GEO: how generative engines are changing the rules of visibility - and what it means for PR

The search for information now takes place on multiple “surfaces” in parallel. Alongside Google, tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini are growing, producing concise answers to complex questions without forcing the user to navigate through links and pages. According to data from Neil Patel, in 2024 ChatGPT surpassed Bing in monthly visit volume-a signal not isolated, but part of a larger trend in which a growing share of users, especially young people, get their answers directly from generative systems without ever reaching a header or site.

As documented by the Reuters Institute in report on youth and information, 15% of under-25s already use AI chatbots weekly to access news, and nearly half do so specifically to simplify or interpret complex stories. This means that a portion of younger audiences do not find news stories in a headline, but in a summary produced by a system that has drawn on multiple sources and reworked them in response to a question.

For PR practitioners, this scenario opens up a specific question: if the sources that generative engines cite determine which brands, studies, statements, or news stories reach users, what role does communications play in presiding over this visibility?

A change in research structure

For decades, the paradigm of online visibility has been built around the logic of SEO: producing content optimized for traditional search engines, getting on the results pages, generating traffic to one's site. That system is still there and it works, but it is no longer the only channel through which users find answers.

Generative search engines-or, in a more precise term, systems that generate answers from a body of indexed sources-do not produce a list of links: they produce a done and done answer.

That answer is constructed from specific sources, which are selected based on criteria that include authority, structure, clarity of information, and frequency with which that source is cited in other reliable texts.

Those who are quoted in those responses gain direct visibility, without going through a click on a link.

Those who are not mentioned simply do not exist for the user who asked that question.

What is GEO and why it affects PR

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the discipline that studies how to make one's content citable by generative AI systems. Unlike SEO, which works on keywords, backlinks and technical parameters, GEO works on different variables:

• Clear editorial structure,
• Accurate attribution of information,
• verifiable data,
• text organized so that it can be easily processed by an automated system.

The reason this relates directly to PR-and not just digital marketing or SEO-is that communication tools, starting with the press release, have characteristics that are structurally compatible with what generative systems are looking for: clear attribution, explicit citations, numerical data, information organized by points. A well-constructed press release is, by definition, a “citable” text (if it has the right information, in the right structure).

This is not a new issue for those working in PR: editorial quality and content construction meeting the information needs of journalists has always been the basis of the work, as we had described in the article How to turn corporate narrative into news.

What changes is that today those same characteristics-clarity, structure, data, attribution-also determine visibility in the systems that millions of people use to get answers.

Why generative engines cite certain sources and not others

Understanding the criteria by which generative systems select sources is useful for calibrating content production, although there is not yet an established set of public, shared standards. Some insights emerge from analyzing the behavior of tools such as Perplexity, which is particularly transparent about the sources it cites and thus offers a direct indicator of what content is valued.

The variables that seem to affect the most are:

• Authoritativeness of the source. Generative systems tend to favor sources that are already recognizable in the editorial or institutional landscape: newspapers, research reports, releases from verifiable organizations. This means that media coverage in authoritative newspapers-the traditional outcome of a good PR strategy-remains relevant even from a GEO perspective, because it increases the likelihood that a piece of content will be indexed and cited.

• Structure and clarity. Texts organized with headings, subheadings, explicit points, attributed numerical data, and direct quotations are more easily processed. Dense and poorly hierarchical text, even if informative, offers more resistance to automatic selection.

• Proprietary and original data. Original research, unpublished data, and identifiable expert statements carry more specific weight than content that aggregates information already found elsewhere. For brands that produce studies, surveys, or analyses, this is direct leverage: proprietary data become citable assets for both journalists and AI systems.

• Update and temporal relevance. Generative systems-especially those with real-time web access such as Perplexity-prioritize recent content on topical issues. A constant, up-to-date presence is more effective than episodic spikes in visibility.

The press release as a structured asset

Among professional communication tools, the press release has characteristics that make it particularly suitable for GEO logic, provided it is constructed in an intentional way and not simply as a summary of an event.

The characteristics that make a statement “citable” by AI systems are the same as those that make it effective for journalists:

• an opening that answers the question “why this information matters now.”,
• Accurately attributed citations (name, role, organization),
• verifiable data with indicated source, structure separating primary and background information.

What changes in the GEO perspective is the addition of some elements designed explicitly for machine readability: summary points in the initial sections, questions and answers that anticipate the most likely queries, vocabulary consistent with the search terms used by the audience.

The most relevant conceptual point, however, is that the press release stops being a tool exclusively for journalists and becomes an editorial asset that can be processed and reused by multiple systems-human and automated.

This slightly shifts the perspective with which it is constructed: from “text to persuade a journalist to write about it” to “document that contains accurate, verifiable, and structured information about a relevant fact.”.

This distinction also applies to distribution. A press release published on the press section of the corporate website, properly indexed, with clear metadata, remains available as a source even months after its release-with value that accumulates over time and can continue to generate results.

How to monitor your visibility in generative results

Unlike traditional SEO, where ranking in search results is measurable with established tools, GEO visibility monitoring is still in its infancy. Some practices are emerging as de facto standards.

Perplexity is the most useful tool to start with: it allows you to transparently see which sources are cited in response to specific queries. Performing research on your brand, the topics you want to be positioned on, the client's products or services, and systematically analyzing which sources appear is an exercise that produces direct information about your generative visibility.

ChatGPT and Gemini are less transparent about sources, but querying them with sector-specific questions provides insight into which brands, studies, or statements are spontaneously associated with certain topics. If one's brand never appears, or if competitors appear, it is a sign that the body of information available on that brand has not reached critical mass in the indexed sources.

Periodic comparison of these results over time enables the construction of an informal indicator of one's generative visibility-not yet standardized, but already operationally useful.

Strategic implications for those working in communications

GEO does not replace SEO or eliminate the value of traditional media coverage, but rather introduces it as a third level of visibility-alongside search engine and media presence-with its own logic and levers, enhancing content.

For those working in PR, the most immediate implications are in three areas.

• The editorial quality of the content produced. Press releases, product sheets, company biographies, and “about us” pages are all documents that can be indexed and cited. Constructing them with attention to structure, attribution, and accuracy of information has a return that exceeds the impact in print alone.

• The production of proprietary data. Surveys, original research, scenario analysis, and industry studies are high potential assets to be cited, both for journalists and for generative systems. A brand that regularly produces original data on its industry accumulates authority over time that translates into both editorial and algorithmic visibility. We had discussed this in relation to media relations in the article on the’evolution of media relations, where relational value with journalists remains central, but is integrated with increasingly structured content production.

• The presidium of nontraditional channels. Corporate blogs, newsletters, podcasts, participation in industry communities-all these channels produce content that can be indexed and cited. All of this, of course, does not replace work on headlines, but broadens the scope of materials that build a brand's visibility cumulatively.

The bottom line is that GEO, even in its technical novelty, asks of communications professionals exactly what quality journalism has always asked for: accurate, attributed, verifiable information organized to answer a specific question.

The difference is that today that information must be readable not only by the writer of a piece, but also by the systems that synthesize the world for millions of people.

For more on the topic of visibility in new media read also New media and PR: challenges and opportunities in a fragmented landscape e 8 steps to set up a PR and media relations strategy.