Proven facts and trusted media remain at the heart of building brand authority online as AI draws on trusted sources to generate its answers.
As more people turn to AI to research brands, compare products and services, and seek recommendations, the way companies and brands build trust on the Internet is changing. People tend to trust brands based on their experience with them, the expertise they demonstrate, and the credibility of information available about the brands. This includes validation by third parties such as the media.
ABM Connect has just launched a content-driven GEO service to help companies and brands in Thailand build trust to improve their chances of being cited in AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, as well as in Google AI overviews.
“While trust has not changed, the way you build it has,” said Seri Sirinopwongsagon, Executive Director at ABM Connect. “Trust has always started with people’s experiences and relationships as well as their interactions with third parties. What is changing is how that trust is discovered. AI answer engines can now find and understand trust signals before people even visit a brand’s website.”
Brand trust was traditionally built from human to human through personal experience, word of mouth, experts, and trusted media. The digital era added search engines, websites, social media and online reviews. Today, AI adds another layer to building brand trust: Human → AI → Human. AI answer engines now sit between brands and the people researching them.
From Being Found to Being Trusted
This change has led businesses to look beyond SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).
SEO helps brand websites get found by search engines such as Google. GEO helps a brand build the authority it needs to be a trusted source cited in AI answer engines’ responses to user questions. The journey for a brand to reach an audience is now DISCOVERED → TRUSTED → CITED.
“GEO is much more than structuring content for AI,” said Seri. “Your brand needs clear and factual content online with credible trust signals everywhere AI answer engines can find it. You may have an excellent website, but if few other trusted online sources mention you, highlight your expertise, or validate what you say, AI answer engines are less likely to cite your brand in their responses.”
The Role of Trusted Media in GEO
For decades, PR has helped brands earn the trust of editors and journalists. Unlike advertising, you cannot simply buy genuine editorial coverage. Your brand needs news, expertise and perspectives that editors see as credible and valuable enough to earn coverage.
Recent research backs this up. A May 2026 study by Muck Rack called “What Is AI Reading?” analyzed more than 25 million links cited across major generative AI answer engines. It found 84% of citations came from earned sources. A 2025 University of Toronto study found a similar pattern. In one U.S. consumer electronics test, a web-enabled GPT system drew 92.1% of its information from independent or third-party sources.
“Winning editorial attention has always mattered because trusted media builds credibility with people. The news media matters even more for GEO. Credible online earned media coverage is a vital source of trusted information AI answer engines can discover and potentially cite when generating responses to people’s questions,” explained Seri.
Paid media helps brands reach audiences, while owned media gives them a place to publish their own information and expertise. Earned media adds validation from third parties. In the AI era, these signals increasingly need to work together.
Building a Trust Network With GEO
ABM Connect describes this as building a Trust Network, bringing together credible media coverage, executive expertise, expert citations, consistent facts about the brand, and evidence from real customers.
“A company or brand may appear in authoritative media but have a weak digital footprint. Another may have strong content on its own channels but little independent validation,” Seri said. “These signals need to reinforce one another so AI answer engines find a clear, consistent view of a brand online that offers content they can trust and cite.”
ABM Connect’s new GEO services that build a trust network for a brand integrate digital PR and earned media. There are two core components. The ATOM matrix identifies where a brand should put GEO content to increase its visibility to AI answer engines. ABM Connect’s AI Optimax methodology is a six-step structured process for creating content that has a greater chance of being cited by AI answer engines.
“We don’t see GEO as a separate technical service. It’s a new way of doing PR that reflects how brand communications need to evolve,” said Manita Olanrat, Head of Digital Publishing Projects at ABM Connect. “We look at what AI understands about a brand, where that information comes from and which credible signals may be missing. We then use our own proprietary AI tools to strengthen a brand’s content signals and visibility and put it online where AI answer engines can use it as a trusted source for citations.”
ABM Connect summarizes this progression as: CONTENT → VISIBILITY → CREDIBILITY → AUTHORITY → TRUST → CITATION
“Brands cannot control any algorithms or determine exactly what an AI answer engine will say about them,” Seri concluded. “But we can strengthen the citation signals for content that feeds the AI ecosystem. Technology and AI will continue to evolve, but people will always trust real experience, expertise, evidence and credible third parties, especially the media.”
Human credibility creates trust. Media validates it. AI answer engines discover and trust it enough to use in their responses.
