Hi there, and welcome to issue #6 of the Outranked SEO newsletter.
One more Monday send left in this first month after today and then I’ll just be sending on a Friday.
Today, I’m looking at the type of press coverage you need to earn if you want your business to be recommended by LLMs.
You’ll learn:
- Why we can’t just adopt a mindset of ‘any mention matters’ if we want to show in AI-powered search
- The types of press coverage and mentions you should prioritise if you want LLMs to recommend your products or services as ‘the best’
- Why the most successful brands in this new era will run two distinct tracks of digital PR work
Let’s get into it.
It’s not a case of ‘any mention matters’ if you want to be recommended by LLMs.
There’s a narrative going round that suggests that you need more mentions of your brand across the web if you want to be recommended by LLMs.
I even shared Ahrefs’ recent study myself in last week’s email, which shows the correlation between brand mentions and increased visibility in AI Overviews.
There’s lots of evidence suggesting that this is true, and I do agree with it. But I feel there’s a big part of the story that’s missing.
And I’m concerned that we’re going to end up in a place where brands are being led to believe that ‘any mention matters,’ just like lots have been taken down a path of ‘any link matters’ for ranking on the SERPs for many years.
I don’t think it’s as simple as saying more brand mentions means more visibility in LLMs.
Why?
Because those mentions need to position your brand in the right context within the right topics. And this is what’s not being talked about enough.
We’re still very early in the era of AI-powered search and (a) as marketers we’re all still learning about, testing and discovering what does and doesn’t increase visibility on these new platforms, and (b) the platforms themselves are still evolving at a rapid pace.
If you want to be recommended by LLMs, then yes, you do need third-party mentions of your brand. It’s why digital PR is going to play such an important role in earning this visibility. But there’s specific types of mention you need to be chasing.
You can’t be recommended by LLMs as ‘the best’ if no one else is saying it…
If you want to be recommended by LLMs, you need to prioritise landing press coverage like this:
This is a product roundup on The Telegraph that we had a Digitaloft client featured in on Friday.
It's part of a wider push to get this brand's products recommended by LLMs.
And look who ChatGPT is recommending:
Our client DeliVita, of course.
They're a high-end option, and it's a real testament of our strategy that their products are being cited as 'designer statement ovens' in LLMs.
Right now, what many brands I speak to want is to be recommended by LLMs when someone asks for ‘the best’ of whatever they sell or offer.
These are the ones most likely to result in a sale or enquiry.
Think prompts like…
- “What are the best pizza ovens under £500?”
- ”I want to find the best digital PR agency in the UK to help get my brand mentions that increase visibility in AI-powered search.”
You get the idea.
Let’s look at what prompts like these return when asked in ChatGPT.
And here are the sources that are cited:
These are pretty much all roundups of pizza oven recommendations. And if you want to see your brand recommended by LLMs, this type of coverage is what you need to make sure you’re included in.
It makes total sense why recommendations are made based on sources like these.
If you want to be cited as the best, it can’t just be you who is saying that. It’s got to be said by other people. And that’s what these roundups in the press are … third-party authoritative publications saying that you’re one of the best [X].
But check this out, too:
Now that ChatGPT gives product listing grids, you can explore why specific products are being recommended; you'll see a 'What people are saying' section in the information that pops out.
These review snippets come from a mix of reviews and... you guessed it, press coverage.
At Digitaloft, we’re doubling down on making sure that the brands we work with are being featured in these roundups.
Why?
Because alongside increasing awareness, referral traffic and sales (hey, these have always been goals of PR, right? It’s not just about links…), being included in this type of coverage increases the chance of these brands and products being recommended by LLMs.
This coverage breaks down into two key types:
- Inclusion in product roundups (e.g. 'the best Pizza Ovens')
- Product-specific coverage & reviews (e.g. the [brand / product] pizza oven can be picked up for £XXX this weekend)
Notice how 3 of those 4 sources shared above were published in the last six weeks.
You need to press talking about your products (or services ... this just looks a bit different; I'll cover it another time). It's as simple as that. Whether it's that you've slashed prices (hello Black Friday PR) or have got them included in a roundup ... it's all validation via third-parties that you should be recommended.
The future of digital PR will mean two different tracks of work…
Digital PR is going to play a huge role in the marketing mix over the next few years. There’s no question about that.
But digital PR to influence visibility in AI search platforms is going to look a bit different to digital PR to influence traditional search rankings.
Let’s just get one thing straight… you can’t just turn your back on being visible on the SERPs. There’s still way more people searching Google than there is chatting with LLMs.
And then there’s the fact that there’s also a correlation between ranking prominently on the SERPs and LLM visibility (people are asking more than just ‘best of’ questions).
Digital PR is going to need two distinct tracks moving forwards, with a hyper targeted focus to increase visibility in LLMs on earning inclusion in the types of product roundups I’ve shared here.
I also think we’re about to start seeing Reddit form a part of broader digital PR strategies (more on this in a future issue, as well as the role of customer reviews).
You need to be included in these roundups if you want to be recommended. And a lot of digital PR isn’t set up to prioritise this right now … for the simple reason that most of these use affiliate links, and there’s been too much prioritisation of the type of links Google rewards (i.e. not affiliate links) rather than seeing the wider benefit - thankfully, at Digitaloft, earning this type of coverage has been part of our strategy for the last 5+ years.
Smart brands are going to need to run two tracks of digital PR work (which rolls up into a broader strategy), each with its own goals and purpose.
You can’t just pivot all of your efforts to targeting inclusion in the sources that LLMs are using, but running the same strategy that’s in place to influence traditional search rankings likely won’t place enough emphasis on them.
The solution is to break out that broader strategy into two tracks, and run the stories you need to run in order to drive growth on traditional search engines AND in AI-powered search.
It’s an exciting time right now, and we’re still early.
Make sure your digital PR strategy is set up to drive visibility in LLMs as well as on the SERPs. It’s going to look a bit different to what some brands are used to (LLMs don’t care if it’s an affiliate link, syndicated coverage or nofollow 🎉), but the brands who invest in this today will be the ones who win big visibility tomorrow.
The takeaway…
If you want to be recommended by LLMs, you need to earn inclusion in product roundups and features. It’s a non-negotiable for visibility.
If you want to be recommended as the best, you need other people to be saying it. You can’t just say it yourself. And digital PR helps to make that happen.
Head to ChatGPT, ask it to recommend the products you sell or the services you offer and go look at the sources… these should be your highest priority targets for inclusion.
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If you learned something from this issue or it’s made you think about SEO a little differently, please consider forwarding it to someone else on your team.
I’m on a mission to make sure more SEO investment actually has an impact on real business metrics.
Appreciate you making it to the end; same time Friday?
I'll be talking about the role of Reddit and Quora in LLM visibility.
- James Brockbank
P.S. If you ever need expert support with SEO or digital PR and want to drive results that actually matter, I’d love to chat. Let’s talk.
📌 This week’s bookmarks:
If I could only send three links to a fellow marketer this week, it’d be these…
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👋 Hi, I'm James...
Managing Director & Founder at Digitaloft.
I've spent the last 10 years building an agency that's perfectly positioned to help ambitious brands to drive real business growth from SEO and digital PR.
You might have seen me speaking at events like BrightonSEO, SMX and the International Search Summit.
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