If AI is answering for your brand, what is it saying?

Since we can remember, brands have approached online visibility with one objective in mind; rank highly, earn the click and tell the story on their own website. Whilst this remains important, AI search is changing the game and the overall journey. Potential customers can now ask a question, receive a summary or recommendation and form their very own impression without ever visiting a company website - scary, right?

It's no longer enough to be visible in a list of links; instead, a brand also needs to be understood, trusted and found within the answer. Above all else, the results need to be positive, otherwise it can be detrimental.

Translating that into reputation for brands, it means somebody can get an idea of your business – the good, the bad and the ugly – without even clicking on your website. Depending on what information they receive, that will inform their next action: do they click or avoid?

AI is forming a view of your brand

AI tools build answers from a wide mix of sources; Google says that its AI search features use established quality checks and search related questions for useful, up-to-date information. This means that a brand is no longer represented by one approved company description on a website; media coverage, reviews, expert commentary, third-party endorsements and much more all contribute to the bigger picture.

An outdated biography, inconsistent product language or an unsupported claim may seem minor in isolation. However, when an AI engine pieces those sources together, it can provide an inaccurate description, present an outdated view or leave the brand out entirely. If trusted sources do not connect the brand with a topic, AI has little reason to make the connection between the two.

Authority is built beyond owned channels

To make it clear, we’re not saying that owned channels are obsolete. In fact, they need to become further embedded within the omnichannel marketing approach – giving a brand a home for its facts, thinking and proof points. But, as we always say in PR, saying something about yourself is not the same as having others confirm it.

Recent studies have found that AI search favours trusted third-party sources over brand-owned and social content – of course, results vary by platform, question, language and sector, but the bottom line is the same. That means media relations, analyst engagement and expert commentary shape how AI presents a brand, as well as how people see it.

We wrote about this topic in our blog, The future of Digital PR is human-first and AI-ready, discussing how content should be written with two audiences in mind.

So, what does this mean for communications teams?

The key is adopting a more connected way of thinking. Teams should be asking themselves: how does the brand appear, which sources shape that view, and can both people and AI understand why it is credible?

Do a test - ask the questions that people search when looking for your product/service and make a note of whether your brand appears. If you do, great. If you don’t, then what does the AI engine say and who is showing up?

If you’re not appearing within the search results, then the focus here is on showing evidence rather than simply creating more content. Pick a few topics the organisation genuinely knows well, create some content and then back them up with original research, named experts, customer examples and comments from independent sources. That content could be a blog post, a social media video or a thought-leadership article in a reputable industry publication. Whatever it is, make sure it’s engaging, offering a new perspective or sharing relevant experience.

The goal is to make trustworthy expertise easy for people and AI tools to find, understand and check - that’s how you’ll begin to show up.

Measure these areas together too, check whether AI mentions the brand, which sources it relies on, whether the information is correct and which topics it links to the organisation. As we’ve outlined, these mentions matter and mean that AI is answering for you when somebody asks a relevant question.

AI shouldn’t be filling the gaps

Before AI search, gaps were exactly that: just gaps. But now, with AI wanting to build a fuller picture for the user, these gaps can be dangerous. AI will try its best to flesh out the story, add narrative and give context, even if it doesn’t exist. And that is the exact outcome you want to avoid, often resulting in people receiving fake information or an embellished layer of plot that simply isn’t true.

As a brand, you always want to own the narrative so looking at where your brand shows up, how it does so and why, is important for the longevity of success. The future of online reputation is understanding how human and AI audiences form a view of a brand. Humans decide whether it feels credible, but search and AI systems increasingly influence whether that credibility is visible.

No brand can control every answer, but it can improve the information, expertise and independent evidence behind them.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss how your third-party recommendations through PR, media and digital can impact your reputation.