Want to increase visibility? Start by building trust

Attention is fragmenting further every day as the platforms providing information continue to multiply.

There are new players on the scene, like AI search, while companies build proprietary spaces through social networks and communities. Smaller spaces pop up daily through vibe-coded apps. Many of these platforms are noisier than ever, with everyone demanding our attention at once.

We’re drowning in information, and trust is eroding in sources like search engines and social media. We still use these platforms for research, but go elsewhere to validate what we find and make decisions.

We’re shifting back to a source we’ve trusted since the beginning: other people. That means showing up across multiplying platforms and in as many people-led sources as possible.

Search is a trust experience

Rachel Botsman is a leading expert and author on trust in the modern world. Botsman defines trust as:

• “A confident relationship with the unknown.”

I’ve read tons of different definitions of trust, but this is by far my favorite. It’s the simplest and touches on the core component of dealing with the unknown or uncertainty.

We don’t need trust when outcomes feel certain. We need trust when we’re dealing with the unknown.

Searching for information is what humans do when they’re uncertain. There are three trust layers that occur every time we search for information:

• Self-trust (I’m uncertain.): I don’t trust that I have the information I need to make a decision at this moment in time.
• Platform trust (Where I trust to search for answers.): Which platform, community, or real-world space do I trust to find answers to my questions?
• Source trust (Whose or what information I act on.): Do I trust this enough to believe it, click on it, buy it, let it guide me, or change my mind? People can absolutely skip platform trust and jump directly here.

Searching for information is a trust experience from start to finish. It’s a human behavior, and, as we’ll discover, the best way to support human behavior is through other humans.

An example of my own search journey to find a trusted answer

Here’s what a recent search journey of mine looked like when I was interested in buying a new pair of shoes.

I started with AI tools and did some low-trust research, getting a list of options that met my requirements from ChatGPT and cross-referencing that list with Claude’s output.

Then I wanted a sense of pricing and delivery timelines (high trust), so I quickly read through reviews while I was still working with the AI outputs (low trust). I searched Amazon for the options surfaced by ChatGPT and Claude, read reviews, got pricing, and noted who ships the quickest.

From there, I moved on to Google and found my medium-trust people sources. I checked Reddit for brand and model commentary, read third-party articles on running sites and from running influencers, and watched YouTube video breakdowns.

Then I got bombarded with low-trust advertising on social media, seeing retargeting ads everywhere.

Finally, I turned to my high-trust people sources. I asked a trusted running community, a neighbor I often see running, and my dad, a former marathon runner. I also went to a running shop and spoke with the sales team.

Search journeys now span dozens of platforms and sources

Yext’s 2025 research of 2,237 global consumers found more platforms getting used in a single search journey:

• Approximately 75% of consumers use new search tools more today than they did one year ago.
• Just 10% trust the first result, while 48% of consumers cross-check answers across platforms.

These results very much mirrored my personal search experience. I hit roughly 65 sources in my search journey: 

• Two AI tools, hitting ~10 links in each. 
• Amazon, hitting ~15 products with reviews.
• Google, scanning ~10 Reddit threads, approximately five third-party sites, and five YouTube videos.
• Social media, seeing ~10 retargeting ads.
• Community, receiving seven direct replies.
• Conversations, three directly with other people. 

In a similar vein, Expedia’s The Path to Purchase research found that huge amounts of source content are now consumed by travelers planning a trip. In the 45 days prior to booking travel, users spend an average of 303 minutes viewing ~141 pages of travel content.

Of my 65 sources, 45 were people-led. This trend can also be seen in professional decisions via the Censuswide – Global Professionals sentiment study (commissioned by LinkedIn) data, which shows 43% of people rate their professional network as their most trusted source,  ahead of search engines and AI tools. 

And the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer shows a general trend of uncertainty rising and people placing their trust in the people closest to them:

Time and time again, we see that when people feel uncertain and need trusted advice, they often turn to others.

So how do you turn trust into visibility?

During someone’s search journey, you ideally want to show up in:

• All the platforms they use to find information.
• As many people-led sources as possible.

That sounds pretty overwhelming. To make this workable, you need a playbook that reverses the order:

• Get mentioned in people-led sources often (by building genuine trust with these people).
• As a result of these mentions, show up in the major search platforms as they continue rewarding people-led sources.

If we optimize at the people layer, the platform layer follows. Build trust, earn mentions, and get visibility.

Back to my shoe-purchasing journey. Many folks have taken to social media and review sites to talk about Adidas Terrex (the shoes I finally purchased after my trust-seeking journey), so they were highly visible in all my touchpoints.

This means that Adidas is actively engaging in trust-building activities. Adidas has its own running club, events, and communities. They’re engaging with people.

Here’s an example of a recent event where they collaborated with the Underground Fan Club to support more women getting into trail running.

People are mentioning their brand and products.

This single event had hundreds of posts on Instagram from the participants and attendees. Multiply that by their other events and community initiatives, and you can see how their visibility quickly adds up.

Plus, they’re appearing via hashtags, account tags, and mentions on social media platforms like TikTok more generally:

Adidas Terrex is also getting mentioned in forums — there are full Reddit threads devoted to advice on these shoes.

Their people-led source mentions are reflected in AI search platform results:

You’ve seen the research:

When you genuinely earn the trust of people willing to mention you positively of their own accord, you also capture visibility within search platforms. Because visibility is a byproduct of trust. 

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Where to go to earn people’s trust

Relationships are the bedrock of trust, and there are plenty of places you can go to start building them. These are a few people-led places you can start with:

• Communities: Online and in person.
• Events: Conferences and meetups.
• Social media: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and similar platforms.
• Forums: Reddit and Quora.

Look for people-led places with the components listed below. The stronger they are in these characteristics, the higher the trust: 

• Where smooth, two-way conversations happen in real time.
• Where you have the ability to show up consistently.
• Where your audience gathers for specific, niche reasons and support.
• Where people are not anonymous and can show up as themselves (not personas).

Here’s a general guide for how these environments, when highly engaged, are typically trusted:

Trust-building components	Communities	Events	Social	Forums
Two-way conversations	High	High	Low	Medium
The ability to show up consistently	High	Medium	High	Medium
People gather for specific, niche reasons	High	High	Low	Medium
Where you can be yourself (not anonymous)	High	High	Medium	Medium

Communities and events require lengthier time commitments and higher financial investment, but the trust-building components are very strong. Entering these spaces gives you more of the tools you need to build both relationships and trust.

Social media and forums have lower barriers to entry, but the trust-building components are weaker.

You can find the places you want to start with by:

• Directly surveying your customers and audience on where they spend time.
• See who’s frequently mentioned in your industry’s newsletters, podcasts, and other publications.
• Perform a search in your search platform of choice.

How to engage in trust-building spaces

People are seeking information to help them gain confidence in what they’re unsure about. They’re seeking help, and help builds trust. 

This means helping is your primary objective – not building brand awareness, pushing folks through your consideration funnel, or selling. Helping people.

Start by listening, not talking

Once you’ve identified your places, don’t rush in and start talking about yourself, your brand, or your challenges. Listen first. This is a two-part process:

What does ‘helpful’ look like in this space?

This is about understanding why people gather in this space — what they get out of it. What high-level needs or wants are getting met that people continue coming back? These typically don’t change much over time.

Maybe they’re looking for connection, education, amplification, or inspiration. Figure that out, and then cross-reference it with what you have to offer. 

Find the intersections that make sense for you and identify the ways in which you can offer support.

What topics are people focused on?

This is about understanding what’s “trending” right now for folks in the space. What immediate needs or wants are getting met at the moment? These typically fluctuate.

Listen. Find your intersections. Figure out what you can help with.

Engage to build trust

This will start with 1:1 conversations in community Slack groups, at events, or in the comments of social media and forums. Trust takes time to build. There are no shortcuts.

Show up as yourself. You’re not your brand; you’re a person behind your brand. People want advice from real people, and if you begin by labeling yourself as a brand representative advocating for your product, it’s game over.

Show up consistently, have these conversations, provide help on a 1:1 basis, and keep track of what’s actually helping. While trust takes time to build, your learnings can help you scale how you help based on real audience insights. 

Once you have a good sense of that, you can take the most frequently helpful themes and build out systems or assets that scale your ability to help. 

Turn conversations into scalable trust

These assets may not build as strong a level of trust as your 1:1 conversations. Those 1:1 conversations with the right audience will have the most trust and the most depth. But if you focus your scaled assets on helping people become who they want to be, it will greatly strengthen trust in your 1:many initiatives more than your typical “how to do x” content.

So take a deeper look at the pain points mentioned in your conversations and ask, “Who is this person trying to become?” Then build an asset from the ways you’ve helped those folks in 1:1 conversations.

Create a mention power-up that helps people showcase their desired identity and who you helped them become. Something that proves their credibility and that they’re excited to share!

Here are a few examples of what this playbook could look like for different audiences:

Audience	High-level need	Timely need	Scaled help asset	Mention power-up
Professionals	Amplification	Desire to grow personal brand	Guest-posting program	The content is the power-up! They’ll share and tag you.
Professionals	Opportunities	New job role	Skill training and job board	Shareable certification for skill-training completion
Musicians	Education	Wanting to learn to play drums	Video library of drum lessons	Personalized “I’m a drummer” social image
Crafters	Advice	Can’t find sustainable materials	Curated resource of eco-friendly materials	Citable asset built with “[your brand’s] eco-friendly resources”
Readers	Inspiration	Desire to break into a new genre	Quiz that helps them decide	Sharable quiz output boldly defining their new genre
Budgeters	Education	What to cut back spend on	Budget template and tracker	Sharable “I saved $x with [your brand] asset”

What does this actually look like in action?

Over the past few years, I have transitioned my career from marketing to community building. I’ve learned the power of shifting my mindset from selling to helping. And I’ve seen brands use the above playbook to earn visibility and real business impact.

In our community, we partner with an SEO SaaS platform that uses this playbook powerfully. We’ve seen them listen to what it means to be helpful in their community — people want opportunities to be amplified.

We’ve seen them show up consistently — their marketing manager has 400+ messages in our Slack community.

We’ve seen Jojo have tons of 1:1 conversations offering help.

We’ve seen Jojo continuously show up as herself in these helpful answers and in general as a valued member of the community.

And we’ve seen those 1:1 connections pay off in terms of visibility on the content itself as their sharable mention power-up.

They then did the work to build their scaled asset of help. First, by listening through surveying members:

Identifying the core challenges that people had within this topic:

And further boosted their trust by collaborating with the community and featuring community members within their scaled asset.

Again, they reaped the rewards of visibility with their shareable mention power-up.

While earlier I told you to go in without a sales mindset, the beauty is that the trust you build can grow into just that: real business impact.

Our SEO SaaS partner has earned £50,000+ in new annual revenue through the partnership so far. This stuff works when you find the right space, listen, learn, and consistently show up to help.

Building trust is a long-term visibility bet

Trust will always be a throughline in how people search for information.

When you make building trust an ongoing part of your strategy, you prepare your business beyond any single platform or system. You’ll show up in AI search today and whatever comes next tomorrow.

Make trust the priority, and visibility follows. That’s how you move from chasing algorithms to building something that lasts.