Notified Just Beat You to AI Search - Here's How to Catch Up

---

title: "Notified Just Beat You to AI Search - Here's How to Catch Up"

slug: "notified-soar-framework-ai-search-pr-content"

author: "Christian"

date: "2026-02-05"

excerpt: "Notified's announcing their SOAR Content Framework on Feb 12th. We're publishing this NOW so you understand what they're doing—and how to do it better."

image: "https://storage.googleapis.com/authoritytech-prod-assets/public/cdn/notified-soar-framework-ai-search-2026.png"

tags: ["AI Search", "PR", "AEO", "Content Strategy"]

---

Notified just announced a webinar for February 12th introducing their "SOAR Content Framework" for AI visibility.

I read the announcement. I read the case study. I reverse-engineered the whole thing.

Here's what they're doing, why it matters, and how you can implement it before they even finish their webinar slide deck.

What Notified Just Figured Out

They analyzed 200,000 press releases and tracked 13 million AI citations across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Meta AI.[^1]

The finding: releases with structured data, original quotes, and current metadata were 3.4× more likely to appear in AI-generated citations.

That's not a theory. That's a signal pattern.

So they built a framework around it: SOAR™ (Structure, Originality, Authority, Recency).[^2]

It's smart. It's practical. And honestly? It's the first time I've seen a PR tech company publish something genuinely useful about answer engine optimization instead of just talking about "the future of search."

The Four Signals (And How to Actually Use Them)

Here's what SOAR stands for—with the tactical implementation Notified's webinar probably won't give you:

1. Structure: Make It Machine-Readable

What it means: Present information in formats AI engines can parse without guessing.

What most PR teams do wrong: They write like journalists. Flowing narrative. Buried ledes. Beautiful prose that makes zero sense to a language model trying to extract facts.

What actually works:

• Clear H2/H3 headlines that answer specific questions
• Bullet points for key facts (not paragraph soup)
• Schema.org markup (FAQ, Article, Organization)
• Named data points in the first 200 words

Quick implementation:

```

Bad: "The company has seen tremendous growth across multiple markets."

Good: "Revenue increased 47% year-over-year to $23M in Q4 2025."

```

One is a claim. The other is a citation-ready fact.

Real example from Notified's own playbook: Their press releases now include clear H2 headlines like "What This Means for Communicators" followed by bulleted takeaways. Not buried in paragraph 7. Not implied. Explicit.

This isn't about dumbing down your writing. It's about recognizing that AI engines parse content differently than human readers. They need signposts. Give them the structure they're looking for, and they'll cite you. Make them guess, and they'll move to the next source.

2. Originality: Own the Data Point

What it means: Include something only YOU can say.

Why it matters: AI engines prioritize primary sources. If your press release just repackages industry stats, you're a secondary source. Secondary sources don't get cited—they get replaced.

What qualifies as original:

• First-party data ("our survey of 2,400 PR professionals found...")
• Named customer quotes with real attribution
• Proprietary metrics or benchmarks
• Executive commentary with actual insight (not boilerplate)

The test: If a competitor could publish the exact same stat or quote, it's not original.

Notified's research found that releases with at least one owned data point had significantly higher citation rates.[^3] Notice they said "at least one"—you don't need a research report. You need ONE thing that's yours.

Practical ways to generate original data points:

• Run a quick LinkedIn poll with your audience (300+ responses = "survey data")
• Pull proprietary metrics from your CRM or analytics (customer adoption rates, usage patterns)
• Interview 5-10 customers and aggregate their insights into a trend
• Analyze your own transaction data for industry benchmarks
• Commission a small third-party study (500-person surveys cost $2-5K)

You don't need Stanford-level research methodology. You need a data point that only you can publish. That's the originality signal AI engines are looking for.

3. Authority: Prove You're the Source

What it means: Signal that you're the official, verifiable source.

What AI engines check:

• Domain authority (publish on your official site first)
• Named spokespeople with titles and verifiable bios
• Consistent boilerplate (same org name, same domain)
• Contact information that matches your domain

Where this breaks down: Brands that publish exclusively through third-party newswires without maintaining their own newsroom. You're giving away authority signals to the distribution platform.

Fix: Publish on your domain FIRST, then distribute. Let the newswire amplify, but own the canonical URL.

4. Recency: Treat Time as a Trust Signal

What it means: Make timestamps visible, accurate, and current.

Why it matters: LLMs weight recent information higher. But they need to SEE the date—not guess it from the URL or assume it from the scrape timestamp.

Tactical checklist:

• Visible publish date in human-readable format
• Accurate `datePublished` and `dateModified` in schema markup
• "As of [date]" language for stats that age
• Follow-up posts to update evergreen content

Common mistake: Publishing a "trends for 2026" piece in December 2025 with a 2025 publish date. You just told every AI engine your content is outdated.

What This Actually Means for Your Content Mix

Here's where Notified's positioning gets interesting—and where you have an advantage if you move fast.

The webinar promises to teach PR teams how to build an "always-on PR content ecosystem."[^4] Translation: press releases alone won't cut it anymore.

You need:

• Press releases as the anchor (structured, timestamped, authoritative)
• Newsroom content that expands on key messages
• FAQ pages that answer obvious follow-up questions
• Thought leadership that demonstrates original insight
• Earned media that reinforces your narrative from third-party sources

All pointing at the same story. All optimized for AI engines to connect the dots.

This is where most brands fall apart. They publish a press release and call it a day. Meanwhile, AI engines see one isolated data point with zero supporting context.

The opportunity: If you build this ecosystem BEFORE your competitors, you own the narrative by default. AI engines prioritize the most complete, most consistent signal pattern.

Jaxon wrote about this exact dynamic in The Structured Data Delusion—schema markup alone won't save you. You need the full signal ecosystem.

The Timing Play (Why Notified's Doing This Now)

Let me connect the dots on why this announcement matters beyond the framework itself.

Notified owns GlobeNewswire, one of the largest press release distribution networks. They also own Profound, which tracks AI citations.[^5]

They're not just teaching you AEO best practices—they're positioning their platform as the infrastructure layer for AI-ready PR content.

The pitch: "Use our Content OS, follow SOAR, and we'll distribute + track your AI citations in one workflow."

Smart positioning. But here's what they can't do: they can't control YOUR content strategy, YOUR newsroom, or YOUR ability to publish original data.

The framework is sound. The implementation is still yours to own.

How to Implement This Before Feb 12th

You have one week before Notified's webinar becomes the industry talking point. Here's how to move first:

Today:

1. Audit your last 10 press releases—how many have original data points?
2. Check if your newsroom has schema markup (use Google's Rich Results Test)
3. Identify one proprietary stat or customer insight you can publish this week

This Week:

1. Publish at least one piece of original research (survey, benchmark, case study)
2. Update your boilerplate to include your domain and consistent org name
3. Add FAQ schema to your newsroom's most-visited pages

Next 30 Days:

1. Build your content ecosystem around your core narrative
2. Implement the full SOAR checklist on every new release
3. Track your AI citation rates (Profound, manual testing, or AuthorityTech's visibility audit)

The teams that move now will own their category narrative before the webinar even starts.

The Real Race: AI Citation History

Here's the part Notified's announcement doesn't emphasize enough:

AI engines aren't just evaluating your next press release. They're building a citation history of your brand based on every piece of content you've ever published.[^6]

If you've spent the last two years publishing generic, unstructured, quote-free press releases, you're starting from zero. Your competitors who've been publishing original data and structured content? They already have the citation advantage.

This isn't a "fix it with one perfect release" situation. It's a compounding visibility game.

The best time to start was 18 months ago. The second best time is today—before Notified's webinar makes this the baseline expectation for every PR team.

What to Watch For

When Notified's webinar happens on Feb 12th, pay attention to:

1. Case studies they share - Which brands are getting 3.4× citation rates? What industries?
2. Content OS integration - How tightly are they embedding SOAR into their workflow? (This is the lock-in play.)
3. Measurement methodology - How are they defining "AI citations"? Are they counting mentions, direct quotes, or attributed sources?

Then ask yourself: Can I implement SOAR principles without buying into their entire platform?

The answer is yes. The framework is solid. The tooling is optional.

Your Move

Notified just handed the industry a playbook for AI-ready PR content.

Most teams will wait for the webinar, take notes, and add it to their "2026 strategy roadmap."

You can publish your first SOAR-optimized content this week.

The teams that move first won't just get cited more often. They'll define what "authoritative content" looks like in their category before anyone else even starts.

Get your free AI visibility audit here – takes 2 minutes, shows you exactly where you stand in AI search today.

Then start building.

— Christian

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[^1]: Notified Launches SOAR Content Framework™ - GlobeNewswire, Nov 13, 2025

[^2]: How AI Search Is Changing PR Content - GlobeNewswire, Feb 5, 2026

[^3]: New SOAR Content Framework™ Case Study - GlobeNewswire, Nov 19, 2025

[^4]: Notified and Ragan Webinar Registration - Feb 12, 2026

[^5]: Answer Engine Optimization: Practical Framework for 2026 - Monday.com, Jan 2026

[^6]: The AI Search Monetization Cliff - Curated by AuthorityTech, Jan 31, 2026