Trust scales faster than traffic.
There's lots of themes in our latest research, but one that is standing out to me is the established (or engineered) credibility.
Affiliate ecosystems and review sites are becoming the quiet connectors between brands and what AI learns about them. Every mention, review, or structured data point adds another layer to how AI understands who to trust.
What’s interesting is how cross-functional this is...
Marketing creates the story.
PR builds the relationships.
Partnerships expand reach.
Ops keeps the data clean.
This shifts (or realigns for some) how to strategize/quantify success. It's not only "how much traffic we drive?" but "how much authority did we earn?"
If so, we update the (simple) math: visibility = authority x ecosystem reach
Tracking authority is becoming a shared signal. It bridges marketing, partnerships, and brand strategy under a common goal.
It's no where near solved. For anyone measuring success in this space, how do you define authority internally? Have you made any adjustments to your ecosystem buildout?
See the report here: ai-visibility-index.semrush.com/
Kasra Khalili
@kasrakhalili
Value Consulting @Atlassian | Kelley MBA | Author “Who We Know” | prev. Semrush, ODF, Startup Grind, ex-Founder