A shift from keyword-driven SEO to question-and-answer GEO is transforming how organizations build authority and show up in A.I.-powered discovery. Unsplash

Earned media has never been more valuable for generating brand awareness. Much like the rise of search engines in the mid-2000s, generative A.I. is fundamentally changing how people discover information. As with search engine optimization (SEO), generative engine optimization (GEO) calls for a shift in brands’ visibility strategies, and in today’s no-click search environment, earned media dominates the results. 

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The ubiquity of A.I.-driven search is clear. Since the rollout of A.I. Overviews—the A.I.-generated summaries that now appear at the top of most Google search results—Google searches increased nearly 50 percent, while website clicks dropped 30 percent overall. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently disclosed that ChatGPT reaches more than 800 million weekly active users.  

Answers from generative search are overwhelmingly pulled from credible national and industry publications, rather than company-owned web pages. Research indicates that 89 percent of links cited by A.I. originate from earned media sources. In this new landscape, visibility hinges less on what brands publish and far more on what trusted third parties say about them. To........

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