Digital PR still works as AI search reshapes answer formats

Digital PR still works because AI search still needs proof

The loudest mistake in AI search right now is assuming the game has changed more than it has. The answer format is new, but the underlying job is the same: earn trust, earn references, and give machines something credible enough to cite. That is why the agencies that already know how to build authority, source experts, and pitch link-worthy stories are suddenly in a stronger position than the ones chasing whatever shiny acronym is circulating this quarter.

Greg Jarboe’s framing lands because it cuts through the marketing noise. A solid digital PR framework from 2022 does not become obsolete just because AI answer engines, AI Overviews, or AI mode now sit on top of search. If anything, those systems make old-school discipline more valuable: stronger evidence, better relationships with publishers, and stories that survive when the answer box changes shape again.

The fundamentals did not get replaced, they got promoted

AI search has not invented a brand-new discipline so much as elevated the parts of digital PR and SEO that were always doing the heavy lifting. Earned visibility matters more because AI systems have to decide which sources are credible enough to summarize. Clear narratives matter more because answer engines need to compress complexity without sounding sloppy. Durable content matters more because the surface may change, but the source still has to stand on its own.

That is where the current wave of AEO, GEO, and AI mode terminology can be misleading. The packaging sounds futuristic; the work is still familiar. Agencies that understand that continuity can sell a practical service model instead of a reinvention fantasy: better sources, stronger evidence, cleaner story angles, and tighter outreach to the publishers and experts that AI systems are most likely to trust.

Google keeps pointing back to the same playbook

Google’s own guidance backs up that argument. In May 2024, Google said links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than the same page would as a traditional web listing for that query. That matters because it shows AI search is not a dead-end for visibility; it is a different path to discovery, and the page still has to deserve the click.

On May 21, 2025, Google Search Central pushed the same core message even more directly: focus on unique, valuable content for people, provide a great page experience, make sure content is accessible, and use structured data that matches what is visibly on the page. In August 2025, Google added that AI in Search was driving more queries and higher-quality clicks, while Search still sends billions of clicks to websites every day. The technical backdrop is clear: AI search may change how answers are packaged, but it still depends on crawlable, credible, well-structured pages.

The traffic risk is real, which is why authority becomes more valuable

If the opportunity side is obvious, the risk side is just as important. Pew Research Center found that U.S. Google users were less likely to click links when an AI summary appeared in results, based on browsing data from 900 U.S. adults. In that study, 58% of participants encountered at least one search result with an AI summary in March 2025. That is the part agencies cannot wave away. AI summaries can reduce the impulse to click, which makes being the source that gets surfaced even more commercially important.

Publisher data points in the same direction. Similarweb said its generative AI publisher report showed ChatGPT news queries surged 212% over 18 months, while organic traffic to news sites dropped 26% since Google launched AI Overviews. Reuters Institute reporting in 2025 also noted publisher concern that AI summaries could further reduce traffic flows to websites and apps. Put bluntly, AI search is both a visibility opportunity and a distribution threat. The brands and agencies that grasp both sides of that equation will make better decisions about content, outreach, and measurement.

Why digital PR is becoming more valuable, not less

This is exactly why digital PR still has commercial muscle. AI systems need trustworthy signals to decide what to surface and how to describe a brand. That means the work that looks old-fashioned on a slide deck, earned coverage, expert sourcing, credible references, and a story that actually deserves attention, is becoming more valuable in the places that now matter most.

For agencies, the smartest move is not to rebuild a client’s content and outreach engine from scratch every time a platform changes. It is to use AI search as a reason to sharpen the fundamentals. Better sourced stories get cited more often. Cleaner evidence is easier for machines to interpret. Strong publisher relationships create more durable visibility. And when the answer surface changes again, the underlying authority still holds.

What that means for agency work

The practical playbook is surprisingly unglamorous, which is usually a sign it will work.

• Build stories around real evidence, not just clever framing.
• Use expert voices that can stand up inside AI-generated summaries.
• Make pages technically clean enough for Google to access and interpret.
• Match structured data to visible content so the machine sees what the human sees.
• Pitch narratives that are specific enough to be link-worthy, not generic enough to be skipped.

That approach fits the broader shift in PR measurement too. Muck Rack’s January 2025 State of AI in PR report found that three out of four PR professionals were already using generative AI at work, up from nearly nothing in March 2023 terms of industry maturity. Among those using it, 93% said it speeds up their work and 78% said it improves quality. The workflow is already changing, but that does not mean the strategic core has changed with it.

PR and media relations are adapting, not disappearing

Muck Rack’s own January 2026 definition of generative engine optimization makes the direction pretty obvious: it is about increasing the likelihood that an organization, spokesperson, or narrative appears in AI-powered search responses, with earned media and expert voices as core ingredients. That is not a rejection of digital PR. It is digital PR translated into a new distribution layer.

Cision’s 2025 State of the Media Report, based on a survey of more than 3,000 journalists across 19 global markets, reinforces why this still matters. The more complex the media environment becomes, the more trust, technology, and PR-journalist partnership matter in getting stories placed, picked up, and cited. AI search does not remove that relationship. It makes the quality of it more visible.

The agencies that will win here are the ones that can translate between old-school authority building and AI-mediated discovery without pretending they are separate universes. The labels will keep changing. The work will not. In a search landscape where machines increasingly decide what gets summarized, the most valuable advantage is still the oldest one: being worth citing in the first place.