Borrowed authority
Borrowed authority is getting your brand mentioned on websites the AI platforms already trust, instead of relying on your own site alone.
Borrowed authority is getting your brand and your message onto websites the AI platforms already trust. A new or small brand's own site doesn't carry much weight yet. A respected review site, trade magazine or industry directory does, so being named there counts for more.
For marketers, it's often the quickest way into AI answers. Building trust in your own domain takes years. Getting into the sources the platforms already read can take weeks.
What it looks like
Some common ways to do it:
- Get listed in the directories and comparison pages your customers use
- Write a guest article for a publication in your field
- Give a journalist a quote, data or an expert to talk to
- Get reviewed on the review sites your industry relies on
- Answer questions in the forums and communities where people ask about your category
For example, Harrow & Pine makes oak furniture and its website is a year old. Ask an AI platform for the best solid oak dining tables and it rarely names Harrow & Pine. Then a well-known home magazine includes Harrow & Pine in its buying guide. The platforms read that guide, so they start to name Harrow & Pine for the same questions.
Keep it honest
There's a version of this that cuts corners: paid placements dressed up as reviews, fake reviews, posts that hide who wrote them, links bought in bulk. Search engines and platforms work hard to catch these, and readers trust them less when they spot them.
The honest version is simple. Be named somewhere because you're worth naming, and be open about who you are.
In AnswerOrbit
The Gaps tab in Sources lists the pages the platforms use that name your competitors and not you, each with a suggested way in. Our recommendations include getting onto those pages and listing your brand in directories. We never recommend reviews you arrange or reward, posts that hide who you are, or links you pay or trade for.