PromptScoutWhat is Trust Signals?
Trust Signals are signals used by search engines and answer engines to estimate whether information is reliable and worth surfacing. Trust Signals can include source reputation, consistency, transparency, and verifiable references.
Quick definition
Trust Signals are clues that help systems decide whether information is dependable.
How Trust Signals works
- Trust Signals can be derived from the source, such as history, consistency, and editorial practices.
- Trust Signals can be derived from the content, such as citations, clear definitions, and avoidance of contradictions.
- Trust Signals can be derived from technical factors, such as stable crawlability and consistent canonical URLs.
- Trust Signals can influence answer ranking and whether citations are shown.
Why Trust Signals matters
Trust Signals matters because systems often prefer sources that reduce the risk of hallucinations (AI).
Trust Signals affects:
- which sources appear in AI search results
- citation in AI answers and source attribution (AI)
- how frequently a domain is selected across repeated prompt runs
Example use cases
- Adding primary references to support factual claims on a definition page.
- Keeping a canonical URL stable so references remain consistent.
- Publishing clear, consistent definitions across a content cluster.