How Trusted Shops Strengthens the AI visibility of your Online Shop
Learn how Trusted Shops enhances your online shop's AI visibility through trust-building elements such as customer reviews and the Trustmark.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way people shop online. AI systems like ChatGPT or AI-powered search engines answer questions directly, without users having to click on traditional search results. This means that the online shops that aren't included in these answers end up losing out on potential customers.
This article explains why AI visibility is crucial and how Trusted Shops helps you optimally position your shop for it.
Why AI visibility is important for online shops
Artificial intelligence has changed purchasing behaviour: 42% of shoppers reported using AI for shopping recommendations and purchase decision support (Source: digitaloft).
AI assistants only provide a few sources in their concise answers instead of listing countless links like a traditional search engine. If your site appears in the answer, you've hit the jackpot – but if it doesn't, you're missing out on important visibility.
Therefore, shop owners should no longer rely solely on classic SEO measures – which still have their place – but should also build on AI-friendly website design.
How trust increases your visibility
Shops with high trustworthiness and positive reviews have a better chance of being mentioned in AI-generated responses. Trust is considered a signal of quality. When people are satisfied and show this in authentic customer reviews, AI understands that the online shop operates legitimately.
Systems like ChatGPT, Copilot or Perplexity check which shops provide reliable information and which sources appear credible.
AI platforms prefer shops that:
- Have many authentic reviews & positive user experiences
- provide structured data that can be easily processed
- are present on trusted platforms
- Maintain consistent information across all channels
Trust is therefore not only important for your conversions, but also for your visibility in AI responses.
How AI uses customer reviews
AI platforms draw their data from many sources, including customer reviews. These reviews contain information about online shops and their products. However, to ensure this information can be effectively used, it's crucial to integrate it correctly into your own website and to use reputable third-party providers. DIY solutions are considered susceptible to manipulation and, therefore, not very reliable.
Reviews contain real experiences, specific product descriptions, problems and strengths of an offer.
AI analyses the following:
- Quantity & frequency (e.g. "Many customers praise the quality very often.")
- Classifications (e.g. "This article is particularly suitable for…")
- Emotions (e.g. “Very satisfied customers”)
- Product features (e.g. "Larger than advertised", "Long battery life")
This information helps AI assistants recommend suitable products or give specific advice.
To ensure your shop or product reviews are useful, AI needs to find structured, clear and credible signals – this increases your chance of appearing in responses.
This is how Trusted Shops improves your AI visibility
If your online shop is a Trusted Shops member, you'll have access to the Trusted Shops Trustmark, Buyer Protection, and customer reviews. There are also additional features you can add. We'd like to introduce you to some of the Trusted Shops offers that can increase your visibility in AI-generated responses.
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Customer reviews: User-generated content
Customer reviews for your online shop strengthen trust in your company. As mentioned above, trustworthiness is a quality criterion for AI systems.
Furthermore, authentic customer reviews are user-generated content that provides a reliable source of information about your online shop. AI systems can access this content when people ask questions about the trustworthiness of your shop.
Widgets: Trust-building elements with structure
You can publish customer reviews directly on your website with a widget. This provides AI systems with structured data for important trust elements, such as ratings and reviews. Furthermore, elements like the Trustbadge, which displays the Trustmark, build trust on your site – something AI rewards.
Trusted Shops widgets automatically contain structured data according to Schema.org standards, thus providing easily discoverable information for search engines and AI systems.
Rating profile: a renowned platform for AI
Your public company profile displays all your service reviews. It exists as a separate website that you can link to from your shop. The advantage: The profile's domain is an external site, namely Trusted Shops (trstd).
This provides AI systems with a reliable and relevant point of trust outside of your website. This increases the likelihood that your shop will be considered trustworthy and mentioned more frequently in AI responses.
Assessment overview: machine-readable summary
The company profile also contains an AI-generated rating overview, i.e., a short summary that reflects the general sentiment about your shop in a few sentences.
Source: Company profile from Snow Lab
The machine-readable summary in the company profile also serves as an information source for AI systems regarding your online shop. This summary makes it easy for AIs to categorise your shop and increases the likelihood that you will appear in its recommendations.
Product reviews: more information about AI
In product reviews, customers express their opinions on your goods. This provides AI systems with additional information at the product level, such as features, strengths, weaknesses, quality, or use cases.
This makes it easier for AI to include your products in recommendations – for example, when asking questions like:
- "Which rain jacket is truly waterproof?"
- "Which headphones are suitable for sports?"
- "Which hiking boots are for wider feet?"
The more accurate the information, the higher the chance that your products will be mentioned.
Reputation Manager: Trust signals across multiple platforms
AI systems value consistent information. If the reviews for your online shop are similarly positive across all platforms, it increases your trustworthiness. Therefore, it's important to keep an eye not only on your trstd company profile, but also on other platforms, such as your Google business profile.
With the Reputation Manager, you can collect reviews across multiple platforms and thus highlight your online shop's good reputation in several places online. This strengthens trust in your company and provides AI systems with clear information.
Conclusion: AI loves trustworthiness
Artificial Intelligence favours online shops that are trustworthy, provide well-structured information, and have sufficient positive user experiences online. Trusted Shops supports the AI visibility of your shop with features such as the Trustmark, service reviews, product reviews, widgets, and the company profile.
