PARTLY

Partly true: a cheap press release can get you cited in AI answers for a while, but stuffing it with self-awarded 'best' claims is a short-term trick that Google is already turning against

Other · Nov 2026

The claimIt's never been easier to manipulate large language models: an $80 press release that calls your product 'best-selling' got Google's AI Overview to recommend it for months, and a blog post naming yourself 'best' for something got ChatGPT to recommend you.

The mechanism is real. Press releases syndicate onto big news sites, AI answer engines cite those pages, and a release written around a specific phrase can show up when people search that phrase. Self-promotional 'best' lists also get cited: one industry analysis of 232,000 AI citations found roughly 1 in 10 come from them. But the reel oversells it in three ways. First, the headline example is the author's own account, repeated in the author's own later press releases (one of them about appearing on the poster's podcast), so it is not independent proof. Second, press releases are a small slice of what AI cites: one media-tracking study put them near 1% of citations, against about 84% for real earned coverage. Third, it is fragile. SEO researchers report Google began demoting self-promotional 'best of' pages around January 2026, and AI Overviews often cite those pages while recommending a competitor instead. The honest version works and is cheap: issue a release when you have real news, state facts you can back up, and earn third-party mentions.

What holds up

Press releases syndicate to news sites that AI answer engines do cite
Self-promotional lists make up about 1 in 10 AI citations in one 232,000-citation study
The book's own later releases credit an $80 release with AI Overview visibility
Cheap distribution exists, and writing a release takes about an hour

What doesn’t

The proof is the author's own claim, repeated in his own paid releases
Press releases are roughly 1% of AI citations; earned media is about 84%
Google reportedly began demoting self-promotional 'best of' pages around January 2026
AI Overviews often cite self-serving 'best' pages but recommend a competitor
The $80 price could not be confirmed on the distributor's site

The catch

Calling yourself 'best-selling' or naming yourself 'Best Ease of Use' with no independent source is an unsupported advertising claim, and it is exactly what search engines are now learning to discount. It can buy a few months of visibility, then it stops working, and the claim stays on the internet with your name on it.

How to actually do it

Only issue a release for real news: a launch, an opening, an event, a real milestone with numbers you can prove
Put the plain fact in the headline and the first sentence (who, what, where, when), the way you would want an AI answer to quote it
Never use 'best', 'leading' or 'best-selling' unless an independent source says so, and cite that source in the release
Add a short FAQ section with three to five direct questions and answers
Use a low-cost distributor first and check which news sites actually pick it up before paying for bigger packages
Link the release from your own site's news page, and update your site, Google Business Profile and llms.txt with the same facts
Spend most of the effort on earned mentions: local reporters, podcasts, partner sites and real customer reviews, which are most of what AI cites
Check 4 to 6 weeks later whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews mention you for the target question, and only repeat what moved the needle

Not worth doing the way the reel describes. Worth doing honestly: a factual press release when there is real news (a launch, an opening, an event), written so AI engines can quote it, backed by real third-party mentions.

Effort: About 1 hour per release, plus ongoing work earning real mentions
Cost: Roughly $50 to $400 per release depending on distributor; earned mentions cost time, not money
Stack: A press release distributor, your own site's news page, Google Business Profile, llms.txt, and manual checks in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google
Confidence: Medium
Posted by: an SEO consultant who hosts a daily SEO podcast, in a Facebook reel; sent to Buddy on Sun, Nov 1, 2026

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