On press
The Press Release Is Dead. Here's What Replaced It.
A press release is a one-day event. Around 80 percent of AI-cited URLs don't rank on Google. PR now works by building indexed, citable presence, not headlines.
The short answer
The press release as a standalone tactic is obsolete because it optimises for a single day of coverage rather than for durable, searchable presence. What replaced it is earned media built as an indexed asset: coverage designed to be found, cited, and referenced long after publication. This matters more now because AI engines synthesise answers from published third-party sources, and roughly 80 percent of URLs cited by AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity do not rank in Google's top 100 for the same query, according to Ahrefs. A press hit that nobody can find later is a receipt, not a result.
Why did the press release stop working?
Because the mechanism it was built for no longer exists. A press release was designed to push news to journalists on a deadline, producing a burst of coverage on a single day. That burst has almost no half-life. The article scrolls off the homepage, the traffic spike ends within 48 hours, and nothing compounds.
Meanwhile, the way buyers discover brands changed underneath it. They search. They ask an AI. They read what third parties say before they read what you say.
What replaced the press release?
Earned presence that is built to be retrieved. The distinction is between coverage that happens and coverage that keeps working:
| Press release model | Presence model | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Get published | Get found later |
| Success metric | Number of pickups | Branded search lift, citations |
| Lifespan | 24 to 48 hours | Indefinite, compounds |
| Who reads it | Journalists | Buyers, search engines, AI engines |
| Value after 6 months | Near zero | Higher than at launch |
Why do AI engines change how PR works?
Because AI engines cite third-party sources, not your own marketing. An LLM answering "who are the best brand agencies in India" is synthesising from published articles, directories, and roundups. Your own website is the least persuasive input in that set.
The numbers make the case. AI Overviews now appear in roughly 25 percent of Google searches, up from about 13 percent in March 2025, per Conductor's analysis of 21.9 million queries. Around 93 percent of AI search sessions end without a click. And brands cited in AI Overviews see roughly a 23 percent lift in branded search within the following 30 days.
Read that last number again. The payoff of modern PR is not the click. It is that being named in an answer sends people to search for you by name afterwards.
What makes coverage citable rather than disposable?
- It contains specifics. Content with statistics, citations, and quotations achieves 30 to 40 percent higher visibility in AI responses.
- It is published where engines already trust. Roughly 67 percent of the top 1,000 pages ChatGPT cites are sources you cannot pitch your way into, per Ahrefs. The remaining third is where the work is.
- It is recent. Pages updated within 60 days are 1.9x more likely to appear in AI answers, per BrightEdge.
- It names the entity clearly. An engine can only cite a brand it can identify.
How should a startup approach PR now?
Treat every placement as an asset to be found later, not a moment to be seen once. Prioritise outlets that index well and get cited by aggregators. Update older coverage where possible. Build a body of corroborated mentions across independent sources rather than chasing a single big hit.
Frequently asked
- Is PR still worth it for startups?
- Yes, but the mechanism changed. PR now works by building an indexed, citable presence that AI engines and search can retrieve long after publication, not by chasing a single day of coverage.
- Why don't AI engines rank the same way Google does?
- AI engines synthesise answers from a smaller set of trusted, citable sources rather than ranking ten blue links. Roughly 80 percent of URLs cited by AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity do not rank in Google's top 100 for the same query, per Ahrefs.
- How long does PR take to compound?
- Individual placements begin contributing to search presence within weeks. Meaningful entity authority in AI engines typically builds over months of consistent, corroborated coverage across independent sources.
