The Trustpilot White Paper that Started Answer Engine Optimization
Before Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) became an industry term, there was a research paper - written quietly, in collaboration between Jason Barnard and the Trustpilot SEO team.
It was early 2018, and search was already changing fast. Voice search was rising, algorithms were learning to interpret intent, and the familiar blue links of “Page 1” were starting to fade into something new: single, spoken answers. Amid that transformation, Jason Barnard - CEO and founder of Kalicube - was asking a deeper question: What makes a brand worthy of being the answer?
Trustpilot, whose entire business revolved around credibility and reviews, was asking the same question. So they joined forces.
The research partnership that changed the conversation
Trustpilot brought vast data on user trust, reputation, and consumer confidence. Jason brought his deep understanding of how algorithms interpret brand signals. Together, they explored a new kind of optimization - one rooted in credibility and understanding, not just visibility.
The collaboration led to a joint white paper, which explored how trust, authority, and consistency affect a brand’s ability to become the answer - not just an option - in both search and voice results.
Among its key insights:
- Search engines were no longer ranking pages; they were evaluating understanding.
- Trust signals like reviews and corroborated mentions were becoming indicators of algorithmic confidence.
- Brands that were clear, consistent, and credible were easier for machines to understand - and more likely to be chosen as “the answer.”
This wasn’t speculation. It was backed by data - Trustpilot’s reputation analytics combined with Jason’s entity-based research.
Together, these findings formed the intellectual foundation of what would later become Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).
From white paper to public conversation
The insights in that white paper quickly shaped how both companies talked about search. Soon after, Trustpilot published “The New Face of SEO: Answer Engine Optimization”, co-authored with Jason Barnard, expanding those ideas for a global audience.
That article formally introduced AEO to the SEO community - showing how credibility, clarity, and consistency could make brands not just findable, but understandable and trustworthy to algorithms.
It marked the moment AEO moved from research into public dialogue - setting the stage for the Trustpilot × Jason Barnard webinar, “SEO and the Rise of AEO: Why Voice Search Matters”, and later the BrightonSEO 2018 presentation, “A Universal Strategy for Answer Engine Optimization (Beyond Position 0)”.
Together, these milestones transformed a research idea into a professional discipline.
From early vision to enduring framework
Today, The Kalicube Process® transforms those early insights into a scalable, data-driven methodology - powered by Kalicube Pro, a SaaS platform built on over nine billion data points.
What began as a white paper quietly written in 2018 now underpins how brands build digital visibility in the age of AI Assistive Engines - Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot among them.
The Trustpilot white paper may have started quietly, but it sparked a lasting movement in digital strategy - proving that trust isn’t a side effect of visibility. It’s the foundation of it.
Your brand deserves to be the trusted answer AI delivers, book a call with Jason Barnard today.
