To be recommended by AI to your prospects before they know your name, you must first have external credit such as customer reviews on verified sites, or media publications
Your prospects do fewer searches on Google. They are so used to conversing with their favorite model of intelligence that they ask them their questions directly. “Which expert do you recommend to me for [leur problème] ?”, “Which company should I choose for [leur projet] ?”, “Who is referring to [tel marché] has [telle ville] ” Artificial intelligence cites names. It takes a position before your prospect has even typed your name.
Your publications in the media encourage the circulation of your name in the answers to LLMs (large language models).
Artificial intelligence tools are based on external recommendations
In ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, or others, your prospect does not receive a list of links. He receives a response constructed from sources that the tool considers reliable (the LLM, for a single user query, breaks down his search into several small segments to try to best cover the exact intention). Artificial intelligence algorithms are based on authoritative sources. The media is one of them. In fact, their content was validated before publication by the editorial staff.
Being cited in a recognized media therefore increases your chances of being included in the responses of artificial intelligence when your prospects ask them about your area of expertise.
Unlike SEO (Search Engine Optimization) where backlinks are legion, for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) it seems that the simple fact that your brand / name is cited in a way that is relevant to your expertise is taken into account.
You must therefore increase the number of places where people talk about you while ensuring consistency.
The credibility and top of mind (being cited first when talking about your area of expertise) that you build through your press publications now extend to the responses of artificial intelligence.
You can also target customer reviews on verified sites, or a Wikipedia page if you are eligible (see chronicles by Nelly Darbois on this subject). If someone talks about you on Reddit there is also a chance that your name will be known to the AI.
The journalistic filter, the gateway to LLM answers
A journalist checks the facts, selects sources, contextualizes the subject and, after validating his writing, publishes content that respects journalistic neutrality. This validation by a third party is recognized by artificial intelligence algorithms as a guarantee of reliability.
Media content that talks about you therefore provides algorithms with the material from which they associate you with your domain. The words that journalists use to talk about you allow AI to better characterize you.
And this is why press relations make it possible to move from “I say that I am an expert” to the external validation of this assertion which provides credibility.
Your prospects consider conversational AIs their friends, so you’ll benefit from a worthy gateway to a friend recommendation.
Adapt your press relations strategy for artificial intelligence
The domain authority (the reputation of a source as a reliable reference in the eyes of search engines) of the media in which you are mentioned is decisive for your GEO. The major media have a credibility built over time that artificial intelligence algorithms enhance.
However, we must not forget to vary the types of media to weave a real network and be truly essential. By varying the media types, you will also be able to vary the angles of approach and therefore prove your expertise on various aspects which will also differentiate you from your competitors both in the eyes of your prospects and also artificial intelligence.
As for your visibility in general, a one-off press campaign is not enough. Regularity counts so that you are sure to stay in the minds of your targets but also in the LLM recommendations.
To remember
In 2026, credibility built in the media is no longer just used to convince your prospects. It also feeds the responses that artificial intelligence formulates to them before they even contact you. Building your presence in the media today means positioning yourself there before your competitors who have not yet thought about it.
