What is AI reading? Why earned media matters more than ever

For years, brands have invested heavily in content to improve their visibility online. The logic was straightforward: publish more useful content, optimise it for search and your audience will find you.

But as generative AI transforms how people discover information, a new question is emerging: what sources do AI platforms actually trust?

The answer will be of interest to B2B marketing and communications professionals – both client side and in agencies:

According to Muck Rack’s latest analysis of more than 25 million AI citations, 84% come from earned media rather than content published directly by brands.¹ 

Meanwhile, research from Ahrefs (a leading SaaS marketing platform) found that off-site brand mentions correlate more strongly with AI visibility than many traditional SEO metrics, while the volume of content a company publishes appears to have little impact.²

These findings point to a significant shift:

Third-party mentions and independent coverage are becoming an increasingly important part of how AI evaluates brands.

AI is changing the visibility equation

The rise of SEO encouraged brands to think of visibility as a publishing challenge. If you wanted to rank for a topic, you created content around it. If you wanted authority, you built a larger digital footprint. This approach still matters. A strong website remains essential for helping AI systems understand a business, its products and its expertise.

However, generative AI introduces another consideration: credibility.

Unlike traditional search engines, AI platforms synthesis information from sources it considers trustworthy. In doing so, they appear to favour sources that provide independent validation, context and evidence. A company’s website can explain what it does, but a respected publication offers validation – this can help verify whether those claims stand up to scrutiny.

Research published by AuthorityTech highlights a growing body of evidence suggesting that earned media, editorial content and third-party mentions are becoming increasingly influential in AI-generated answers.³

Why earned media is a ‘signal of authority’

One reason earned media appears to perform so strongly is that it reflects consensus rather than self-promotion.

When multiple independent sources consistently associate a company with a particular capability, specialism or achievement, AI models can identify that pattern and use it as a signal of authority. Editorial coverage also tends to contain characteristics that AI systems value, including expert commentary, attribution and external verification.

For communications pro’s, this creates an interesting opportunity. Comms and content output traditionally associated with reputation-building may now play a role in discoverability too.

PR isn’t just about being seen. It is increasingly about being understood and trusted.

What this means for B2B brands

This does not mean owned content is becoming less important. Brands still need authoritative websites, thought leadership and specialist content to explain what they do and demonstrate expertise.

The difference is that content alone is unlikely to be enough.

The brands that succeed in an AI-driven search environment will be those that combine strong content with strong proof points. Customer stories, expert insights and evidence-led thought leadership all contribute to the wider body of information that AI platforms use to assess credibility. It’s an area where the Content Coms team offers niche expertise (and we’re continuing to develop our offering) – particularly for businesses within the energy, clean-tech and infrastructure sectors. 

We know better than most, that in the B2B space customer stories can be especially powerful. They provide essential, independent validation – particularly when there’s a complex, technical story to tell. Capturing a strong, outcomes-led story about commercial and technical challenges is often the ultimate tool to create narratives that can be amplified across both earned and owned channels.

A new role for communications?

Perhaps the most interesting consequence of AI search is that it elevates the importance of a discipline many organisations have historically viewed as separate from digital visibility.

If AI increasingly relies on third-party signals to determine which brands are credible, then reputation, authority and independent endorsement become discoverability factors as well as communications objectives.

Here at Content Coms, the implications of this are clear. We have long held the view that ‘evidence is everything’ when it comes to search. We don’t see this as a return to the past, nor is it the end of SEO. We think it signals the emergence of a new visibility model; one in which brands need both strong content and strong credibility.

If you’re wondering how you can future-proof your content strategy with evidence-based, customer-centric content – we’re here to talk.

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Sources

¹ Muck Rack, What Is AI Reading? (May 2026): https://muckrack.com/blog/what-is-ai-reading-may-2026

² Ahrefs, Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews (December 2025): https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/

³ AuthorityTech, Machine Relations: The Evidence That Earned Media Drives AI Citations (2026): https://authoritytech.io/blog/machine-relations-evidence-earned-media-ai-citations