New Muck Rack Study: 73% of PR Professionals See AI Search Visibility as the Next Frontier, But Who Owns It? 

GEO rises as a strategic priority as earned media gets harder to secure

Miami, July 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nearly three-quarters of PR professionals say Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is at least somewhat important to their communications strategy, yet 29% say no one at their organization owns it, according to Muck Rack’s latest State of PR report.

Further, 39% of professionals say they aren’t measuring GEO success at all, despite 45% citing media measurement as a major part of their work. With 61% expecting AI and automation to grow over the next five years — AI, search visibility and GEO have quickly reshaped strategic priorities for the profession without a clear plan forward. 

“Most PR professionals recognize that AI visibility matters, but many companies still haven't decided who owns it or how to measure it. This is a critical moment where better data and better tools can make all the difference in how we approach this shift in the PR workflow,” said Greg Galant, cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack.

Earned Media Is the Engine Behind AI Visibility

With GEO rising in importance and an overwhelming majority of AI citations — about 99% — coming from non-paid sources, the link between earned media and AI visibility is clear. That connection has pushed teams toward authority-building tactics.

Fifty-five percent of respondents named securing coverage in high-authority publications as their most common tactic, while half say they are creating more data-driven content and optimizing for SEO.

More Pitches, Fewer Replies

Despite media relations remaining a core job responsibility, coverage has continued to become harder to secure. Forty-nine percent of PR pros pitch more than 20 journalists per campaign, even as 71% report low response rates from journalists and 61% point to smaller or shrinking media lists.

These shrinking media lists and low response rates reflect a broader contraction across newsrooms. According to Muck Rack’s 2026 Local Journalist Index, the U.S. has lost 81% of its local journalists since 2002. The result is more crowded inboxes for PR pros to break through and added pressure. Sixty-six percent of respondents rated their work stress as high.

Social Media Strategy and Thought Leadership

LinkedIn is the most widely used platform, included in 87% of communications strategies, followed by Instagram at 72%. Still, only 18% of pros name Instagram their most valuable platform, compared to 60% for LinkedIn. 

Half (51%) say that thought leadership has become increasingly more vital in their jobs, up 5% from last year. As LinkedIn becomes indispensable to the PR pro's toolkit, the rising emphasis on thought leadership tracks closely alongside it. 

Methodology 
Muck Rack surveyed 1,115 PR professionals between May 14 and June 12, 2026. The survey was distributed primarily via email. After removing low-effort, duplicate, spam-generated and outlier responses, 971 qualified responses were included in the final analysis. Due to updates in question wording from prior years, direct year-over-year comparisons may not always be applicable. Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding or the exclusion of some response categories. 

About Muck Rack

Muck Rack is the AI communications platform where trusted data, human expertise, and embedded intelligence come together to drive clarity, speed and impact. Thousands of companies turn to Muck Rack to make sense of the media conversation around them and understand how their brand shows up in the news and in AI-generated answers. Muck Rack combines global media monitoring, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) insights, social listening, trusted media data, AI automation, and analyst advisory to help organizations manage reputation, act quickly, and prove their impact across the PR workflow. Thousands of journalists also use Muck Rack’s free tools to showcase their work and analyze the news. Learn more at muckrack.com.

We're Hiring!

Contact: 

Linda Zebian
linda@muckrack.com 

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.