AI trusts.
Off-page SEO has traditionally been about building backlinks to lift rankings. Digital PR for AI search is about shaping how AI engines understand and trust your brand across the whole web, moving from link volume to entity recognition, consistent brand mentions, credible third-party coverage and positive sentiment. Many activities overlap, but the goal is being cited as a trusted source in AI answers, not only ranking a page.
Yes, but their role has shifted. Backlinks still help AI engines discover your pages and validate that your brand belongs among trusted sources, but quality and topical relevance matter more than ever. Brand mentions (even unlinked) now carry comparable or greater weight: an Ahrefs analysis of around 75,000 brands found brand mentions correlate more strongly with AI visibility than backlinks alone. The strongest approach combines both: high-authority, relevant links and consistent, credible mentions of your brand.
Primarily from third-party sources rather than your own website within reference hubs like Wikipedia, community platforms like Reddit, YouTube and Quora, review sites such as G2 and Trustpilot, and trusted editorial and trade publications. A brand's own site typically accounts for only a small share of the citations in answers about it, with the large majority coming from elsewhere. That's precisely why digital PR for AI search matters: it earns you a presence in the sources AI already trusts.
Yes. AI engines read text and understand contextual topical maps, so a mention of your brand in a trusted publication or discussion helps them recognise you as an entity and associate you with a topic, even without a hyperlink. An unlinked mention in a high-authority source can be more valuable for AI visibility than a link from a low-quality one. We still work to convert valuable unlinked mentions into linked, credited references where we can.
We baseline your Share of Citation across a defined set of category prompts, then track it monthly alongside brand mentions, sentiment and AI-referral traffic. We tie each piece of coverage to the citation movement that follows it, so you can see exactly which activity is driving visibility in AI answers.
Because earning credible coverage and authority is exactly what we've done for over fifteen years, now directed at AI visibility. Digital PR, brand-mention outreach and quality link building have long been core to our work, and these are the same signals AI engines weigh when deciding who to trust and cite. We take a hands-on, data-led approach: defining how your brand should be understood, earning a presence in the sources AI draws on, and measuring the impact on real citations. It's the same standard of work that earned us Best SEO Campaign at this year's European Search Awards.
If you have further questions about our geo services, or how content optimisation services through GEO campaigns can benefit your website, get in touch with our team using the form.
