Speaker
Description
How we access information is changing. People now have large language models at their fingertips - whether it’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Claude or Copilot. This is creating a huge shift in digital visibility, including how audiences find out about research infrastructure.
Generative AI not only presents information in new ways, but prioritises content differently compared to traditional search engines. Its increased use is making it more important for communicators to consider a mixture of approaches in content and comms strategies to show up in the best way for different audiences - whether funders, researchers, industry collaborators or local communities.
For instance, 84% of outputs from generative AI rely on third party content versus owned content (Sequencr.ai, 2025) giving greater prominence to earned and shared media approaches. That’s while organisations with structured, cited content are three times more likely to get referenced by generative AI (Search Engine Journal, 2024).
It is redefining what content formats to prioritise and which channels to use. Having content across multiple channels (such as on an organisational website, referenced through user generated content, and incorporated into an earned media approach) means it will be twice more likely to appear in large language model answers (HubSpot, 2024).
Our team at Marketbridge (previously April Six) are specialists in supporting science and innovation organisations with communications. We have supported a range of research facilities from CERN to Diamond Light Source, ESS and ILL, with communications approaches. Now as a Marketbridge company, we have trialled and tested our own practical approaches to GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and gained access to experts building analytics platforms, as well as spoken to those developing large language models and other agencies to get a good understanding of how generative AI is shaping how organisations show up across a range of sectors.
This talk will cover:
- Ways that generative AI is changing how scientific facilities interact with audiences.
- An inside perspective on large language models - how generativeAI finds, interprets and searches for answers and what it prioritises.
- Practical guard rails - general best practice, common pitfalls and the role of analytics to separate insights from hype.
- Key recommendations for approaching GEO within a communications strategy as well as recommended industry voices to follow to keep abreast of the shifting landscape.
