AEO Rankings · Marketing

AEO for public relations agencies: AI search visibility ranking

By monitoraeo Last updated August 16, 2026 Refreshed every 90 days

How AI search engines rank public relations agencies by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured quarterly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Public relations agencies that help brands manage communications, media relations, reputation, executive visibility, and integrated campaigns. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →

Avg visibility across category

Avg citation rate

20/20

Brands successfully audited

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AI engines frequently identify Edelman as the leader in public relations agility, with a visibility percentage of 25.0. Other noteworthy brands like Burson and Weber Shandwick often emerge in AI-driven discussions as prominent players in the domain, although Edelman's visibility remains unparalleled.

The rankings reflect the prominence of specific online sources that AI engines utilize, such as clutch.co and odwyerpr.com. These sites often serve as aggregator and review platforms, providing AI engines with structured insights that influence how brands like Edelman are ranked in answerability.

For buyers examining the list, consider Edelman's authoritative visibility as an indicator of robust third-party validation and topical authority. This suggests the importance of recent reviews and domain-specific recognition, which AI engines heavily weigh when surfacing brands.

At a glance

Category leader Edelman 25% visibility · named in 2 of 8 AI answers

Most cited brand Finn Partners 12% citation rate · the AI's most-trusted source brand in public relations agencies

Top cited domain clutch.co Referenced by AI across the public relations agencies query set — the highest-leverage PR target in this category

Visibility spread 25pp Gap between top and bottom of the ranking · 17 brands at 0% (invisible to the AI)

What we observed in this category

Edelman holds a commanding position in this category with a visibility score of 25%, exactly double that of its nearest competitors Burson and Weber Shandwick, both sitting at 12.5%. The category average visibility is just 2.5%, meaning Edelman scores ten times that average. This gap is significant because it reflects how consistently Google AI Mode surfaces one brand above all others when answering queries about public relations agencies, concentrating AEO value at the top of a very steep curve.

A notable divergence exists between visibility and citation across the top brands. Edelman, Burson, and Weber Shandwick all carry zero citation scores despite their high visibility, meaning AI Mode names them but does not link out to their domains as sources. Finn Partners presents the reverse case: zero visibility but a 12.5% citation score, making it the only brand in the top five that achieves trust-signal presence through citations rather than named mentions. This split suggests being referenced and being cited are distinct outcomes in this category.

The sources Google AI Mode anchors on for this category are almost entirely third-party directories, trade publications, and review platforms. Clutch.co and odwyerpr.com appear as the leading cited sources, alongside linkedin.com and inc.com. The brand domains themselves generate no citation traffic in this dataset, which means AI is drawing authority from intermediary sources rather than agency websites directly. This pattern has direct implications for where PR agencies should focus their AEO content efforts.

Movers & shakers since last refresh

Biggest visibility risers

Edelman 0% → 25% · rank #6 → #1
+25pp
Burson 0% → 12% · rank #15 → #2
+12pp
Weber Shandwick 0% → 12% · rank #7 → #3
+12pp

Biggest visibility fallers

5WPR 12% → 0% · rank #1 → #7
-12pp

The AEO ranking

#	Brand	Visibility	Citation	Top engine
1	Edelman edelman.com	25%	0%	Google AI Mode
Edelman leads with 25% visibility, ten times the 2.5% category average, but holds a 0% citation rate, meaning AI Mode names but never links to its domain.
2	Burson bursonglobal.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
Burson climbed 13 places from rank 15 to rank 2 with a 12.5% visibility score, yet like Edelman it records zero citations, reflecting a named-but-not-sourced pattern.
3	Weber Shandwick webershandwick.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
Weber Shandwick matches Burson exactly at 12.5% visibility and 0% citation, sharing the same composite score of 8.8 and the same Google AI Mode top engine.
4	Finn Partners finnpartners.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
Finn Partners is the only top-five brand with citations (12.5%) and zero visibility, inverting the dominant pattern and suggesting its domain earns trust as a source rather than as a named result.
5	MikeWorldWide mww.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
MikeWorldWide sits at rank 5 with a composite score of 0.0, recording no visibility and no citations, placing it in a large group of brands with no measurable AI Mode presence.
6	Allison Worldwide allisonworldwide.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
7	5WPR 5wpr.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
8	Hotwire hotwireglobal.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
9	Ketchum ketchum.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
10	APCO Worldwide apcoworldwide.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
11	Real Chemistry realchemistry.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
12	FGS Global fgsglobal.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
13	Zeno Group zenogroup.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
14	Brunswick Group brunswickgroup.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
15	Porter Novelli porternovelli.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
16	FleishmanHillard fleishmanhillard.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
17	Golin golin.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
18	MSL mslgroup.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
19	Hill & Knowlton hillandknowlton.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
20	The Hoffman Agency hoffman.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode

Sources AI engines trust in this category

Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on public relations agencies, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.

clutch.coodwyerpr.comleveragewithmedia.comlinkedin.comthe-square.coinc.comshadow.incgreenflagdigital.com

How to read this AEO ranking

Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.

Visibility = being named

A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer. More on visibility →

Citation rate = being trusted

Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence, different from being named. More on citation rate →

Top engine differs by brand

The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps. How AI engines pick sources →

AEO rankings move month to month

AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 90 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →

Run an AEO audit on your own public relations agencies brand

The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same answer engine optimisation measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.

Audit your public relations agencies brand → Browse all AEO rankings Methodology →

Frequently asked about AEO for public relations agencies

Who leads AEO in the public relations agencies category?

Edelman leads with a visibility score of 25% and a composite score of 17.5, which is roughly double the scores of Burson and Weber Shandwick in second and third place.

What sources does Google AI Mode cite most when answering questions about PR agencies?

The most cited sources in this category are clutch.co, odwyerpr.com, leveragewithmedia.com, and linkedin.com, all third-party directories or publications rather than agency domains.

Which PR agency brands have the highest citation rates in AI answers?

Finn Partners is the only brand in the top five with a positive citation score of 12.5%, while Edelman, Burson, and Weber Shandwick all record 0% citations despite high visibility.

Is there a difference between being named in an AI answer and being cited as a source?

Yes, in this category the two outcomes diverge sharply: Edelman is named frequently but never cited as a source, while Finn Partners is cited but has zero named visibility in AI responses.

Which PR brands have seen the biggest recent shifts in AI visibility?

Burson rose 13 places from rank 15 to rank 2 with visibility jumping from 0% to 12.5%, while 5WPR dropped 6 places from rank 1 to rank 7 as its visibility fell from 12.5% to 0%.

What does the overall AEO landscape look like for PR agencies as a category?

Visibility is highly concentrated, with the category average at just 2.5% and most of the 20 tracked brands scoring zero, meaning a small number of brands capture almost all AI Mode presence.