The way people find businesses online is changing.
For years, the goal was fairly straightforward. Get your website ranking on Google, show up in local search and make it easy for people to contact you.
That still matters.
But now, more people are asking tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI search features to help them make decisions.
They are not just searching:
“Builder near me.”
They are asking:
“Who is the most trusted renovation builder in my area?”
Or:
“Which web design company would be best for a growing New Zealand business?”
That is a slightly different game.
It is no longer just about whether an AI tool can find your website. It also needs enough information to understand who you are, what you do and whether your business appears trustworthy enough to mention.
Where did the idea of AI trust signals come from?
This article was inspired by the work of marketing speaker and author Marcus Sheridan, along with a detailed breakdown published by IMPACT.
IMPACT identified 19 signals that may help AI tools and potential customers decide whether a business is credible and worth recommending. Marcus Sheridan’s wider keynote material has also expanded the concept beyond those original 19 signals.
It is important to be clear about one thing.
This is not an official checklist secretly released by Google or OpenAI. There is no magic score where adding 19 things to your website suddenly makes ChatGPT recommend you.
What it does provide is a very useful way of looking at modern websites.
Most of these signals come down to good old-fashioned credibility:
- Are you a real business?
- Can people understand what you offer?
- Are you open about how you work?
- Can you prove the claims you make?
- Are other people saying good things about you?
- Is your information current and consistent?
Those are the same questions a real customer asks.
What are AI trust signals?
AI trust signals are pieces of information that help search engines, AI tools and customers understand whether a business appears legitimate, experienced and reliable.
They are spread across your entire online presence.
Some sit in the technical setup of your website. Others come from your content, reviews, pricing, case studies, team profiles and external recognition.
A flash-looking homepage on its own is not enough.
A business can have a beautiful website and still leave both customers and search tools wondering:
- Who actually runs this company?
- Where are they based?
- What will this cost?
- Have they done this work before?
- Are their testimonials real?
- What happens if something goes wrong?
- Can their claims be verified?
The businesses that answer these questions clearly are far easier to trust.
The 19 website trust signals
Here is what the 19 trust signals mean in practical, everyday language.
1. Consistent business details
Your business name, address and phone number should be consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, social accounts and business directories.
This is often called NAP consistency, meaning Name, Address and Phone.
Small differences are not necessarily the end of the world, but messy or conflicting details make it harder for search tools to confirm that every listing belongs to the same business.
2. A secure website
Your website should use HTTPS and have a working security certificate.
Most modern websites already do this, but it is worth checking. Visitors should never see a “Not Secure” warning when they open your site.
Security is now a basic expectation rather than a fancy extra.
3. Useful structured data
Structured data, often called schema, helps search engines understand what different information on your website represents.
It can identify things such as:
- Your business
- Your services
- Your location
- Articles
- Products
- Authors
- Reviews
- Frequently asked questions
Schema can help Google understand page content and make pages eligible for richer search features. However, Google is clear that there is no special AI schema required to appear in AI search results.
In other words, schema is useful, but it is not a cheat code.
4. Detailed, genuinely helpful content
A service page should do more than say:
“We provide quality service. Contact us for a quote.”
Customers normally want to know how the service works, who it is suitable for, what decisions they will need to make and what could go wrong.
Good pages answer the next question before the customer needs to ask it.
5. Clear answers to real questions
Content should be structured in a way that is easy to understand.
A useful approach is to use genuine customer questions as headings, then answer them clearly underneath.
For example:
How much does a renovation cost in Auckland?
Then give an honest answer immediately, rather than filling the first five paragraphs with sales waffle.
This helps readers quickly find what they need and gives search tools a clear piece of information they can understand.
6. An educational content hub
A helpful blog or learning centre shows that your business understands its field.
It could include:
- Buyer guides
- Cost explanations
- Comparisons
- Common mistakes
- Project planning advice
- Answers to tricky customer questions
- Industry changes
The goal is not to pump out hundreds of average AI-written articles.
The goal is to become the most genuinely useful source of information in your particular corner of the market.
7. Enough relevant content
Every useful page gives your website another opportunity to answer a customer’s question.
A three-page website has fewer opportunities to appear for specific searches than a well-built website containing detailed services, projects, locations, guides and FAQs.
That does not mean bigger is always better.
Publishing 200 near-identical location pages will not suddenly make you an authority. Google specifically warns against using generative AI to mass-produce pages without adding meaningful value.
Quality still wins.
8. Up-to-date information
Old pricing, unavailable services and team members who left three years ago do not build confidence.
Important pages should be reviewed regularly.
This is especially important for:
- Pricing
- Regulations
- Product specifications
- Team information
- Service areas
- Opening hours
- Guarantees and policies
Putting an updated date on a page can be useful, but only when somebody has actually checked and updated the information.
9. Credible external sources
Linking to trustworthy outside sources can strengthen factual claims.
A builder might refer to council information, building standards or manufacturer specifications.
A health-related company might cite recognised research or official health guidance.
A digital agency might refer to Google or OpenAI’s own documentation rather than repeating an unsupported claim from a random LinkedIn post.
A sensible external link will not “leak all your SEO”. Sometimes it simply shows the reader that you have done your homework.
10. Honest pricing information
Many businesses are nervous about discussing pricing online.
We understand why.
Projects vary. Customers want different things. A final quote may require a site visit or proper discovery process.
But you can still explain:
- Typical starting points
- Common price ranges
- What is included
- What increases the cost
- What can reduce the cost
- Why two quotes may be different
- Whether you have a minimum project size
You do not need to publish a fixed price for every possible job.
You just need to be more useful than “contact us to find out”.
Pricing transparency builds trust because it removes uncertainty before the first conversation.
11. Accurate, believable claims
Most websites are packed with phrases such as:
- Industry-leading
- Best in the business
- Unmatched service
- World-class quality
- Number-one provider
The problem is that these statements often mean absolutely nothing.
Replace vague claims with details you can prove.
Instead of:
“We are Auckland’s leading renovation company.”
Try:
“Our team has completed more than 80 residential renovation projects across Auckland since 2018.”
Specific information is more believable than big talk.
12. A proper About page
Customers want to see the people behind a business.
A strong About page can include:
- The founder’s story
- Why the company was started
- Names and photographs of key team members
- Relevant experience
- Qualifications
- The areas you serve
- How you approach the work
- What makes your process different
Real people are easier to trust than a faceless logo.
13. Clear policies and guarantees
Customers should be able to find important policies without hunting through the website.
Depending on the business, this might include:
- Privacy policy
- Terms of service
- Refund or cancellation policy
- Delivery policy
- Warranty information
- Workmanship guarantee
- Complaints process
These pages may not be exciting, but they show that the business has thought about what happens when things do not go perfectly.
14. Specific business values
Saying your business believes in “quality, integrity and excellence” is not very helpful.
Almost every business says that.
A real value is something customers can see in the way you operate.
For example:
“We provide customers with a written weekly update every Friday, even when there has been no major change.”
Or:
“We explain all variations and costs in writing before additional work begins.”
That tells people far more about your business than a wall of inspirational words.
15. Strong public reviews
Reviews remain one of the clearest signs that other people have trusted your business.
The overall picture matters:
- Your average rating
- The number of reviews
- How recent they are
- What the reviews actually say
- Whether they appear genuine
- How you respond to unhappy customers
A perfect five-star rating from six people may be less convincing than a strong rating backed by hundreds of detailed customer experiences.
16. Case studies and testimonials
A testimonial saying “Great service, highly recommended” is nice.
A proper case study is much stronger.
It can explain:
- Who the customer was
- What they needed
- What problem they were facing
- What your business did
- How long it took
- What decisions were made
- What the result looked like
- What the customer said afterwards
Real project details give customers something concrete to assess.
17. Author and team profiles
Articles are more trustworthy when readers know who wrote them.
Where appropriate, include:
- The author’s name
- Their role
- Their experience
- A photograph
- A short biography
- Links to other articles they have written
It does not need to be overdone.
A simple, honest profile shows that a real person is prepared to stand behind the information.
18. Genuine awards and recognition
Awards, licences, memberships and certifications can support your credibility.
The important word is genuine.
A recognised industry award is valuable.
A badge you paid $49 to receive from an unknown website probably is not.
Where possible, name the organisation that issued the recognition and make it easy for people to verify.
19. Existing Google visibility
If your website already ranks well for relevant questions, that is a sign that Google has been able to discover, understand and evaluate your content.
However, page-one rankings are more of an outcome than a single website feature.
You cannot simply add “Google Page One” to your website checklist.
Strong rankings normally come from doing many other things well over time, including technical SEO, useful content, reputation, relevance and authority.
What does Google actually say about AI SEO?
There are no additional technical requirements and no special piece of markup that guarantees inclusion.
Google’s advice remains fairly sensible:
- Make sure the website can be crawled
- Create helpful and reliable content
- Keep important information in readable text
- Use clear internal links
- Provide a good page experience
- Keep business information current
- Make structured data match what visitors can actually see
Google also warns businesses not to get distracted by supposed AI SEO hacks. It says there is no need to rewrite everything purely for AI, break all content into tiny chunks or create special files for Google’s generative search features.
That is worth remembering.
You do not need to panic and rebuild your entire website because somebody invented a new three-letter marketing acronym.
What does OpenAI say about appearing in ChatGPT search?
OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to discover pages that may appear in ChatGPT search results.
A website that blocks OAI-SearchBot will not be included as a source in ChatGPT search answers, although it may still appear as a basic navigational link in some situations.
OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot through the website’s robots.txt file and security infrastructure.
This is a technical check worth adding to a modern website audit.
Allowing the crawler does not guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend your business. It simply means OpenAI can access and consider the public content.
The biggest mistake businesses can make
The biggest mistake would be trying to build a website for robots instead of people.
You could fill every page with keywords, schema and carefully formatted answers, but none of that helps if the content sounds unnatural or avoids the questions customers really care about.
The best approach is much simpler:
Build the most honest, useful and believable website in your market.
Explain what things cost.
Show your work.
Introduce the team.
Answer uncomfortable questions.
Publish real reviews.
Back up your claims.
Keep the information current.
Make it easy to contact you.
That is good for customers, good for traditional SEO and a sensible foundation for AI visibility.
Where should a New Zealand business start?
You do not need to fix everything in one go.
Start with the obvious gaps.
Check that your website:
- Uses HTTPS and works properly on mobile.
- Shows consistent business and contact information.
- Has a useful About page with real people.
- Explains services in enough detail.
- Discusses costs or realistic price ranges.
- Includes genuine reviews and case studies.
- Answers common customer questions.
- Makes policies and guarantees easy to find.
- Is open to Google and OAI-SearchBot.
- Is updated regularly with useful, original information.
Once the foundations are sorted, you can steadily expand the website with better service pages, case studies and educational content.
There is no need to build a 200-page monster overnight.
Do the basics properly, then build from there.
Our view at Virtual Innovation
AI is changing search, but the fundamentals have not disappeared.
A good website still needs to connect with a real person.
It still needs to explain why they should choose you.
It still needs to turn attention into an enquiry, booking or sale.
The difference is that the information also needs to be clear enough for search engines and AI tools to understand and verify.
That is how we think modern websites should be built:
Easy for customers to understand. Easy for search engines to read. Easy for AI tools to verify.
Not full of hype.
Not built around the latest shortcut.
Just a strong, useful digital presence that makes your business easier to find and easier to trust.
Is your website giving customers and AI enough reason to trust you?
Virtual Innovation builds practical, conversion-focused websites for New Zealand and international businesses.
We combine clear messaging, strong website structure, technical SEO and genuine trust signals so your website does more than sit there looking tidy.
Talk to Virtual Innovation about reviewing or rebuilding your website for the new era of search.
Frequently asked questions
What are AI trust signals?
AI trust signals are pieces of information that help AI search tools and customers assess whether a business is legitimate, knowledgeable and reliable. Examples include consistent contact details, reviews, pricing information, case studies, policies and expert content.
Can I guarantee my business will be recommended by ChatGPT?
No. No website developer or SEO agency can guarantee that ChatGPT, Gemini or another AI tool will recommend a specific business. You can improve your eligibility and credibility by making your website accessible, accurate, useful and easy to verify.
Do I need special AI schema on my website?
Google says there is no special schema required for its AI search features. Standard structured data can still help search engines understand your website and may make pages eligible for richer traditional search results.
How do I let ChatGPT access my website?
Your website should allow OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot in its robots.txt file and through any firewall or security service. This allows the crawler to access public content that may be considered for ChatGPT search results.