For many years, a company’s digital visibility relied on a relatively simple principle: being present in search engines, appearing among the top results and attracting users to its website.

The rise of generative artificial intelligence is gradually transforming this model.

Today, a business leader can ask ChatGPT to identify the leading players in a market. An investor can ask an AI system to compare several companies in the same industry. A procurement manager can look for the most credible suppliers for an industrial project. A journalist can use an AI answer engine to identify experts able to shed light on a complex issue.

In these situations, users no longer receive only a list of links. They receive a written answer that selects, connects and summarises information from different sources.

This development raises a strategic question for companies: how can they ensure that AI systems identify and describe them accurately, and potentially recommend or cite them?

The answer goes far beyond the technical optimisation of a website.

It involves the quality of the information a company publishes, the clarity of its positioning, recognition of its expertise and the presence of credible references across the wider information landscape.

The media play an important role among those references.

According to Havas Market France’s AI Brand Tracker, published in June 2026, 87% of the sources cited by ChatGPT come from websites other than those of manufacturers and service providers: media outlets and social networks, marketplaces, comparison platforms and others. Manufacturers’ and service providers’ websites account for only 13% of cited sources.

AI visibility is therefore becoming a new dimension of corporate reputation, at the intersection of search optimisation, media relations and editorial communications.

This guide explains the mechanisms behind this change, identifies opportunities for businesses and outlines an operational strategy to strengthen their presence in emerging search environments.

From Search Engines to AI Answer Engines

Traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) aims to improve a website’s presence in search results.

AI visibility pursues a complementary objective: ensuring that a company, its executives, products and expertise are accurately identified and represented in answers generated by artificial intelligence systems.

This discipline is often called GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization.

Other terms, such as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), are also used, although their precise scope is not yet fully established.

In practice, AI visibility can take several forms:

• A company is mentioned among the relevant players in an industry.
• Its products or services appear in a comparison.
• An executive is identified as an expert on a particular issue.
• A study published by the company is used to support an answer.
• A news article about the company is cited as a source.
• Its website is suggested for further research.

These outcomes are not equivalent.

A company may be mentioned without any link to its website. Conversely, a page may be cited as a source without the brand being highlighted in the answer itself.

It is therefore important to distinguish brand presence, quality of representation, citations of company content and traffic driven to the website.

Why Should Companies Pay Attention?

AI systems can influence different stages of business decision-making: market discovery, supplier shortlisting, solution comparison, investment preparation and the search for specialist expertise.

A company absent from these answers may miss opportunities to be discovered by new stakeholders. Conversely, a company regularly associated with a particular expertise or industry may gain an additional form of visibility.

It would nevertheless be premature to regard answer engines as complete substitutes for traditional search engines or commercial relationships. They represent an additional information channel whose uses and mechanisms are evolving rapidly.

The challenge is not to abandon SEO but to build a visibility strategy that reflects new search behaviours.

Reputation as Much as Search Optimisation

Traditional SEO primarily focuses on the visibility of web pages.

AI visibility adds another dimension: how a company is described and positioned relative to its competitors.

Consider a company specialising in digital infrastructure. Its website may rank perfectly for its own name while remaining absent from answers to questions such as:

• Which firms specialise in financing data centres in France?
• Which companies are developing solutions to reduce the energy consumption of digital infrastructure?
• Which experts can explain the regulatory challenges facing this sector?

These questions do not necessarily refer to a specific brand. They ask AI to identify relevant players and expertise. To respond, systems may draw on professional publications, research, news coverage and other available sources. AI visibility is therefore also built beyond the company’s own website.

Not All Answer Engines Work in the Same Way

Generative AI platforms do not constitute a uniform environment.

Some answers are generated mainly from knowledge acquired during model training. Others rely on searches conducted when the question is asked, consulting web pages or document databases. These mechanisms may also be combined.

Systems that use external sources to support their answers often employ retrieval and retrieval-augmented generation techniques, commonly known as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation).

This distinction matters to businesses. A new publication on their website or in a media outlet will not necessarily become part of a previously trained model’s internal knowledge. It may, however, be discovered and used by an answer engine that searches the web.

What Information Can AI Systems Use?

Potential sources are diverse:

• Official company and organisational websites.
• News articles and trade publications.
• Scientific studies and academic research.
• Public-sector data and publications.
• Encyclopaedias and knowledge bases.
• Content published by associations, experts and industry organisations.
• Certain community platforms and public discussions.

The relative weight of these sources depends on the topic, wording of the question, system used and date of the search.

A regulatory question may draw on official legislation. A scientific question may lead to research papers. A question about recent corporate developments may rely more heavily on recent news articles.

Why Do Citations Matter?

When an answer engine cites a source, it makes part of the documentary basis for its response visible.

For a company, this citation may offer an additional visibility opportunity.

However, a citation is not an absolute guarantee of reliability.

AI systems can select imperfect sources, misinterpret information or generate inaccurate answers.

A visibility strategy must therefore pursue two complementary objectives: increasing the likelihood of being identified and improving the accuracy of information that may be reused.

Havas Market France’s Tracker: Media and Independent Sources at the Heart of AI Visibility

According to Havas Market France’s AI Brand Tracker, published in June 2026, 87% of sources cited by ChatGPT come from websites other than those of manufacturers and service providers, including media and social networks, marketplaces and comparison platforms. Manufacturers’ and service providers’ websites account for just 13%.

Based on an analysis of 11,000 answers generated by ChatGPT and Gemini across 12 industries, the study examines how the two assistants select information sources and how their practices evolved between January and May 2026.

What Does This Mean for Companies?

These findings highlight a profound shift in visibility strategies.

Having a well-optimised website is no longer enough. Companies must also develop their presence in the sources AI systems use to construct answers.

Media relations therefore acquire a new strategic dimension. Beyond their traditional role in building awareness and reputation, they help establish companies, executives and expertise in an editorial environment outside their own corporate communications.

This presence should be developed selectively, prioritising the most relevant national, business, specialist and regional media for each sector. An in-depth feature, expert interview or analysis in a trade publication can help associate a company with strategic topics over time.

At the same time, companies benefit from producing authoritative content—studies, surveys, sector analyses and original data—that can be picked up by journalists or used by other participants in their ecosystem.

The challenge is no longer simply to be visible on a company’s own website, but to build genuine information authority: to be identified, recognised and documented by credible sources beyond owned channels.

In this context, media relations become an essential part of an AI visibility strategy, working alongside organic search, expert content and corporate reputation building.

The Media Establish a Company’s Presence on Third-Party Sources

A company largely controls what appears on its own website. It does not, however, control journalists’ editorial treatment of its activities. This distinction is part of the value of media relations.

When a journalist writes about a company, interviews its executives or uses its data, the company becomes part of an information environment beyond its institutional communications. An article can publicly establish:

• The company’s existence and activities.
• Its presence in a particular market.
• An innovation or investment.
• The role of its executives.
• Its expertise on a particular issue.
• Its relationships with other economic players.

This information may subsequently be discovered by search engines and, depending on how they operate, used by AI systems.

From Media Coverage to Recognition of Expertise

Consider a French company developing energy storage solutions. A media relations campaign could enable it to present an innovation to several trade publications, explain its industrial applications and contribute executive insights to articles on storage challenges.

This editorial presence first strengthens its reputation among readers. It may also increase the number of public sources associating the company with specific subjects: batteries, electricity flexibility, energy transition or industrial storage.

When a user asks AI about these topics, the relevant publications may be among the sources consulted. This is not an automatic mechanism. But media relations can enrich the documentary environment in which AI answer engines seek information.

Consistent Repetition Matters More Than the Volume of Mentions

A company can appear in many articles without being clearly associated with any particular expertise. Conversely, several high-quality publications focused on a limited number of themes can help build a clearer position.

This requires editorial discipline. A company must identify the topics for which it wants to be recognised, develop consistent messages and regularly provide verifiable information.

The strategy is therefore not to artificially multiply brand mentions. It is to establish a clear, credible identity in relevant information sources.

How Can a Press Release Achieve Maximum Media Impact?

A press release remains an essential tool for announcing corporate news, showcasing achievements and demonstrating expertise. Its effectiveness, however, depends on a genuine media relations strategy that begins well before distribution and continues through dialogue with journalists.

The first step is to identify the strongest editorial angle. The same announcement can be approached from economic, financial, technological, industry-specific or societal perspectives. A media relations agency’s role is to identify what is genuinely newsworthy, place the announcement in context and develop an angle that will interest editors. This strategic advisory work turns corporate information into a story with real relevance for journalists and their audiences.

The second step is precise media and journalist targeting. Every newsroom has its own editorial priorities, interests and constraints. In-depth knowledge of national, business, specialist and regional media makes it possible to tailor pitches to each journalist and prioritise relevance over distribution volume.

Finally, personalised follow-up is crucial to securing media coverage. Far more than checking whether a release was received, it involves speaking directly with journalists and offering additional angles, exclusive data, executive interviews or expert perspectives. These conversations create editorial opportunities and can turn an announcement into articles, interviews, reports or in-depth analysis.

This advisory and support work takes on an additional dimension in the AI era. Every article secured in a relevant publication enriches the information available about a company, its activities and expertise, creating another potential source for answer engines.

The value of a media relations strategy therefore lies not simply in distributing information, but in generating meaningful editorial coverage, building corporate reputation over time and strengthening visibility—including visibility to AI systems.

The Website Remains the Foundation

The rise of AI answer engines does not make corporate websites obsolete. To be usable, content must be accessible to search engines, properly structured and regularly updated. Companies should:

• Clearly describe their activities and areas of expertise.
• Create dedicated pages for their main offerings.
• Publish factual, verifiable information.
• Identify authors and publication dates.
• Structure pages using descriptive headings.
• Make related content easy to navigate.
• Avoid placing essential information solely in images or documents that are difficult to process.

These requirements are first and foremost SEO fundamentals. Google has also stated that no special markup is mandatory for appearing in its generative search features.

Explainer Content Addresses a Specific Need

Answer engines are often used to understand an issue, compare options or obtain an explanation. Companies therefore have an opportunity when they publish content answering concrete questions, such as:

• How can a data centre project be financed in France?
• What are the main climate risks facing an industrial facility?
• How can a company prepare for crisis communications?
• What regulatory requirements apply to a new technology?
• How can the energy performance of a commercial building be assessed?

Such content is especially valuable when it offers original information: data, expert analysis, practical examples, methodologies or lessons learned.

The objective is not to produce dozens of generic keyword-driven articles. It is to gradually build a library of useful, precise and credible content.

Original Research and Data Are Strategic Assets

A company that produces original market data has particularly valuable communications material. This might take the form of a barometer, survey, industry analysis, scientific study or observatory.

Such content can support several channels:

• A detailed publication on the company’s website.
• A press release or media briefing pack.
• Expert interviews and speaking opportunities.
• News and feature articles.
• Professional presentations.
• Social media posts.

A single research project can therefore sustain a consistent editorial presence across multiple channels. This is particularly useful for companies in technical or regulated industries, where expertise can be difficult to make accessible.

Quality Must Take Priority Over Quantity

An AI visibility strategy cannot be reduced to industrial-scale content production. Publications must deliver genuine added value, answer relevant questions and be regularly checked.

Inaccurate information, unsourced figures, exaggerated claims and repetitive content can undermine corporate credibility. In the AI era, producing high-quality information is an investment in reputation as much as an editorial investment.

Three Complementary Drivers

An effective strategy brings together three dimensions.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) makes website content accessible, understandable and visible in search engines.

Media relations develop a company’s presence in relevant publications and reach audiences it may not otherwise engage directly.

AI visibility (GEO) involves analysing how the company and its competitors appear in AI-generated answers, then improving the sources and content that may inform those answers.

These three approaches must work together. An explainer published on a website can support an interview pitch. Media coverage can reinforce recognition of expertise. Analysis of AI answers can reveal a topic on which the company has insufficient visibility.

Start With the Questions That Matter to Priority Audiences

The first step is to identify the questions that genuinely matter to customers, investors, partners and other stakeholders. An industrial company might focus on decarbonisation, industrial sovereignty or supply-chain resilience. A biotechnology company might examine searches relating to a therapeutic area, technology or research field. A financial services company might investigate questions about an asset class, investment strategy or regulation. Questions should be prioritised according to their commercial and strategic relevance.

Analyse Answers and Cited Sources

For each priority question, examine:

• The companies mentioned.
• Their positioning within the answer.
• Competitors that appear or are absent.
• Sources cited.
• The role of mainstream, business and specialist media.
• Any errors or outdated information.
• Differences between platforms.

This turns a general approach to AI visibility into a tailored diagnostic assessment.

Identify Information Gaps

Results may reveal several situations. The company may be absent while competitors are regularly mentioned. It may be known by an outdated positioning. Its executives may not be associated with subjects in which they have genuine expertise. Cited sources may be old or incomplete. Finally, important questions for the company’s development may not be addressed by any relevant content it has published. These observations help set editorial and media priorities.

Implement a Coherent Programme

An action plan may include:

• Clarifying messages and positioning.
• Improving strategic website pages.
• Creating authoritative content.
• Publishing original research or analysis.
• Developing targeted journalist relationships.
• Preparing executive speaking opportunities.
• Showcasing achievements and evidence of expertise.

AI visibility should not become a stand-alone strategy: it should extend and strengthen the company’s overall communications strategy.

Building Recognition in Competitive Markets

Large companies often benefit from established brand awareness, extensive published content and regular media coverage. Small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies may face a different challenge: their customers recognise their expertise, but they remain relatively invisible beyond their commercial networks. This is especially true of industrial, technology, financial and specialist service companies.

The rise of AI answer engines makes this issue particularly relevant. When a decision-maker asks AI to identify capable businesses in a market, the best-known players are not necessarily the only relevant ones. But companies with little publicly available information risk being overlooked or misidentified.

Making Complex Expertise Visible

A company may possess distinctive technology without being able to explain it clearly to non-specialists. Yet expertise must be described accurately if it is to be picked up by journalists or used in a sourced answer. Communications work involves turning technical knowledge into understandable information without distorting it.

This can involve:

• A clear explanation of the problem being solved.
• Examples of applications.
• Verifiable performance data.
• Customer testimonials, where publication is authorised.
• Methodologically sound comparisons.
• Analysis of economic or societal challenges.

The ability to make complex subjects accessible is an important visibility factor.

International Companies Entering the French Market

For an international company, the challenge is twofold. It must first become known to French business stakeholders. It must also ensure that the information available about it reflects its local strategy.

A company that is well known in its home market may have little presence in French publications. Its international content does not always answer the specific questions of French customers, partners or journalists.

A strategy combining French-language content, local media relations and AI visibility can help bridge this gap. It can explain why the company is investing in France, what expertise it brings and how it contributes to the development of its industry.

Do Not Confuse Ranking, Mentions and Recommendations

Measuring AI visibility remains an emerging field. Answers can vary by platform, question wording, search date, user context and available sources.

It is therefore better to avoid simplistic indicators promising a universal AI ranking of companies. A serious assessment should use a set of questions representative of the needs of target audiences.

Key Metrics

• Presence rate: measure how often the company is mentioned across a defined set of questions.
• AI share of voice: compare its mention frequency with that of identified competitors.
• Quality of representation: check whether its activities, expertise and positioning are accurately described.
• Website citations: identify company pages cited as sources.
• Media citations: identify press articles used to support answers.
• Executive visibility: measure executives’ presence in questions related to their expertise.
• Information accuracy: identify errors, confusion and outdated data.
• AI referral traffic: track identifiable visits from AI systems to the company’s website.

These metrics require a consistent methodology. In particular, the wording of questions should be retained, test dates documented and platforms distinguished.

What Role Should Media Coverage Play?

Traditional media monitoring remains highly relevant. But it can be enhanced with an additional question: do the articles secured appear among the sources cited by answer engines on the company’s priority topics?

This connects two dimensions that are usually measured separately:

• Media visibility among journalists and their audiences.
• The presence of content in AI-generated answers.

Measurement should aim to understand the changes observed.

For a company seeking to structure its approach, an initial 100-day phase can lay the foundations for a sustainable strategy.

Days 1–20 — Assess Your Visibility

Objective: understand how the company currently appears in answer engines.

Priority actions:

• Identify strategic questions related to the business.
• Select key competitors for analysis.
• Test several AI platforms.
• Record company mentions and cited sources.
• Audit existing website content.
• Assess presence in relevant media.

Deliverables: AI visibility diagnostic, source map and comparative competitor analysis.

Days 21–40 — Clarify Your Positioning

Objective: define the expertise and messages for which the company wants recognition.

Priority actions:

• Identify three to five strategic themes.
• Check the consistency of publicly available information.
• Clarify descriptions of the business and its executives.
• Define the questions the company should be able to answer.
• Identify gaps in content and media coverage.

Deliverables: messaging framework, editorial and media priorities, and website optimisation recommendations.

Days 41–65 — Produce Authoritative Content

Objective: improve the quality of available information about the company.

Priority actions:

• Update strategic website pages.
• Publish explainers answering priority questions.
• Showcase achievements and case studies.
• Prepare a study, analysis or expert contribution.
• Structure content for readability and discoverability.

Deliverables: initial optimised content and editorial programme.

Days 66–85 — Strengthen Media Presence

Objective: increase recognition of expertise in relevant publications.

Priority actions:

• Identify priority national, specialist and regional media.
• Develop angles tailored to journalists’ interests.
• Pitch interviews and expert contributions.
• Promote original company data and analysis.
• Organise follow-up and media monitoring.

Deliverables: targeted media relations programme, editorial pitches and initial outreach activities.

Days 86–100 — Measure Results and Plan Ahead

Objective: assess early results and establish a sustainable approach.

Priority actions:

• Revisit questions tested during the initial assessment.
• Measure changes in presence and representation.
• Analyse newly cited sources.
• Assess initial media coverage.
• Identify necessary adjustments.
• Prepare an action programme for the next six months.

Deliverables: interim review, dashboard and six-month roadmap.

It is important to remember that communications results do not necessarily materialise within 100 days. Some changes may be visible quickly, while building a reputation and a strong documentary presence generally takes longer.

1. Assuming Technical Optimisation Is Enough

A technically effective website is essential, but it does not guarantee that AI will cite or recommend a company. Clear positioning, quality content and presence in relevant sources remain decisive.

2. Confusing Mention Volume With Credibility

Artificially multiplying brand mentions on low-quality websites is not a reputation strategy. Accurate information, useful content and legitimate publications should take priority.

3. Overlooking Specialist Media

Trade publications play an important role in sharing industry knowledge. They may be highly relevant sources for targeted searches, especially in technical and regulated sectors.

4. Publishing Generic Content Without Genuine Expertise

Repetitive, poorly documented articles with little added value risk disappearing into a mass of similar content. Companies are better served by sharing what they genuinely know: their data, experience, methods and analysis.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how companies are discovered, compared and evaluated. Nevertheless, it does not eliminate the fundamentals of communications.

A company must still be able to explain clearly what it does, what makes it different and why its expertise deserves recognition. What is new is the growing role of AI answer engines in accessing that information.

The Havas Market France tracker highlights the importance of editorial sources, particularly media sources, in ChatGPT’s answers, while reminding us that their relative weight varies over time and between platforms. These observations reinforce the strategic importance of media relations.

AI visibility: a new dimension for media relations.

Companies are therefore encouraged to view communications as a coherent ecosystem combining their website, expert content, independent publications and executive thought leadership.

The objective is no longer merely to raise awareness of a company. It is also to help new information intermediaries identify it accurately, understand its expertise and find credible sources through which to describe it.

In this new environment, information quality becomes an essential driver of visibility, reputation and growth.

How Agence Constance Helps Companies Build Their AI Visibility Strategy

Agence Constance is an independent consultancy specialising in strategic communications, media relations and financial communications. Founded in 2019, it helps companies and their leaders showcase expertise, increase visibility and build reputation.

Its distinctive strength lies in its combined understanding of business and the media, together with in-depth knowledge of French mainstream, business, financial, specialist and regional media.

As AI answer engines draw on multiple sources to produce their responses, this expertise is a valuable asset in helping companies strengthen their presence across the information landscape.

Our Approach: From Assessment to Action

1. Assess Your AI Visibility

We analyse how your company, its executives and competitors appear in answers from leading AI platforms, using a set of strategic questions defined with you. We identify cited sources, any inaccuracies in how your business is represented and opportunities to improve visibility.

2. Define Your Visibility Strategy

We identify the expertise, messages and themes for which your company needs greater recognition. We develop a roadmap combining editorial content, media relations and search optimisation recommendations.

3. Strengthen Your Presence in Relevant Media

We build a targeted media relations programme tailored to your business priorities and journalists’ expectations. Our priority is to secure relevant editorial coverage that showcases your expertise to the audiences that matter to your growth.

4. Develop Authoritative Content

We support you in producing explainers, research, opinion pieces, analysis and educational content designed to make your expertise more accessible and visible.

5. Measure Results Over Time

We track changes in your media visibility and presence in AI answers so that activities can be progressively adjusted.

Want to Know How Your Company Appears in AI Answers?

Start with a personalised AI visibility assessment.

Agence Constance can analyse your positioning, identify the sources influencing answers in your market and recommend a strategy tailored to your growth objectives.

Contact us to discuss your visibility in search engines and AI platforms.