How can female entrepreneurs build authority in a world where AI decides who gets recommended?
If you’ve been pouring your energy into perfecting your SEO strategy while your PR efforts sit on the back burner, you might want to reconsider your priorities. According to Heather Holmes, who works with over 200 CPG brands as the Founder and CEO of Publicity for Good, the game has fundamentally changed. AI systems aren’t just crawling for keywords anymore. They’re reading your entire story, and if you’re not actively shaping that narrative through strategic PR, you might as well be invisible.
I had the opportunity to chat with Heather to understand what this shift means for women building their businesses and personal brands. And what she shared completely reframes how we should think about visibility in 2025.
The New Reality: AI Doesn’t Just Search, It Recommends
“Traditional SEO was about keywords and backlinks,” Heather explains. “But AI doesn’t just crawl for search, it ingests narratives. When you’re mentioned in credible outlets, podcasts, or thought leadership pieces, those signals become training data for recommendation engines.”
This is a fundamental shift. PR is no longer just about getting your name in the paper. It’s literally teaching AI systems who you are and whether you’re worth recommending to others. Think about that for a moment. Every podcast appearance, every LinkedIn post, every media mention is now part of your permanent AI footprint.
Quality and Quantity Both Matter (But Not How You Think)
When I asked Heather whether a single Forbes feature carries more weight than multiple mentions in trade publications, her answer surprised me. “AI values context and consistency more than prestige alone,” she says. “A Forbes feature carries authority, but ten highly relevant trade mentions show depth and domain expertise. Ideally, you want both: mainstream credibility and niche validation.”
This combination approach teaches AI systems that you’re both authoritative and specialized. It’s not about choosing between big wins or consistent smaller placements. You need the full ecosystem.
Your AI Footprint Is Bigger Than You Realize
Here’s where it gets interesting. AI systems are pulling data from everywhere: Articles, podcasts, LinkedIn posts, and even comments on industry discussions. Heather describes it as an ecosystem where long-form content like articles and podcasts builds depth, while social content on platforms like LinkedIn builds frequency and freshness.
“The most critical? LinkedIn for authority in B2B, and reputable press for third-party validation,” she notes. “The mix is what prevents gaps in how you’re represented.”
The Minimum Viable PR Strategy for Busy Female Entrepreneurs
I know what you’re thinking. This sounds like a full-time job, and you’re already juggling a million priorities. So I asked Heather for the bare minimum strategy that would still ensure AI systems accurately represent your brand.
Her answer was refreshingly simple. You need three things: First, secure at least one strong piece of coverage in a credible outlet. Second, maintain a consistent cadence of posting thought leadership on LinkedIn. Third, make sure your website reflects your narrative. That combination gives AI enough authoritative, fresh, and owned content to work with.
Trust Becomes Measurable (And That Changes Everything)
Heather calls trust “the new operating system,” and AI systems are surprisingly sophisticated in how they measure it. They look at the domain authority of outlets mentioning you, the consistency of mentions across sources, the sentiment of coverage, and engagement signals.
“If credible sources are repeatedly validating your brand, AI assumes trustworthiness,” she explains. “Conversely, silence or scattered mentions weaken that trust signal.”
This means sporadic PR efforts or long gaps between media mentions actively hurt your AI visibility. Consistency isn’t just nice to have anymore. It’s essential.
Your Personal Brand and Business Brand Are One in AI’s Eyes
For those of us building personal brands alongside our businesses, Heather had particularly relevant insights. “AI doesn’t separate the founder from the company as cleanly as we’d like; it cross-links. When a founder builds authority through interviews, op eds, or keynote visibility, that reputation elevates the brand.”
In many cases, your personal footprint becomes the primary lens through which AI assesses your company’s credibility. This interconnection means every effort you put into your personal thought leadership directly benefits your business visibility.
The Mistakes Making You Invisible to AI
Working with hundreds of brands has given Heather a clear view of what doesn’t work. The biggest mistake? Relying only on owned channels, posting to your blog or social media, but never earning third-party validation. “AI sees that as self-promotion, not proof,” she warns.
Another critical error is inconsistent messaging. If your narrative shifts wildly or you’re saying different things in different places, AI can’t piece together a clear story. That’s when invisibility happens. Without intentional PR creating a coherent narrative, AI pulls together a fragmented version of your story that confuses rather than clarifies who you are.
The Timeline: How Fast AI Learns and How Often You Need to Feed It
The update cycle varies by platform, but Heather says AI generally retrains within weeks. The key is momentum. “One big splash won’t sustain you. Fresh mentions every quarter, layered with consistent micro content on LinkedIn or podcasts, keeps the signals active so you’re not forgotten.”
This means PR isn’t a launch strategy or a crisis response tool anymore. It’s an ongoing practice that requires regular attention, though not necessarily massive effort.
LinkedIn: Your Professional Credibility Ledger
For B2B brands and professional services, LinkedIn has become particularly crucial. AI weighs thought leadership posts, articles, and interaction patterns heavily. “Sharing insights on industry trends, commenting on peers’ content, and being cited or tagged in discussions all matter,” Heather explains. “LinkedIn acts like a professional credibility ledger. AI reads it as proof of expertise.”
This elevates LinkedIn from a networking platform to a critical component of your AI visibility strategy. Every post, comment, and interaction contributes to how AI understands your professional authority.
Measuring What Matters
For the data-driven founders among us, Heather suggests tracking several key metrics to understand whether your PR efforts are improving your AI recommendation rates. Look at the share of voice, branded search lift, and recommendation visibility in AI-driven platforms like Bing’s AI results or LinkedIn search.
On the PR side, track volume and quality of earned media, consistency of narrative, and engagement with thought leadership posts. When these metrics trend upward together, it’s a strong indicator that your AI footprint is expanding.
The Bottom Line for Female Entrepreneurs
The shift from SEO to PR as the primary driver of AI visibility represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Yes, it requires more intentional effort than keyword optimization. But it also rewards authentic expertise, consistent thought leadership, and genuine third-party validation, areas where many female entrepreneurs already excel.
The question isn’t whether you need to adapt your strategy. It’s how quickly you can pivot to ensure AI systems are telling the right story about you and your brand. Because in a world where AI increasingly decides who gets recommended, who gets discovered, and who gets opportunities, being invisible isn’t an option.
Start with Heather’s minimum viable strategy: one credible media placement, consistent LinkedIn thought leadership, and a website that tells your story clearly. Build from there as your capacity allows.
But whatever you do, don’t wait. AI is learning about you right now, with or without your input. Make sure it’s learning the story you want to tell.
Emily Sprinkle, also known as Emma Loggins, is a designer, marketer, blogger, and speaker. She is the Editor-In-Chief for Women's Business Daily where she pulls from her experience as the CEO and Director of Strategy for Excite Creative Studios, where she specializes in web development, UI/UX design, social media marketing, and overall strategy for her clients.
Emily has also written for CNN, Autotrader, The Guardian, and is also the Editor-In-Chief for the geek lifestyle site FanBolt.com
