February 2026’s digital PR trends: AI prefers PR’s writing style, Google demotes self-promotional listicles, and more fake experts

Study reveals AI’s most cited writing style, turns out it’s PR best practice

This month, Kevin Indig released a brilliant study into the types of content that ChatGPT cites. And it’s more good news for the PR industry.

The key findings are that 44.2% of all AI citations come from the first 30% of text, while the most cited content is:

• Definitive, not vague

• Structured with questions and answers

• Entity-rich

• Balanced somewhere between an objective and subjective sentiment

• Simple writing

Meaning? AI reads like a journalist. Which is exactly how we, as PRs, write. Wonderful.

What does this mean for digital PR?

Definitive, clear structured writing is what we do. As Indig says in his research, journalism is one of the key sources that LLMs are trained on. So it’s no surprise that AI prefers to cite journalistic style content.

But it really does cement the opportunity that we have here. Not only is our work one of the key drivers of AI visibility – the way we write is perfectly suited to getting cited. The PR industry absolutely needs to make the most of this.

Self-promotional listicles fall in search visibility

It looks like Google’s (finally) cracking down on self-ranked ‘best of’ listicles.

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of these. Brands that create a ranking of all the products/services in their space – and miraculously seem to always put themselves first. They’ve been a popular (yet questionable) AI SEO tactic for a while now. But like so many of the shortcuts some SEOs absolutely love to abuse, it looks like Google has finally caught on.

It was Lily Ray who discovered this. If you’ve time, I’d definitely recommend reading her Substack article for more in-depth info. It’s a great read.

What does this mean for digital PR?

On a practical level, it means that many brands will again be looking to secure genuine external endorsements online. An opportunity digital PRs need to grasp.

Looking wider, the fact that Google’s cracked down on these listicles is a great sign for the direction of search. Authority and trust built through third-party sources is here to stay as an important factor in search visibility. Potentially even THE most important factor…? Who knows.

Either way, it’s a great time to be in PR.

Press Gazette uncovers more fake AI-generated experts in the media

The team over at the Press Gazette have found even more examples of false experts in the media.

Dodgy ‘agencies’ are using fake, AI-generated expert profiles to secure media coverage, brand mentions and links. And it’s working. Whether it’s The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Star… the list goes on. These false experts are getting masses of coverage.

This has been going on for a while now. And it’s got so bad that the CIPR and PRCA have launched a campaign against it.

What does this mean for digital PR?

It’s just so damaging. Not just for publishers. For PRs too.

Our reputation is taking a major hit. Reach is already compiling a list of ‘trusted’ PR agencies that they’re happy to work with. Which is great for the big agencies who can guarantee they’ll be listed. But if you’re a smaller independent agency, it might not be so easy.

That’s before you consider the impact that this could have on people, and their trust in the media.

All because some spammy agencies are trying to cheat their way to success. Very, very annoying.

What else is new in digital PR and SEO?

• Study reveals which AI visibility metrics are valuable, and which aren’t. SparkToro and Gumshoe’s report found that tracking average visibility in AI answers is a generally accurate (and genuinely valuable) metric. But that monitoring your average position within answers isn’t. So definitely give the study a read before starting your February reporting.

• Microsoft launches software to pay publishers for the use of their content in AI. Called the Publisher Content Marketplace, they’ve described it as a “framework for licensing premium content into AI products”. It’s still early days, but this could be huge for the publishing industry. And by association, huge for PR too.

Future Publishing offers GEO services to brands. As we know, publishers are some of the most cited domains in AI search. So the publishing giant is now selling tailored campaigns (within individual publications) focused on driving AI visibility. Will AI eventually view this like advertorials and screen it out? I’d expect so. But in the meantime, it’s something to bear in mind.