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AI Is Changing Websites. Earned Media Is Changing Website Results. 

by Rachel Spencer

Your marketing strategy needs both. 

AI is not the first major disruptor to upend the world of marketing. Mobile phones changed how we designed for web. Social media changed how we engage with our audiences. Search changed how those audiences find us. 

AI adds another shift, but it’s one that’s changing everything all at once. Design, communications, distribution, and search. And we don’t have a few years to implement it. 

Your Website Needs to Be Built for AI 

Answer engine optimization, or AEO, is the work of structuring site content so it can be discovered, understood, summarized, and cited by AI-powered tools. 

Students are increasingly starting their research with an AI tool that summarizes information instead of a list of search results. That changes what people see first and how they form opinions. And where do you think those AI tools are getting the information they spit out on your behalf? Hopefully it’s your website. But if you’re not optimized for AEO, it’s coming from somewhere else. 

AI doesn’t browse pages or admire design. It extracts information, reconciles inconsistencies, and decides which sources are credible enough to cite. Websites are no longer evaluated page by page. They are evaluated as sources of truth within a much larger information ecosystem. 

AEO best practices fall into three buckets: performance and accessibility, content structure and page format, and technical foundations and credibility signals. But even a well-built site can’t do this alone. 

Earned Media Is What AI Trusts 

For years, earned media was treated as supplementary. Helpful for awareness, but secondary to digital performance. AI has flipped that equation. 

A May 2026 report from Muck Rack analyzed more than 25 million links across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Earned media accounted for 84% of AI citations. So our GenXers and adult learners are being influenced by media mentions again, even when they don’t intend to be. The argument that earned media isn’t needed because young adults get their news on social is a lot more nuanced than it was even a year ago. 

One of our frequent sayings about the value of PR is that if you’re not out there telling your story, someone else is. In an AI-mediated world, PR legitimizes your website. If your institution is absent from the media coverage AI is reading, you are absent from the answers AI is giving. 

Neither Works Without the Other 

Your website can be accurate and well designed, and AI can still skip it if third-party sources don’t support your claims. At the same time, PR is not a substitute for strong website standards. Institutions need both. 

Coordination matters. If the same program is described five different ways across coverage, AI answers become inconsistent. Consistent language across your website and earned media improves accuracy. 

Start With Three Questions 

  1. What do AI tools say about your institution today? 
  1. Which sources do they cite? 
  1. Where does earned media need to support your website priorities? 

That baseline gives you the start of a realistic plan to execute and measure.