What’s Hot Right Now: The Citation Economy
Your buyers are building their shortlist before they ever contact you, and more often than not, they’re doing it by asking an LLM. If you’re not in the answer, you’re not in the consideration set. By the time traffic and funnel metrics show a decline, it’s too late.
Our latest report, The Citation Economy, compiles important data on what’s driving that shift and where it leaves reputation investment. The short version:
- The click is shrinking. About 80% of consumers now rely on AI-generated results for at least 40% of their searches, and roughly 60% of searches end without a click to any site (Bain).
- It’s reaching buying decisions, not just how-to questions. Informational queries’ share of AI Overview triggers fell from 91% to 57% over the course of 2025 as commercial and comparison queries roughly doubled (Semrush).
- Earned coverage is what gets cited. Same content, two conditions: living only on the brand’s own site, the citation rate was about 8%. Distributed across independent publishers, 34% — a 325% lift (Stacker × Scrunch).
We’re a PR firm telling you PR is starting to matter more, so don’t take our word for it. Every figure links to third-party research.
Access The Full Report →
Industry News: Adjusting to the Modern B2B Buyer Journey
Our latest column in Nation’s Restaurant News takes the same shift and puts it inside the foodservice buying cycle. Today’s operators consult an average of eight to nine sources before deciding, nearly double the touchpoints of a few years ago. Distributors still fulfill the orders, but they rarely drive discovery.
The article breaks the journey into four stages and what to measure in each one:
- Awareness: Not whether they’ve heard your name, but whether they understand what makes you different. Measure share of voice in trade media, search visibility on high-intent category terms, and whether you appear in AI answers to “what’s the best solution for X.”
- Trust: Operators look for validation. Measure earned placements, chef and operator partnerships, and whether your sales team says prospects already recognize you.
- Consideration: When the need turns urgent, they shortlist three to five. Measure inbound from high-intent search, AI discoverability, RFP inclusion rate.
- Choice: If you’ve built trust earlier, price is a smaller objection. If you only show up here, you’re competing on specs and cost.
News We’re Noting:
- Your executives’ LinkedIn posts are now searchable evidence about your brand. They’re turning up in Google’s top results and inside AI answers, which makes thought leadership part of the record buyers and machines are reading. Semrush analyzed 89,000 LinkedIn URLs cited across ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Perplexity and found LinkedIn ranked second among all cited domains, appearing in about 11% of AI responses ahead of Wikipedia and YouTube. We unpack what it means for comms teams in the second edition of our AI Minute.
- You can finally see how your social content performs in Google. Google added a new property type to Search Console called platform properties. You verify an Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube account and Search Console reports the clicks, impressions and actual search terms driving people to those posts from Google Search, Discover and News. It measures Google discovery, not in-platform performance, so it sits alongside your native analytics rather than replacing them.
- Three themes from QSR Evolution. Our team spent three days in Atlanta with our partners at Rubix Foods at QSR Evolution. What carried across the sessions: Micro-influencers are outperforming macro campaigns by 3X; Nostalgia is a long-term asset, not a campaign theme; and AI efficiency and brand equity are pulling in opposite directions. Check out the full recap.
Fresh Off The Press: Top Client Wins
- Dairy Processing | Butter is booming with consumer interest
- The Food Institute | Why apple may be fall’s safest flavor choice
- Electronics360 | Infrastructure-led electrification
- Waste Dive | Vermont regulators get an assist on HHW EPR program
- The Columbus Dispatch | Bakeries, bars and bao among the newest Columbus restaurants
- Travel + Leisure | Best covered bridge road trips in the U.S.
- Columbus Underground | Relax and make the world a better place
- Columbus Underground | Bites & Sips
Belle Headlines: Best PR Firm 8 Years Running
We’re celebrating a milestone this month: Belle has been named Columbus CEO’s Best PR Firm for the eighth year running. Thank you to every partner and supporter who helped make it happen!