Over the past few years, I’ve watched how AI, search and buyer behaviour have been reshaping the marketing landscape. Again and again, one pattern kept emerging in our client work and my own experience as a marketing leader: traditional SEO and PR on their own are no longer enough to keep brands visible and competitive in an AI-led world.
AI summaries, overviews and zero-click results are quietly changing how B2B buyers discover, compare and shortlist solutions. Instead of scrolling through pages of links, buyers increasingly get their answers directly from AI-generated summaries.
As I reflected this shift across markets, industries and many years of working with growth-focused brands, I began to see a different model for sustainable visibility. That thinking led to what I now call the Golden Triangle of marketing in the AI era: a connected approach that brings together media, thought leadership and GEO to help brands stay present, credible and findable in a search environment shaped by AI.
Why traditional visibility is no longer enough
The rise of ‘AI Overviews’ – summaries generated by AI at the top of search results – has reduced organic search clicks to individual websites.
Many recent studies show that when these AI summaries appear, click-through rates to top organic results can drop by 30–60%, depending on the query and dataset.
Zero-click behaviour is growing,too. Various 2024–2025 analyses estimate that around 60–65% of Google searches now end without a click, with mobile searches showing even higher zero-click behaviour, often above 70%.
In other words, users increasingly get what they need from the results page or AI-generated answers, without visiting a website at all.
For brands that have spent years optimising for rankings and traffic, this shift towards AI Overviews is significant.
The question is no longer just, “How do we get to page one?” Rather, it is, “How do we stay present when AI is doing the summarising for us?”
That is where the ‘Golden Triangle’ of marketing comes in.
Media: being seen and validated
Media is the first pillar of the Golden Triangle and a critical foundation for modern visibility. When your leaders and brand appear in trusted publications, podcasts and platforms, you gain more than reach – you gain validation.
In an AI-led environment, this matters even more. AI summaries typically draw on multiple sources. If your brand consistently appears in reputable outlets, you are more likely to be included in the pool of “trusted authorities” that AI tools reference and quote.
Strategic media efforts:
● Put your brand in front of buying teams where they already seek information.
● Create independent proof points that reinforce your credibility.
● Build a trail of references that AI systems can recognise and reuse.
Media will help to ensure you are seen in the right places – by humans and machines.
Thought leadership: turning expertise into a clear story
The second pillar of the Golden Triangle is thought leadership. This is where your expertise becomes a clear, consistent story.
In complex B2B decisions, buyers want partners who understand their world and can help them make sense of change. Thought leadership does this by:
● Clarifying your point of view on key industry issues.
● Answering real, nuanced questions your clients are asking.
● Showing how your experience translates into practical guidance.
Whitepapers, articles, webinars, interviews, and executive commentary all contribute to a coherent body of work. Over time, this becomes a reference library for both decision-makers and AI tools.
Thought leadership helps you become a trusted source of industry insights, not just recognised superficially.
GEO: ensuring AI can find and cite you
The third pillar, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), is about designing content in ways that AI tools can easily find, interpret, and cite.
Where SEO is focused on ranking for keywords, GEO focuses on being the source behind the answer.
It asks:
● Are we structuring content around the real questions buyers type or ask into AI tools?
● Is our information logically structured, well-labelled, and consistent across channels?
● Are we using formats such as clear headings, FAQs, and rich data points – formats that AI can readily summarise and attribute to us?
GEO combines strong content architecture with technical optimisation and message consistency. The goal is not just to appear in results, but to be named and referenced inside AI-generated summaries.
GEO helps ensure you are cited when it matters most.
Bringing the Golden Triangle together
The Golden Triangle works because each pillar reinforces the others:
● Media creates trusted third-party proof points.
● Thought leadership provides depth, clarity, and a distinctive point of view.
● GEO connects and structures this ecosystem so AI can recognise and reuse your expertise.
Together, these elements create visibility. Your brand shows up in respected outlets, in your own channels, and inside AI-generated answers – shaping perception long before a formal sales conversation.
For marketing leaders and founders, the Golden Triangle approach means rethinking visibility as an integrated system, rather than a collection of separate tactics. Investments in PR, content, and optimisation need to work in partnership, guided by a clear understanding of how AI Overviews work and how humans now conduct their searches.
If you are re-evaluating your brand visibility strategy for an AI-led future, we can help you design and implement your own Golden Triangle, connecting media, thought leadership, and GEO into one coherent marketing approach.
Start a conversation with us to explore how this could look for your brand.
