If you’re in PR, your 2026 KPIs and metrics now must incorporate the major 2025 development: AI search, or GEO (generative engine optimization). In 2025, GEO became a vital complement to traditional SEO: - 67% of organizations worldwide adopted large language models (LLMs) by 2025, with the global LLM market expected to reach $82. 1 billion by 2033. - 63% of marketers prioritized GEO in their 2024–25 content strategies. This shift is driven by significant changes in search behavior: - E-commerce sites saw a 22% decline in search traffic as AI-generated suggestions replaced traditional clicks. - According to a Geostar guide, brands can increase “brand citations” in AI search by over 150% using GEO techniques. How to master GEO in 2026?Here are 10 best practices for enhancing brand visibility within AI tools and embedding GEO into broader strategies: 1. **Make GEO essential, not optional. ** Generative AI is mainstream; users increasingly turn to LLMs for solutions instead of traditional search. GEO is now a core discovery channel. 2. **Track presence across multiple LLMs. ** Don’t rely on one model like ChatGPT alone; monitor others such as Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, since each returns different results, competitor mentions, and updates at varying rates. A brand might top recommendations on one engine while being absent or misrepresented on another. 3. **Begin with manual tracking. ** Use spreadsheets to establish a baseline by recording brand appearance, tone, accuracy, hallucinations, competitor mentions, and response changes over time. This helps detect small but crucial errors, like incorrect brand descriptions. 4. **Use buyer-intent prompts. ** Instead of generic queries (“Who is the best PR consultant?”), use targeted questions reflecting real buyer scenarios, for example, “Best PR strategists for B2B tech” or “Top agencies for startup launches. ” This reveals how LLMs recommend competitors versus your brand. 5. **Leverage GEO tools, understanding their limits. ** Many tools track only ChatGPT or offer multi-engine data only in enterprise versions. Manual tracking remains valuable for precise, verifiable assessments. 6.

**Adopt a hybrid approach: tools plus human validation. ** Combine automated GEO insights with manual reviews and AI-assisted analyses on structured data to reduce hallucinations, discrepancies, and transparency gaps in lower-tier products. 7. **Create a GEO scorecard or AI Visibility Index. ** Measure and track: visibility (brand appearance), ranking in responses, tone (positive/neutral/negative), and accuracy. This single metric offers clarity over time, identifying where strong SEO may still yield poor AI accuracy. 8. **Compare GEO and SEO metrics side-by-side. ** AI search differs from traditional search but both influence brand visibility and narrative control. Joint reporting provides a fuller picture for demand generation. 9. **Track beyond mere mentions. ** Evaluate if your brand appears accurately, responsibly, and persuasively, including relevance to queries, task completion, context accuracy, and hallucination rates. Plans for 2026 include measuring bias and toxicity. 10. **Monitor journalists shaping AI perceptions. ** Advanced GEO tools reveal which reporters, outlets, and websites most influence LLM understanding of your brand, guiding PR efforts toward the media that truly impacts AI-generated answers. For instance, coverage by a respected analyst blog may outweigh mentions in major publications like Forbes in AI results. In sum, GEO is quickly becoming a competitive edge. Brands that view AI engines as primary discovery tools will outperform those relying solely on SEO and traditional PR. To be surfaced, trusted, and recommended by the platforms stakeholders use, GEO must integrate fully into marketing and PR strategy and measurement. *Lindsey Bradshaw is a freelance PR professional with nearly 20 years of experience working with B2B and consumer tech startups. *