In a recent interview on Majestic's SEO in 2026 podcast series, Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured, highlighted a growing problem in the media pitching landscape: the proliferation of AI-generated pitches has made outreach noisier and less effective. Farmiloe, whose company owns HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Connectively, has direct visibility into the dynamics between journalists and sources on both platforms. The data from these platforms reveals a clear trend, he said.
"What we've seen is that AI has made it incredibly easy to reach out to more people, and it's made it more noisy and less effective as a result," Farmiloe said. "Less is more in 2026, in terms of being an outreach specialist." He emphasized that the pitches winning on their platforms are not those sent in high volume but those with higher quality. "The outreach that I'm seeing winning on our platforms is the folks who aren't sending out a higher volume of pitches, but they're sending out a higher quality of pitch."
Farmiloe traced the quality decline to the acquisition of HARO by Featured. "The reason why HARO ended up in our ownership in the first place was a decline of quality and trust within the system, and a lot of that was targeted through the adoption of artificial intelligence." To address this, Featured has implemented AI detection and quality scoring on every pitch submitted through its platforms. "We'll run a quality score on every pitch that goes through our platform - whether that's HARO, whether that's Connectively - and we'll allow journalists to see those scores. If it's 100% AI-generated, the journalists will see that. They've got a one-click filter to opt out of those pitches entirely," Farmiloe explained.
He also challenged the assumption that being first to respond is the key to success. "It's not necessarily being the first in line, but it's being at the top of the line with the best credentials and the most helpful response," he said, outlining a framework built on the HARO name: helpful, authentic, relevant, and on time.
On the topic of measurement, Farmiloe noted that the metrics are evolving. "In 2026, the metrics are changing. AI visibility scores are one thing that we're seeing more and more innovators measure against," he said. "It's really around: Is my brand visible in AI and LLMs?" He described marketers moving their metrics "towards the new front page of the internet."
When asked what practitioners should take away from the conversation, Farmiloe pointed away from tactics and toward a fundamental principle. "The key takeaway is that you have knowledge to share, and that knowledge is highly valued by journalists and publications. Find a way to share that knowledge, and if you share your knowledge in a meaningful way, it will benefit your business."
The full episode and transcript are available at Majestic's SEO in 2026.
