Walker Sands Launches PR Impact Index for 'AI World'

Marketing agency Walker Sands has launched the AI Domain Impact Index, aiming to help B2B companies maximize the effectiveness of their PR, and described as 'a new standard for measuring media impact in an AI world'.

Walker Sands' strategy offering makes use of qual and quant analysis, along with audience personas to optimize messaging. Services also include custom research and social media analysis.

The firm says Google's search dominance is in decline with GenAI platforms driving more and more traffic, causing a rapid shift in channels for reaching B2B audiences. The new Index offers insight into how earned media influences GenAI search results, in turn dictating how brands are prioritized in AI-driven decision-making workflows. A score from 0 to 100 is assigned to each web domain, based on an evaluation of five weighted criteria: organic search, inclusion, on-page, real-time retrieval and citation appearance. The Index connects PR outcomes to tangible visibility in AI search, to provide an ROI-driven view of the influence of PR strategy over time.

Walker Sands says the Index evolves over time through continuous reference to GenAI models' shifting methods of prioritizing sources and media publications. According to EVP Annie Gudorf, 'AI is rapidly changing how people discover and engage with information, and marketers can't afford to rely on outdated assumptions about which media platforms are most influential. The AI Domain Impact Index gives brands critical insights on how to stay visible and credible by identifying the digital domains that matter most in today's landscape.'

John Fairley, the firm's SVP Marketing Operations and SEO, adds, 'We've seen shifts in domain ranking in GenAI responses compared to just a few months ago, as well as media publications actively optimizing their content for better discoverability. The Impact Index gives us critical, real-time insight into these changes, allowing us to partner with our clients to maximize discoverability potential through earned media.'

Walker Sands has offices in Chicago, Seattle and Boston and is online at www.walkersands.com .