With AI-powered search becoming a major source of information, press releases - verified sources of official company news - are now prioritized by search engines over speculation and conjecture.
In our latest webinar, a group of AI experts that included Christopher Penn (Chief Data Scientist, Trust Insights), Laura Macdonald (Chief Growth Officer, Hotwire) and Mirza Germovic (SVP of AI Solutions, Edelman) shared actionable strategies to help your brand or clients stand out.
Whether you’re in PR, marketing, or corporate communications, here’s what you need to know about press releases and AI search – and how you can turn insights into action.
Today’s AI models are trained on enormous amounts of online content. And press releases are part of that training data.
AI tools don’t prioritize content by publisher reputation the way humans might. They treat all content the same, whether it’s from a major newspaper or a small-town blog.
Penn explained: "AI tools do not have any form of ranking or quality checking when they build models. All text is the same. If you're in the New York Times or you're in the East Peoria Evening News...those are the same thing."
That means every press release you put out there has the potential to influence how AI understands and talks about your brand.
Germovic also pointed out: "Sometimes it is local news outlets, sometimes it’s Reddit threads that the LLMs are picking up as an authoritative conversation around a specific topic."
Macdonald also emphasized the growing role of AI even inside newsrooms: "Some media outlets are already using AI to summarize stories. You could even be pitching a reporter that’s actually an AI reporter."
Key points to remember:
AI-powered search engines use your press releases in two major ways:
Your press release helps AI both "know" about your company and "verify" your company’s information when answering future questions.
If you want your press releases to show up and make an impact in AI search, our panel shared some smart strategies:
AI models collect data from all over, not just major publications.
Penn emphasized: "Be on every podcast that will have you, even if they have two listeners. It's not for people; it's for the machines."
He even shared a creative example: “I turned a press release into a 90s-style pop song and published it to Spotify.” The machines don’t care if it’s a blog post, a video or a cheesy song – it’s all just data.
Publish across multiple channels – local media, trade outlets, blogs, podcasts and social media. Every mention counts, no matter how big or small the outlet.
If you're B2B or focused on niche industries, prioritize trade media and specialized outlets where your audience (and AI) is already looking for trusted information.
Macdonald pointed out: "AI search engines and large language models (LLMs) will be biased towards a kind of relevant trade or vertical media based on that topic."
When someone asks an AI tool a question about, say, healthcare technology, the AI will lean toward showing results from healthcare trade outlets, not general mainstream media.
The right outlet and the right audience = stronger AI association.
Good SEO still matters.
Germovic reminded us: "You have to ensure that you're still maintaining all of your SEO optimizations and technical footing to make sure you're showing up ubiquitously.”
Use clear headlines, relevant keywords, and structured content to make your releases easy for both search engines and AI models to find and read.
AI models love content that answers common questions clearly and authoritatively.
Germovic said: "Structure your press releases in an answer-focused format that will rise to the top."
A smart tip from Penn: ask an AI tool to generate questions about your release, then answer those questions in the release itself. For example:
This makes the content more useful to readers and easier for AI to understand.
If your release explains who, what, where, when, why, and how, it’s more likely to be surfaced by AI when users ask related questions.
AI models are more likely to surface brands they recognize and trust.
Penn stressed: "One of the most important things you can invest in for generative AI specifically is your brand."
Invest in consistent, widespread brand visibility across different platforms to strengthen your brand’s digital footprint.
Penn encouraged creative thinking: "Every channel is an opportunity to publish on, to distribute on."
Don’t stop with a press release. Turn it into:
As technology continues to advance, your press releases need to serve two audiences at once:
This means combining good storytelling – compelling facts, clear structure, strong news hooks – with formatting and SEO that help AI pick up and understand your content.
Ready to future-proof your PR approach? Here's your checklist:
Press releases aren't just a PR tool anymore. They are a key ingredient in shaping how AI search engines learn about, interpret and surface your brand or client.
By adopting a smarter, more strategic approach to press release writing and distribution, you can boost your visibility, influence AI search results and make sure you stand out – now and in the future.
Subscribe to our blog for more best practices and insights delivered to your inbox each Friday.