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…