How do you stand out online? It’s a simple concept to understand, but not necessarily simple to execute.
To make our online presence felt, whether we are business owners, employees or college students, we need to be findable. In terms of Google Search, that means being searchable. Only by providing search engines with valuable information—bit by bit, content by content, day after day—can your name and brand be registered and remembered. That’s the point, isn’t it?
Being “searchable” doesn’t just mean having a website or using social media. It means updating your website regularly—at the very least monthly. It means publishing cool blog posts or newsletters. It means leveraging social media often, interacting with people and engaging with all sorts of content—from posting your own to addressing the work of others. And it doesn’t just mean creating content, whether it’s for a website, blog post or LinkedIn. It means creating valuable content that people find insightful. It means carving out your niche as a thought leader, whether your subject matter is in public relations, marketing or competitive skiing.
How AI Is Changing The Game
In the age of AI, being findable and searchable is all the more important. Today’s large language models (LLMs) pull information from a wide range of sources for responses to user queries, forming AI’s opinion based on the source material that is readily available. Again, this could be from a company website, social media post or news story (earned media matters a lot), but the point is that how you update your brand materials determines how AI perceives you, as has been the case with Google Search for a while.
When people search for your name, what do you want them to find? If you run a small business, what kind of brand do you wish to project? These are important questions to answer, and new research about AI sheds light on the best practices in PR and marketing. We need to understand the top sources of AI content to figure out where to put our time, effort and money.
According to research from SEMrush, Reddit is actually the top source for AI information by a large margin, beating out the likes of Wikipedia and YouTube. Because Reddit is populated by crowd-sourced information, with actual human beings writing out responses that cover various topics, it’s easy for users to upvote or downvote content based on its value to a given audience. And AI takes the popularity into account, prioritizing Reddit content that has been deemed valuable by users. Similarly, content that isn’t particularly useful is less likely to appear in ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
This makes a big difference.
What This Means For Brands
Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are often touted as “must-have” social media platforms in the business world, especially for entrepreneurs trying to make a name for themselves and inspire brand loyalty. The more that business owners and their clients post on these social media platforms in ways that are creative, funny or insightful, the more likely people are to know, like and eventually trust them. These platforms are extremely important.
Reddit works the same magic for AI engines. Opportunistic Reddit users are seeing their content populate prominently in the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. So take notes!
The brands I see doing this successfully are using Reddit to engage with various communities, creating valuable content for niche audiences—from food to fashion. This includes participating in relevant subreddits when users ask questions about a certain product or service, as well as advertising on the platform. Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) sessions are now popular ways for individuals and businesses to establish themselves as go-to resources about a given topic, and their expertise translates to AI engines because material from Reddit pops up so highly. Because queries are inherently inquisitive, Reddit explainer content is a natural fit for LLMs, and brands are taking advantage by being present in these discussions.
SEO Still Matters, Too
From a Google SEO perspective, Instagram is more important now than even six months ago. As of July, public posts from brands and other Instagram accounts appear in Google and Bing search results. In other words, Instagram is more findable and searchable, with pictures and reels now surfacing as search results. Again, this presents a golden opportunity for Instagram users to stand out.
Prioritize Your Searchability
In my line of work, I want to be sure that people find me, not my competitor. If I meet a potential client at a networking event, I want them to remember me after the fact. If they search for my name online, I want the best possible results to pop up. And that means monitoring the current landscape for insights—from Google Search to the leading LLMs of the day.
Take Instagram, Reddit and other high-value content seriously. If you don’t, people won’t stumble across you. You won’t be remembered, while your competitor reaps the rewards.
This article originally appeared on the Forbes Agency Council CommunityVoice in November 2025.
