‘Chat, is this real?’ How PR works in a world of AI search and Google Zero

Peter Jackson, head of clean and climate tech at Diffusion, outlines how PR is adapting to a transforming media ecosystem in 2025.

How are AI and Google Zero changing PR?

AI search is changing the way that we find information online. Given the amount of knowledge about that world that comes through that search bar – this is a bit like your eyes and ears getting a firmware update. While for few decades, Google has been about delivering information in the form of links and summaries, it’s now delivering the information itself.

This reflects fundamental shift in our information ecosystem; Google is changing to resemble an AI platform, like ChatGPT. Rather than searching for information, we’re asking AI to do the searching for us, and referring to what it comes up with. In a recent podcast, Matt Pearce, Policy Director at Defend Local News, described how people’s online behavior looks a lot more like that of a Twitch streamer; surrounded by an omnipresent ‘chat’ that can answer questions and help users think through ideas.

What is AI reading?

Companies looking for attention online (which, let’s face it, is most companies) therefore have a new challenge on their hands; figuring out how to get noticed by the LLMs. The answers are in some ways, familiar. A recent study by MuckRack looked into what LLMs were ‘reading’ and the results were clear;

• Much like generations of search engines before them, LLMs prioritise information from respected news sources.
• They rely heavily on journalists over advertorial (but that may be just because there’s less advertorial out there) and particularly value niche industry titles – the unsung heroes of our media landscape.
• LLMs also dig up a lot of corporate blog content, but less so when looking for recent insights on breaking news, and don’t really rate social media.

It’s essentially a repeat of what we learned from the search eras – that there might be short term hacks to appease the algorithms (lots of questions, lists, and bullet points), but ultimately, there’s a real premium for high quality, time-relevant content, and validation from the media that people trust. LLMs have, after all, all been trained by people.

There are technical ways to make content better visible to AI, just like it’s always been a smart strategy to think about search bots crawling a page. But more importantly, it demonstrates the value of what PR has always championed – the right story in the right place. Journalists are critical in doing the things that AI can’t; finding, sourcing and verifying new information, hence why LLMs (like the rest of us) trust them. When PR professionals do our jobs right, journalists trust us; we know what their editors want, and what makes a good story. And with that, the question of getting an LLM’s attention starts with good old human interaction, and a sigh of release that PRs can finally stop pestering journalists to include links in their pieces.

How is Google Zero changing media and PR?

But there’s a far more fundamental change coming. If companies can’t rely on AI search to send audiences towards their websites – what about the outlets themselves?

We’re facing ‘Google Zero’ – the point at which referral traffic for news sites from search engines dries up. As AI summaries take over search results, readers are much less likely to click through to articles themselves; half as likely, according to Pew Research.

As Pearce outlines, ‘hyperlinks, which were once the backbone of how journalism was disseminated on the internet should be thought of as legacy technology in the same way as newsprint – but the hyperlink might be more endangered than newsprint at this stage.’

This might seem extreme, but the numbers bear the shift out: “Traffic to CNN’s website has dropped about 30% from a year ago. Business Insider’s and HuffPost’s sites saw traffic plunges around 40% in the same period”, according to NPR.

Again – this is nothing new per se; it’s a similar dynamic as the ‘pivot to video’, and part of journalism’s ongoing challenge to survive in a world where platforms are becoming publishers. It adds additional weight to legislation (like Canada’s) that tries to force big tech to pay for the quality journalism from which it benefits. Google Zero could well continue the trend towards audiences following individual journalists across podcasts and substack channels rather than news outlets.

Disinformation is consistently ranked as a global threat, and from vaccines to climate change, it’s on the rise. My hope would be that the tech giants realise that they need journalists, and act accordingly. LLMs could easily nudge people to read relevant journalism; and maybe, somehow, a tiny fraction of the trillions floating around in the industry could help keep quality journalism going. Given the attitudes of those at the top to fact-checking, I won’t hold my breath – but if the clickbait-based ecosystem is dead, there is an opportunity to build something healthier.

In the meantime, no matter the medium, the fundamentals of building a reputation remain the same; relevance, trust, and a story that connects with people. As PR professionals, we can remain adaptable to changing digital environments, as we always have – but can’t lose sight of the essentials.

If you’re an innovator looking to build your brand, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at enquiries [at] diffusionpr.com