Your PR Strategy Just Became Your AI Strategy (And Most Marketers Are Missing It)

Look, I've been watching Google's AI rollout with the same healthy skepticism I bring to every "this changes everything" announcement in our industry.

But when Google's VP of Product for Search, Robby Stein, starts confirming things I've been quietly seeing in client data for months? That's when I pay attention.

Here's what he just said that should make every CMO and marketing leader rethink their 2025 budget allocation:

The "old school" tactic of getting press mentions and third-party validation might be more valuable now than it's been in a decade.

And it's not for the reasons you think.

AI Doesn't "Know" Anything—It Searches (Just Like We Do)

Here's what's fascinating about how Google's AI actually makes recommendations. When someone asks it to suggest a business, service, or solution, it doesn't tap into some mystical knowledge base.

It does exactly what a really thorough analyst would do: it searches.

Stein explained it perfectly in a recent podcast:

The AI thinks a lot like a person would in terms of the kinds of questions it issues. And so if you're a business and you're mentioned in top business lists or from a public article that lots of people end up finding, those kinds of things become useful for the AI to find.

Translation? If you're not showing up in industry rankings, media mentions, or credible third-party content, AI literally doesn't know you exist when someone asks for recommendations in your space.

I've seen this play out with our own clients. We had a B2B SaaS company that had been doing everything right from an SEO perspective—great content, solid backlinks, clean technical foundation. But when we tested how AI tools were responding to queries in their category, they weren't showing up at all.

Their competitors who'd invested in PR? Getting recommended consistently.

The PR Paradox: Your Customers Never See It, But AI Does

Here's something I find oddly poetic about this shift. Remember all those digital PR campaigns you ran where you couldn't quite prove the ROI? That Forbes contributor post or industry publication feature that your friends never saw? That "Top 50 Companies in [Your Industry]" list that seemed like vanity metrics?

Yeah, those. AI is devouring all of them.

When the podcast host noted that her PR efforts weren't reaching her personal network but AI was definitely using those mentions in responses, Stein confirmed this is exactly how the system works:

That's actually a good way of thinking about it because the way I mentioned before how our AI models work, they're issuing these Google searches as a tool.

So all those digital PR efforts that felt like they weren't moving the needle? They're now literally feeding the machine that's deciding whether you get recommended or not.

The weird part? This might actually make PR ROI easier to track, because AI behavior is more measurable than human behavior ever was.

But Don't Panic and Blow Your Budget on PR Yet

Before you rush to dump your entire budget into media outreach (because I know how C-suite minds work when they hear "Google says this matters"), let me ground you in reality:

Content quality still matters. A lot.

Stein made this abundantly clear:

In the same way that you would optimize your website and think about how I make helpful, clear information for people? People search for a certain topic, my website's really helpful for that. Think of an AI doing that search now.

The content that ranks well in traditional search—helpful, clear, genuinely useful stuff—is what AI surfaces. The fundamental principle hasn't changed.

Here's what I tell our clients: you can't PR your way past bad content. If your site doesn't actually help people, getting mentioned in Forbes won't save you. AI is smart enough to look past the hype and evaluate whether you actually deliver value.

The Real Shift: How People Ask AI vs. How They Search Google

Here's where it gets interesting for those of us building actual strategies (not just chasing trends).

While there's significant overlap with traditional SEO, AI queries are evolving differently:

• They're conversational and complex. People don't ask AI "best restaurants Chicago." They ask "what's a good Italian restaurant in Lincoln Park that has outdoor seating, can accommodate a party of 8 on short notice, and has options for someone with celiac?"

• They're increasingly multimodal. Voice searches, image-based queries, visual conversations—the interaction model is expanding beyond text.

Stein emphasized this shift:

The kinds of questions that people ask AI are increasingly complicated and they tend to be in different spaces... a lot of it is how to for complicated things or for purchase decisions or for advice about life things.

I'm seeing this in our own analytics. The queries that lead to conversions are getting longer, more specific, and more intent-driven. The days of ranking for "marketing agency Chicago" and calling it a win? Those are fading fast.

What I'm Actually Telling Clients to Do About This

Stop thinking about "AI optimization" as a separate channel. It's not. It's an evolution of what good marketing has always been.

Here's what actually moves the needle:

1. Strategic PR becomes a growth lever, not a vanity play

Get featured in industry roundups. Contribute expert commentary to legitimate publications. Show up in "best of" lists. But—and this is critical—make sure those placements are in publications that actually matter in your space.

AI isn't impressed by your cousin's blog or some pay-to-play "Top 100" list. It's looking for authoritative signals from sources that already rank well and carry weight.

2. Content needs to be genuinely helpful (shocking, I know)

The same "create value" advice you've heard for a decade? It's not getting old, it's getting more critical. AI rewards clarity and usefulness just like Google search always has.

I'm tired of seeing companies churn out mediocre content because they read somewhere that "you need to publish 3x per week." Write less. Make it better. Make it actually help someone solve a problem.

3. Study how people use AI in your specific industry

Don't guess. According to Stein, this is crucial: actually research what questions people are asking AI tools in your space, how they're phrasing them, and what information they're seeking.

We've started doing "AI query audits" for clients where we test 50+ realistic questions someone might ask AI about their product category and see who shows up. The results are eye-opening—and often not who you'd expect.

4. Think beyond text-based keywords

If someone took a photo of your product and asked AI about it, would your content show up? If someone asked a voice assistant a long, detailed question about your service, would you be in the answer?

Image SEO and voice optimization used to be "nice to haves." They're rapidly becoming table stakes.

5. Use the free tools Google is practically begging you to use

Google Trends, Search Console, and even the traffic estimates in Google Ads can give you insights into what people are actually searching for. Stein says these are underutilized, and he's right.

I can't tell you how many companies we work with that have Search Console access and never look at it. You're leaving intelligence on the table.

My Honest Take: The Timeline Everyone's Getting Wrong

Here's where I part ways with the "AI is killing SEO" crowd. Google makes over $200 billion a year from search ads. You really think they're going to scale a zero-click AI experience that torpedoes their entire business model? They're not.

What's actually happening is a gradual evolution where AI becomes one of many ways people interact with search. Traditional search isn't disappearing—it's being augmented.

Will more queries end in AI answers instead of clicks? Absolutely. Is this the overnight death of SEO and content marketing? Not even close.

The companies that will win aren't the ones frantically "optimizing for AI." They're the ones building genuine authority, creating helpful content, getting legitimate recognition, and staying visible across multiple touchpoints.

The Bottom Line (Because I Know You Skipped to the End)

We've been so obsessed with "optimizing for AI" that we overlooked the obvious: AI doesn't work in some mysterious black box.

It searches. It evaluates sources. It looks for helpful content. It considers what credible third parties are saying. It's basically doing what good researchers have always done—just faster.

The businesses that will thrive in the AI era aren't the ones with the most "AI hacks." They're the ones with strong brands, genuinely useful content, credible third-party validation, and real authority in their space.

In other words? Do legitimately good work, get recognized for it, and actually help your audience.

That's a strategy that works whether Google uses AI, traditional search, or carrier pigeons to deliver answers.

And honestly? It's about time we got back to basics.

Want to see how your business shows up in AI recommendations? 

We're running "AI visibility audits" for a limited number of clients. Drop us a line if you want to know where you stand.