Brands that build trust through reviews increase AI citations from 1% to 75%, earn competitive advantage over 'invisible' brands

• Only 1% of answers from AI tools will cite a brand that has no Trustpilot profile, rising to 75.3% for brands that actively collect and respond to feedback on the platform
• Review and trust sites are now the #2 citation source for AI systems, accounting for 14% of all citations - behind only general brand websites
• Trustpilot's new 'What AI says about you' report analyzed over 800,000 AI responses across four major platforms - ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode
• The report reveals how brands can use trust signals to be found and chosen in the age of AI

LONDON, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses that actively gather and respond to customer reviews are cited in 75.3% of AI answers, compared to only 1% of answers for businesses with no active profile. The findings come from analysis commissioned by Trustpilot* of over 800,000 responses across four major AI platforms.

The analysis found that simply getting started with a reviews profile leads to a boost in AI citations, with even greater gains for businesses that prioritise building trust with consumers. A brand can increase its citation rate from 1% to 53.5% by establishing a Trustpilot presence, rising further to 75.3% when they collect over 80 reviews and respond regularly.

What's more, AI tools describe a missing Trustpilot profile as a warning sign for consumers. This suggests that without clear trust signals - visible, consistent and transparent experiences - these brands are almost invisible in AI answers. With 58% of consumers already using AI tools to find products and services**, there will be a growing gap between brands that nurture trust signals and stay visible as consumer behaviour shifts - and those that do not.

Alicia Skubick, Chief Customer Officer at Trustpilot, comments: "In an era of AI-powered buying journeys, trust is a quantifiable, high-value asset for businesses. Trustpilot turns authentic customer sentiment into the trust signals brands need to earn AI citations.

"Now, our latest tools provide precise insights into how brands' trust signals are driving citations in AI answers, empowering them to effectively design strategies to stay visible - and trusted - as AI continues to shift how consumers discover and choose brands."

The findings reflect a broader trend in how AI systems source and validate information. Review and trust websites are now the second most cited source type, accounting for 14% of all citations in AI responses. Among review platforms, Trustpilot emerged as the most frequently cited across the four platforms analysed: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode. Almost all (99.5%) Trustpilot citations happen because its pages show up in search results organically, because it embodies the "3Rs" for building trust in the age of AI: recency, relevance, and ranking.

• Relevance: Reviews offer detailed, qualitative information about a wide variety of experiences, which is favoured by AI systems generating answers to specific user questions
• Recency: With an average of 200,000 reviews submitted every day in 2025*** the platform is a source of consistent, up-to-date content for AI tools
• Ranking: A domain authority of 94/100**** and status as an open platform makes Trustpilot a highly trusted source for AI tools

AI tools use Trustpilot data to build brand narratives by checking the TrustScore, summarising key feedback themes, and paraphrasing reviews. To influence narratives, businesses must focus on improving the customer experience. By actively collecting regular feedback and responding to reviews, brands give AI systems the data for a complete and up-to-date picture.

Last month, Trustpilot launched new features - including AI Search Analytics - to help brands master the full AI-powered path to purchase. The latest features specifically help brands to build the trust signals which the 'What AI says about you' report found led to a higher citation rate in AI tools.

Notes to editors

*The 'What AI says about you' report is based on research commissioned by Trustpilot and conducted by Seer Interactive in March 2026. The study analysed over 800,000 AI responses across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode to understand how third-party review data influences brand citations in AI answers. The research replicated the whole buying journey for a range of products and services, using over 15,000 likely AI prompts.

When comparing businesses, brands were sorted into four groups:

• T0 (Control) — No active Trustpilot profile (verified) - 437 brands
• T1 — Minimal presence, low review volume - 497 brands
• T2 — Active profile, moderate review volume - 497 brands
• T3 — High review volume, actively managed - 495 brands

**Capgemini, January 2025

***Trustpilot internal. Data on file - 2025.

****Trustpilot.com has a 94 Domain Authority according to Moz, as of 2:50pm BST on 8 May 2026

About Trustpilot

Trustpilot began in 2007 with a simple yet powerful idea that is more relevant today than ever — to be the universal symbol of trust, bringing consumers and businesses together through reviews. Trustpilot is open, independent, and impartial — we help consumers make the right choices and businesses to build trust, grow and improve. Today, we have more than 361 million reviews with 160 billion annual Trustbox impressions, and the numbers keep growing. We have more than 1,000 employees and we're headquartered in Copenhagen, with operations in Amsterdam, Denver, Edinburgh, Hamburg, London, Melbourne, Milan and New York. Visit https://business.trustpilot.com/ 

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