Entity map

AI Trust Signals Entity Map

What our company, product, score and terms mean, in our own words, with every claim quoted from a page on this site. AI systems can read the same data as JSON at entitymap.json.

AI Trust Signals

Organization

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: AITS, AI Trust Signals™, aitrustsignals.com

AI Trust Signals™ is root-cause AI visibility for the everyday business owner. It shows, in plain words, why AI recommends some businesses and skips others, then hands the owner the fix. It was co-founded by Marcus Sheridan and Patrick Moorhead.

sameAs: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aitrustsignals, https://www.youtube.com/@AITrustSignals, https://www.x.com/AITrustSignals

Relations

Evidence

The AI trust company for the everyday business owner. Built for the roofer, the vet clinic, the HVAC company, the marina. People who are excellent at their work and have zero interest in becoming search experts.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

When a buyer asks ChatGPT who to call, AI gives one answer, not ten links. AI Trust Signals shows you why AI recommends some businesses and skips others, then we help you become the one it picks.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

When AI started answering buyers directly, a wave of tools appeared to count how often brands got mentioned. Charts for marketing teams, dashboards for search professionals, prices to match. None of it told an owner the only thing that matters: why AI recommends some businesses and skips yours, and what to do about it. So we built the thing that does.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

AI Trust Signals platform

SoftwareProduct

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: AI Trust Signals app, AI Trust Signals report

The paid AI Trust Signals platform grades a business on the 19 signals AI checks before it recommends anyone, then turns the results into a ranked list of fixes. It includes the AI Trust Signals Score, Virtual Buyer, the Workbench and the Reputation Readout. Plans start at $25 a month: 10 days free, full product, cancel anytime.

Relations

Evidence

Your AI Trust Signals report shows why AI skips you. The Workbench walks you through the fixes, in order, with plain instructions at every step. Try everything free for 10 days.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Enter your company name and website, add a card, and you’re in. The trial is the real product, not a stripped-down demo. After 10 days it’s $25 a month, and you can cancel anytime with two clicks.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Every price we have, on one page. We teach businesses that clear pricing builds trust with buyers and with AI. We’d be fools to hide ours.

AI Trust Signals Pricing: Free Check, $25/mo, Done For You - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Free AI check

SoftwareProduct

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: AI Trust Signals Recommends, Free AI Check

A free check that asks the AI tools buyers use which businesses they recommend for a given trade and town, and lines that up against the Google rankings for the same search. No signup and no card.

Relations

Evidence

Pick your industry and your town. Our free check asks the AI tools your buyers use who they recommend there, then lines that up against the Google rankings for the same search. In minutes you’re looking at the actual answer buyers get. We don’t tell you there’s a problem. AI does.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Pick your industry. Pick your town. We’ll show you who AI is recommending there right now, next to the Google rankings you’ve spent years earning. Most owners find their competitors on the list. Not themselves.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

AI Trust Signals Score

Metric

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: AI Trust Signals™ Score

One number from 0 to 100 that shows how likely AI is to recommend a business. It is built from 19 signals grouped into three questions AI asks before it recommends anyone, and it falls into one of four bands: Invisible, Unverified, Trusted and Authority.

Relations

Evidence

Your AI Trust Signals Score is one number from 0 to 100 that tells you how likely AI is to recommend your business.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

One number that tells you where you stand, built from 19 signals AI checks before it recommends anyone. Click any signal and see, in the AI’s own words, how you earned your score.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

The score is built from the 19 signals across your Technical, Authority, and Brand tiers. Fixing items in the Workbench moves the signals, and the signals move the score. Technical fixes tend to move it fastest because they unblock everything else.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

No black box. You can trace every number back to what the AI actually said.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

His first report scored 79%. It told him exactly what to fix and why it mattered: business information that didn’t match across the web, pages AI couldn’t fully read, no page showing who the team was. He fixed the list in order. Within two months his score hit 95%. Then a customer called and told him why: ChatGPT recommended Honest Fix.

Done For You: We Fix Your AI Trust Signals in Weeks - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

AI Trust Signals Score bands

Taxonomy

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Invisible, Unverified, Trusted, Authority

The four bands of the AI Trust Signals Score: Invisible (0 to 69), Unverified (70 to 79), Trusted (80 to 92) and Authority (93 to 100). The bands describe a business, never a person.

Relations

Evidence

Invisible, 0 to 69. AI either cannot find enough about you or cannot verify what it finds. You are losing recommendations to competitors.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Unverified, 70 to 79. AI knows you exist but does not trust you enough to put its name behind you.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Trusted, 80 to 92. AI can read you, verify you, and recommends you.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Authority, 93 to 100. You are one of the first names AI gives in your market.

How your AI Trust Signals Score works - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

The 19 AI trust signals

Taxonomy

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: 19 signals AI checks, AI trust signals

The 19 checks AI Trust Signals uses to measure the proof AI looks for before it recommends a business. They are grouped into three questions AI asks before it recommends a business.

Relations

Evidence

Your AI Trust Signals Score is built from 19 checks across those three questions. No secret sauce, no black box.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

AI doesn’t recommend the business that shows up the most. It recommends the one it trusts the most, because the person asking is about to spend real money. And trust runs on things you can actually build: whether AI can read your site, whether you’ve answered the questions real buyers ask, whether your reviews and proof are easy to find, and whether your good name shows up beyond your own website.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Can I read you?

ProprietaryTerm

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Technical signals, Technical tier

The first question AI asks before it recommends a business: can it read the website and verify the business facts? AI Trust Signals groups its technical signals under this question.

Relations

Evidence

Your website has a layer buyers never see, and AI reads it first. If your pages are slow, confusing, or missing the basics, like a consistent name, address, and phone everywhere you appear, AI can’t verify your facts. And AI never recommends what it can’t verify.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Can AI read every page? Do your business facts match everywhere? Is your pricing published where AI can find it?

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Do you know your stuff?

ProprietaryTerm

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Authority signals, Authority tier

The second question AI asks: does the business answer the questions real buyers ask, honestly and in depth? AI Trust Signals groups its authority signals under this question.

Relations

Evidence

Buyers ask AI real questions: what things cost, what goes wrong, who’s best for their situation. AI recommends the business whose website already answers those questions honestly and in depth. Fresh, useful answers make you the source AI quotes.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Have you answered the questions buyers actually ask? Is your content current? Do you show real results and case stories?

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Does anyone back you up?

ProprietaryTerm

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Brand signals, Brand tier

The third question AI asks: is there proof of the business beyond its own website, such as reviews, real people and outside mentions? AI Trust Signals groups its brand signals under this question.

Relations

Evidence

AI won’t take your word for it. It looks for proof beyond your own website: real reviews on trusted platforms, real people with names and faces behind the business, and a reputation that shows up in places you don’t control.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

What do your reviews say, and how many are there? Are real humans visible behind the business? Does your name show up beyond your own site?

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Virtual Buyer

SoftwareProduct

Defined by AI Trust Signals

A Virtual Buyer is a synthetic customer an owner sets up to match real buyers. AI Trust Signals asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions that buyer would ask and shows who got recommended and why.

Relations

Evidence

Set up a buyer like your real customers, and watch them shop. We ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity the questions real buyers ask, then show you who got recommended and why.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

We generate the questions real buyers ask across five areas: cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best in class. Edit any of them or add your own.

Set up your first Virtual Buyer - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Pass. The model recommended you and could back it up. Urgent. You appeared, but low or hedged. Fixable, and worth doing soon. Critical. The model did not mention you at all.

Read your Virtual Buyer results and act on them - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

You’ll see exactly who got recommended, what earned the recommendation, and where you showed up. Or didn’t.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

The Workbench

SoftwareProduct

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Workbench

The Workbench turns an AI Trust Signals report into a ranked fix list, with plain step-by-step instructions for each signal, so the owner always knows what to do first.

Relations

Evidence

Your fix-it list, in order. Every signal comes with simple step-by-step instructions for exactly what to change on your site and beyond it.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

The Workbench turns your report into a work list. Every signal comes with plain instructions for what to change on your website, your reviews, your content, and beyond, ranked so you always know what to do first, second, and third. You’re never handed a problem without the fix.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Reputation Readout

SoftwareProduct

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Your Reputation Readout

The Reputation Readout traces the sources AI uses to build answers about a business and sorts them into what the business owns, influences and has earned.

Relations

Evidence

See every source AI uses to build answers about your business and your AI Trust Signals. We help break your citations down into what you own, what you can influence, and what you earn from 3rd parties.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Your reputation readout shows every source that shaped those answers, sorted into three piles: what you own, what you influence, and what you’ve earned.

How AI Trust Signals Works: Check, Score, Fix - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Owned, Influenced and Earned sources

Taxonomy

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Owned, Influenced, Earned

How AI Trust Signals sorts the sources behind AI answers: Owned (what the business controls), Influenced (what it can shape but not script) and Earned (what others say with nothing to gain).

Relations

Evidence

Your website, your content, your pricing page. You control every word.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Your reviews, your business profiles, your directory listings. You can shape these, but not script them.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Press, mentions, and recommendations from people with nothing to gain. The hardest to get, and the heaviest on the scale.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Our reports trace every AI answer about you back to its sources, sorted into these three piles, so you always know where to work next.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

AI recommendation

Concept

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Getting recommended by AI

When an AI assistant names a specific business as the one to call or buy from. AI Trust Signals holds that AI makes this choice on trust, because a real person is about to act on the answer.

Evidence

It isn’t luck, and it isn’t ad spend. AI recommends the business it trusts the most, because a real person is about to act on its answer.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Plenty of tools count how often your name appears in AI answers. The chart goes up, the phone stays quiet, and nobody can tell you why. Appearing is a statistic. Getting recommended is a decision the AI makes, and it makes that decision on trust.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Now buyers ask ChatGPT and Gemini who to trust. AI hands back a name or two. There is no page two.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

There are no tricks in this work

ProprietaryTerm

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: No tricks

The AI Trust Signals principle that the work it recommends builds real trust with human buyers, which AI rewards, so nothing built with it gets wiped out by the next AI update.

Relations

Evidence

Everything above builds trust with human buyers. AI rewards it because AI is grading on the buyer’s behalf. We never optimize for the machine at the buyer’s expense, which means nothing we help you build gets wiped out by the next AI update.

Why AI Recommends Some Businesses | AI Trust Signals - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

We build real trust with real buyers. AI rewards it because AI works for the buyer.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

They Ask, You Answer

Methodology

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: They Ask You Answer

A sales and marketing method created by Marcus Sheridan: answer every question a buyer could ask, honestly, on your own website. AI Trust Signals holds that AI rewards the same buyer proof this method teaches.

Relations

Evidence

Then the gatekeeper changed. Buyers started asking AI instead of Google, and something interesting happened: AI turned out to reward exactly what Marcus had been teaching all along. Honest answers. Visible proof. Real people behind the business. He isn’t chasing AI. AI caught up to him.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

That idea saved his company, became the book They Ask You Answer, and got taught to thousands of businesses around the world. It worked because it built trust with human buyers.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

The Big 5

Methodology

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Also known as: Big 5 framework

The five topics buyers research most, from They Ask, You Answer: cost, problems, comparisons, reviews and best in class. Virtual Buyer builds its questions across these five areas.

Relations

Evidence

Built on the proven Big 5 framework from They Ask, You Answer.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

We generate the questions real buyers ask across five areas: cost, problems, comparisons, reviews, and best in class.

Set up your first Virtual Buyer - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Marcus Sheridan

Person

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Marcus Sheridan is a co-founder of AI Trust Signals and the author of They Ask, You Answer. He spent 20 years teaching businesses how to earn buyer trust.

sameAs: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcussheridan/

Relations

Evidence

Co-Founder of AI Trust Signals. He spent 20 years teaching businesses how to earn buyer trust; AI just caught up to him.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Twenty years ago, Marcus Sheridan was a pool guy with a struggling company and a simple idea: answer every question a buyer could possibly ask, honestly, right on the website. Costs, problems, comparisons, all of it. That idea saved his company, became the book They Ask You Answer, and got taught to thousands of businesses around the world.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Marcus Sheridan spent twenty years teaching businesses one thing: answer your buyers’ real questions honestly, and they’ll trust you with their money. That advice built thousands of businesses back when Google was the gatekeeper. Now AI is the gatekeeper, and it rewards exactly what Marcus has taught all along.

AI Trust Signals: Become the Business ChatGPT Recommends - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026

Patrick Moorhead

Person

Defined by AI Trust Signals

Patrick Moorhead is a co-founder of AI Trust Signals.

sameAs: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickjmoorhead/

Relations

Evidence

Co-Founder of AI Trust Signals, helping everyday business owners become the business AI recommends.

About AI Trust Signals: The AI Trust Company for Owners - published by AI Trust Signals, retrieved 20 Oct 2026