How to Leverage Thought Leadership to Build Your Brand in the Age of AI Search

July 8, 2026

Published in:

Marketing & Brand Management

Photo by Entrepreneurs' Organization

As AI fills the internet with average content, your original ideas shared as thought leadership matter more than ever. Public relations is a proven strategy that deploys third-party validation to build brand awareness and credibility. With the increased use of generative AI for content marketing, search engines are re-evaluating ranking signals. One of the best ways to combat backward-looking AI-generated content is to create forward-looking content as a thought leader.

That puts subject matter experts (SMEs) on the front lines of search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, publishing articles and generating media mentions. Whether you are an SME, PR professional, or tasked with digital marketing efforts for your organization, developing a thought leadership initiative can give you an edge over the competition in 2026 and beyond.

Having started my career in PR, I enjoy writing, speaking, and being a media resource. I’ve been a regular contributor to Inc., Business Journals, SmartBrief, and other publications. Based on my experience as a thought leader, I’m sharing my tactical and actionable steps to help you leverage thought leadership to benefit your organic visibility in popular search engines and large language models.

Thought Leadership as an SEO Strategy

With Google’s latest focus on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) in its quality rater guidelines, thought leadership activities are gaining influence and impact with Google rankings by generating high-quality inbound links, which signal to Google that the site is more trustworthy. That’s how thought leadership improves organic search rankings, resulting in increased website traffic. Conversions from these site visitors are also higher than average, due to the third-party validation resulting from the original visibility on industry publications or websites.

"As AI fills the internet with average content, your original ideas matter more than ever." — Kent Lewis, EO Portland

Getting Started with Thought Leadership

Nobody starts a career as a thought leader; you must earn it over time. As you embark on your thought leadership journey, start small. Reach out to local trade associations in your discipline (in my case, it was marketing organizations). Whether a local group or a chapter of a national organization, look for opportunities to speak or contribute articles. Leverage positive feedback and connections to secure speaking and writing opportunities on a national level.

Another opportunity to build credibility is to branch out of your industry as an SME presenter for other trade associations. In the past decade, I have transitioned from speaking at marketing conferences into industries such as senior care, transportation, hospitality, and technology, where I was one of only a handful of marketers presenting.

If you struggle to gain traction as a writer or speaker, try creating your own content on existing platforms such as LinkedIn or Medium, Zoom or YouTube, to demonstrate your knowledge, writing competence, and presentation skills. Some people achieve so much success with their thought leadership efforts that they evolve into industry influencer status.

Create and Syndicate Content

To generate instant third-party validation, try to syndicate content to industry associations, publications, or blogs. If you are struggling to get picked up by publications, you can create your own blog, publication, or community and build momentum from there. If you have the budget and prefer a shortcut, you can buy your way into influential business publications including Forbes and Entrepreneur. Benefits of joining their fee-based groups include the ability to publish to the website, become a media resource for articles, and participate in threaded forum groups based on your discipline or industry.

Hit the Speaker’s Circuit

Once again, your best path is to start locally and expand to national or international speaking opportunities over time. To expedite the process, utilize your syndicated articles, interviews, blog posts and any media mentions to increase the odds of being accepted as a speaker at industry events. Insider connections will help secure speaking engagements, so do not be shy about asking your network for referrals. For those serious about making a living as a public speaker, consider creating profiles on speaker marketplace websites including eSpeakers and All American Speaker’s Bureau.

Become a Media Maven

To get started as a media resource, I recommend signing up on the following free (or low-cost) platforms: HARO by Cision, Qwoted, SourceBottle, and Featured. Review requests for experts and be prepared to pitch yourself as a resource for relevant story ideas. Your existing articles and presentations serve as your credentials and will increase your odds of being considered. In exchange for your expert quotes, publications typically include a link back to your website and social profiles. That is where the SEO magic kicks in: Inbound links from high-trust websites will help your domain authority, website rankings, and traffic.

"Thought leadership doesn't just build credibility. It builds the authority that search engines and AI platforms reward." — Kent Lewis, EO Portland

Measure Impact

There are a host of metrics you can track to measure efficacy over time, including: Moz Domain Authority or Semrush Authority Score, organic search engine rankings, referring traffic, website conversions, and new opportunities stemming from thought leadership efforts (including new clients, employees, partners, products, or services).

As an example, I’d like to introduce my fellow EO Portland member, Barry Raber, and his website, Real Simple Business. In 2023, Barry decided he wanted to share two decades of entrepreneurial insights. With no formal background in thought leadership, I advised him to invest in a few similar premium publisher offerings mentioned previously. He immediately published dozens of thoughtful articles on business best practices. Within nine months, he generated 272 inbound links from high-quality websites and increased his Moz Domain Authority from 0 to 18, which is virtually impossible to achieve any other way within that brief period.

Being a thought leader is a phenomenal and rewarding way to create content that your target audience and Google appreciate, and both will reward you for your efforts.

Contributed to EO by Kent Lewis,an 18-year EO Portland member who is executive director of NextNW.org and a fractional CMO at KentJLewis.com.

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