A founder called us in a quiet panic.
“Someone told me to ask ChatGPT who the top companies in my space are,” she said. “We didn’t come up.”
Her company had strong revenue. Solid SEO. Paid ads performing well. A polished website.
But when she asked AI tools like ChatGPT about leaders in her category, competitors were mentioned. She wasn’t.
That moment changed how she thought about visibility.
Because search is no longer just Google.
It’s LLMs. It’s AI search. It’s generative answers.
And if your brand isn’t part of the public narrative, you don’t get suggested.
Here’s the truth most founders don’t realize:
Earned media is now one of the strongest levers for influencing what AI says about your brand.
Why LLM Visibility Is the New SEO
When people ask:
“What are the best health tech startups?”
“Top PR agencies for startups”
“Who are the leaders in fintech?”
“Best platforms for remote healthcare?”
They are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools.
These large language models do not “crawl your ads.”
They synthesize publicly available information, patterns, and authority signals.
If your brand is consistently mentioned in:
- Reputable publications
- Industry roundups
- Expert commentary articles
- Data reports
- Thought leadership features
You are far more likely to be surfaced.
This is where earned media and AI search visibility intersect.
How Earned Media Influences ChatGPT and AI Recommendations
AI models generate answers based on patterns of authority across the web.
They detect:
- Which companies are frequently mentioned
- Which brands are cited in credible sources
- Which founders are quoted as experts
- Which businesses are associated with specific categories
This is not about keyword stuffing.
This is about authority footprint.
If your competitors have consistent earned media coverage and you do not, they become statistically more associated with your category.
That association influences AI responses.
The founder we mentioned earlier learned this quickly.
Her competitor had been featured in three major industry publications over the prior year. Quoted in two trend pieces. Listed in a “Top 10 Companies to Watch” roundup.
She had better revenue.
They had better narrative presence.
Guess who ChatGPT mentioned?
Earned Media Is Generative Engine Optimization
There’s a growing term in the industry: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
It’s the evolution of SEO.
Instead of optimizing solely for Google rankings, you optimize for AI-generated answers.
Earned media is foundational to GEO because it:
- Expands your brand mentions across authoritative sources
- Strengthens semantic association with your category
- Reinforces expertise signals
- Increases your probability of being synthesized into AI answers
You cannot buy your way into LLM credibility.
You build it.
Why Traditional SEO Alone Is Not Enough
SEO focuses on ranking your website.
AI models synthesize the broader web.
If your authority only exists on your own domain, your influence is limited.
The founder we worked with had strong organic traffic.
But outside her website, her brand was largely invisible.
We shifted strategy.
Over six months, we secured:
- Two data-driven industry features
- Consistent expert commentary placements
- A category roundup inclusion
- One nationally recognized award feature
Six months later, she ran the same AI query.
Her company appeared.
Nothing changed about her product.
Everything changed about her authority footprint.
The Authority Flywheel: PR → AI Visibility → Market Leadership
Here’s how the compounding effect works:
- Earned media increases authoritative brand mentions
- Authoritative mentions strengthen category association
- Stronger association increases LLM visibility
- LLM visibility increases brand awareness
- Increased awareness leads to more media opportunities
This is not vanity.
This is infrastructure.
In a world where AI recommendations influence buyers, investors, and hiring decisions, earned media becomes strategic positioning.
How to Increase Your Brand’s Visibility in ChatGPT and AI Search
If you want your brand suggested in LLMs, focus on:
1. Category Ownership
Ensure media consistently associates your brand with a defined category.
Not vague positioning. Clear association.
2. Expert Commentary
Founders quoted as experts increase brand synthesis probability.
Journalists are training data.
3. Data and Research Assets
Original insights get cited repeatedly. Citations compound authority.
4. High-Authority Mentions
Not all press is equal.
Mentions in recognized, authoritative publications carry more weight in shaping perception across the web.
5. Consistency Over One-Off Hits
AI visibility builds through pattern recognition.
One article won’t move the needle. A steady presence will.
(Want to see what consistent earned media actually looks like? Check out how we track PR success metrics beyond vanity metrics.)
The Bigger Strategic Shift
At the beginning, the founder thought she had an SEO problem.
In the middle, she realized she had an earned media gap.
At the end, she understood something more important:
In the AI era, visibility is no longer just about ranking. It is about recommendation.
If your competitors are consistently discussed in reputable media and you are not, AI systems are more likely to surface them.
This is not speculation.
It is pattern logic.
Does Earned Media Help You Show Up in ChatGPT?
Yes.
Not because PR “controls” AI.
But because earned media expands your authoritative presence across the web, which increases the likelihood of inclusion in AI-generated answers.
The brands that dominate the narrative dominate the suggestions.
Final Takeaway
Search is evolving.
Google rankings still matter.
But AI recommendations are influencing decisions earlier in the buyer journey.
If you want your brand to be suggested when someone asks:
“Who are the top companies in this space?”
You need more than ads and blog posts.
You need authority.
Earned media builds that authority.
At Disrupt PR, we help growth-stage companies expand their authority footprint so they are visible not only in search engines, but in AI-driven discovery platforms.
If you’re wondering whether your brand is showing up in ChatGPT or AI search results, it may be time to look beyond SEO and invest in earned credibility.
Ready to build an earned media strategy that positions your brand for AI visibility? Let’s talk.
