With almost half of all Australians now using generative AI, it’s becoming a mainstream tool for everyday discovery. Reshaping how consumers find businesses, this technological evolution presents a unique opportunity for pubs to build trust and visibility within their markets.
Between 2023 and 2024, the number of Australians using generative AI jumped from 38 to 49 per cent. Not only was there a shift in the number of people using AI, but also the ways in which they’re using it.
According to the Reputation to Revenue: Building Trust, Authority and Visibility in an AI Era report by AI visibility advisory Leoprd, language engine optimisation (LEO) is rapidly overtaking search engine optimisation (SEO) in effectiveness – reshaping the ways in which a business can become the most referenced name within its space.
This shift is especially significant for hospitality businesses, where discovery and recommendation have always played a crucial role.
New tools for consumer discovery
As AI platforms evolve from passive tools into active curators of consumer choice, Celia Harding, founder of Leoprd, says there are huge implications for businesses and the ways in which they manage their visibility.
“In Australia, as with all global markets, the way people find information is changing fast. Search is no longer about clicking through links – it’s about trusting the summary that AI generates,” she says.
“For the first time in two decades, Google’s market share has dropped below 90 per cent, while ChatGPT attracted over 566 million users globally in its first year. Every major tech company – Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple – is building large language model-powered discovery into their core products.”
In its report, Leoprd examined what’s really shaping the answers provided by AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and CoPilot. While each of them applied different logic in evaluating a business’s authority and reputation, the overall findings demonstrate that most brand mentions stem from third-party sources, with external credibility being three-times more influential in driving AI visibility than content published on a business’s own channels.
“AI doesn’t care what you say – it cares what others say about you, in credible places, over time. Founders will spend on ads before they invest in the kind of content that trains AI. But brands that win long-term solve real problems in formats AI can cite.”
Anaita Sarkar, CEO of Hero Packaging
Third-party credibility matters
Analysing which brands surfaced in AI-generated responses, the study found that earned media was the biggest driver of visibility, influencing 62 per cent of citations, at the expense of owned channels which accounted for just 19.8 per cent of citations.
Almost all AI platforms examined by Leoprd valued editorial exposure above all other types of earned media, including ChatGPT which gave up to 33 per cent weighting to editorial coverage, while reviews influenced an average of 23 per cent of citations.
Within this space, platform-specific trends determinine what third-party content ranks highest. For example:
- ChatGPT and Perplexity place the greatest emphasis on editorial exposure, with Perplexity ranking it as the top factor influencing both authority and reputation.
- On Gemini, editorial coverage and reviews accounted for 53.5 per cent of citations combined, with the platform valuing research-backed credibility above all other types of media.
- CoPilot shows preference to reviews, making up 24.4 per cent of all citations, but it also values structured content and Wikipedia-style pages.
Applying LEO strategy to the pub market
This shift should prompt businesses to rethink digital visibility beyond SEO and owned content – and consider how reviews, media coverage and awards can be harnessed to feed AI engines.
Harding says proactively managing AI visibility is essential to ensure your business earns authority and ranks above its competitors.
“AI doesn’t search – it summarises, and those summaries are increasingly deciding how customers discover and trust businesses.
“If your brand isn’t part of the data, it’s not part of the decision. The research underscores the vital role of independent journalism in the AI era. Across all platforms, trusted third-party media consistently ranked higher than anything a brand says about itself. That makes supporting credible, well-sourced reporting absolutely essential,” she stated.
So, what does this mean for pubs? LEO is about building digital reputation through real-world trust, and credibility has the power to make your venue one of the most referenced names within its space.
Here are five key areas to focus on when building your digital reputation:
- Targeting the right media: AI platforms value quality over quantity, citing clarity and authority in their answers. With most AI tools valuing editorial exposure above all other types of media, pitching to relevant, trusted media outlets can enhance your LEO strategy dramatically.
- Manage reviews strategically: Hospitality businesses should actively cultivate their presence on relevant review platforms by encouraging patrons to leave reviews, monitoring them and responding to them thoughtfully.
- Pursue awards and rankings: AI models rely heavily on authority signals, and with industry awards making up 23 per cent of citations, this type of recognition is a great way to boost LEO performance.
- Enhance owned content: While LEO leans on third-party mentions and brand recognition over owned content, it’s still important to create original, authentic and authoritative content, whether that be on your own website, optimising social media content with SEO keywords or writing about your business on LinkedIn.
- Adapt your AI content strategy: Those looking to take their LEO strategy to the next level should consider tailoring their strategy for each major AI model.