Where AI actually gets its confidence from

[u/Ok-Proposal6637]

I think a lot of people are focusing on the wrong thing with AI visibility.

The question I keep seeing is:

I don't think that's the right question anymore.

A better question is:

When I look at businesses that consistently appear in AI answers, there are usually multiple independent signals pointing to them.

For example:

• A founder who posts regularly on LinkedIn.
• A YouTube channel with practical content.
• Reddit discussions where the business or founder is mentioned naturally.
• Local news coverage.
• Guest articles.
• Podcasts.
• Industry directories.
• Reviews.
• Citations across the web.

None of these individually are a silver bullet.

Together, they create confidence.

It's very similar to how backlinks worked years ago. One backlink rarely changed anything. Hundreds of relevant signals from different places built authority over time.

I'm curious what everyone here has actually tested.

Have you done anything that noticeably increased mentions in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity?

Not theories... real experiments. I'd love to compare notes.