Getting Noticed by AI: A Simple PR Guide

Why AI Search Matters

AI‑powered search tools—like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude—are becoming the first place people look for answers. If your brand shows up there, you stand out. That means more awareness, more trust, and more customers.

One of the ways to get into the AI search results is to show up on ‘high crawl’ websites like news sites.  These sites are trustworthy sources for the AI bots to get information to cite in their generated prompt results.

How Brands Get Into AI With News Sites

1. Do Something Newsworthy.

   • Launch a new product.

   • Win an award.

   • Announce a major partnership.

2. Work with PR.

   • Share your story with top news outlets.

   • Use a PR firm to help craft and place your news.

Important: The Robots.txt File Is Your AI Gatekeeper

Every website has a small text file called robots.txt. It tells automated bots which pages they can read and index.

• Allow your bot? List its name under User-agent: and use Allow:

• Block your bot? List it and use Disallow:

If you don’t allow a bot, it won’t see or share your content.

Which Of the Top News Sites Have The Most Influence Over The AI Search Results?

We analyzed 105 of the world’s top news sites, and here’s what we found:

(Ask your PR team to review each site’s robots.txt before outreach because this changes all the time.)

Top News Sites for ChatGPT

To boost your chances of showing up in ChatGPT’s results, aim for coverage on sites that let its crawler in. Here are the top ten news sites to target:

• reuters.com

• ft.com

• nypost.com

• wsj.com

• thesun.co.uk

• dw.com

• washingtonpost.com

• theatlantic.com

• thetimes.co.uk

• businessinsider.com

Top Sites for Other AI Tools

• • Claude (Anthropic):

    • economist.com

    • bloomberg.com

    • theguardian.com

  • Perplexity:

    • dw.com

    • businessinsider.com

    • latimes.com

    • politico.com

Which News Sites Block the Most Bots?

Some publishers block nearly every AI crawler. Top 10 blockers include:

• dailymail.co.uk

• metro.co.uk

• cnbc.com

• seattletimes.com

• nytimes.com

• buzzfeed.com

• huffpost.com

• pcmag.com

• bbc.com

• ft.com

(Blocking means any content on these sites won’t get crawled by the AI bots, and won’t show up on the AI search results.)

Who Welcomes All Bots?

A few sites make their content fully open and don’t block any bots:

• foxnews.com

• time.com

• vice.com

• asiatimes.com

• bangkokpost.com

• channelnewsasia.com

• dallasnews.com

What This Means for You

• Plan your PR around sites that welcome your chosen AI bots.

• Check robots.txt. It’s a quick way to see who allows or blocks each AI.

• Balance control and visibility. Your site has a robots.txt file too!  If you block all bots, AI can’t share your news. If you allow the right bots, you tap into powerful new audiences.

With the right strategy, your brand can rise to the top of AI search results—putting you ahead of the competition.

About The Author

Dave Burnett

I help people make more money online.

Over the years I’ve had lots of fun working with thousands of brands and helping them distribute millions of promotional products and implement multinational rewards and incentive programs.

Now I’m helping great marketers turn their products and services into sustainable online businesses.

How can I help you?

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