How Authority Is Evolving in the Age of AI Search: Building Trust & Visibility in LLMs

What does authority mean when search engines stop simply returning links and start generating answers?

In this opening keynote from SMX Advanced Europe 2026 in Berlin, Lisa Paasche explores how authority is evolving in the age of AI search and why ranking a webpage is no longer enough.

Drawing on nearly two decades in SEO and Digital PR, including building and selling Verve Search, Lisa argues that brands need to think beyond backlinks and domains and start building a broader evidence footprint across the web.

The presentation covers:
- The shift from search engines to answer engines
- The difference between being cited and being mentioned by AI
- Five components of AI authority: discoverability, usefulness, corroboration, association and conversation
- A practical framework for building authority through entity clarity, owned evidence, third-party corroboration and engagement
- Why your website is only one part of the authority ecosystem
- Why short-term LLM optimisation tactics risk repeating the worst habits of old-school SEO
- How creative Digital PR, original data and ideas can build the kind of footprint that earns links, mentions, citations and attention

The central idea:
The goal isn’t to look authoritative.
It’s to leave evidence of authority.

The keynote also marked the launch of No Carrot, Lisa’s new agency focused on building authority for search + AI.

No tricks. No carrots. Build something worth noticing.

Transcript

1. How Authority Is Evolving In The Age of AI Search Lisa Paasche, Founder EKTE
3. How you see it Is how you feel it
4. For decades, people believed running a mile in under 4 minutes was physiologically impossible .
5. Then on May 6, 1954 Roger Bannister ran a mile in : 3:59.4
6. 46 days later: John Landy ran 3:58. Within a few years multiple athletes had done it.
7. The body didn’t suddenly The belief did. evolve
8. Expectation precedes perception. The brain looks for evidence to confirm what it already believes is possible .
9. My first ever talk was SMX London I spoke about how a in 2007, Social Media campaign influence links could
10. This campaign for MyHeritage got thousands of links But the campaign was on a separate domain (sigh!)
11. I founded Verve Search in 2009
12. By 2014 most SEO Agencies were doing the same thing still
13. Buying links at worst, creating infographics at best
14. We were plodding along fine. tight. BUT margins were 10% PROFIT MARGIN 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
15. 74 websites everything else
16. Would you rather fight 1 horse sized duck , or 100 duck sized horses
17. When Everyone Draws A Cross, Draw A Circle ! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
18. “This is the way we have always done it” .
19. Before people will change what they do, they have to believe it is possible.
20. People don’t necessarily resist change. They resist losing what already feels safe .
21. In Jan 2015 I made 40% of the agency redundant
23. Hired for GRIT not experience
25. We weren't trying to be the best SEO Agency. We were trying to change what an SEO agency could be .
26. Mission: Create campaigns that deserves more than just links
33. 871 links 15 million views
34. 360 VR campaign without any budget
39. We got regular coverage on TV3 (SWEDEN) NBC (US) TV ITV NEWS (UK)
40. In the printed press New York Post Washington Post The Mirror The Metro
41. Social Media Greenpeace coverage from big WWF organisations NASA
43. We launched over 65 creative campaigns per year, in 8 different countries , and generated thousands of links from the biggest websites in the world.
44. We won Best SEO Agency 3 Years Running
45. In just 2 years we went from this….. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
46. To this 40% PROFIT MARGIN 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
47. At Verve we thought we were building links, but we were actually building a footprint .
48. The campaigns aren’t the asset. The footprint it creates is.
49. Why is this relevant now?
50. Search has changed from finding information…
51. From Search Engine: ”Where can I find the answer” To Answer Engine: ”What is the answer”
52. It isn't enough to rank a webpage .
53. We increasingly want our brands, products, expertise and information to become part of the answer .
54. But an LLM doesn't just need information. It needs evidence .
55. Who says this? Who else says this? Can I verify it? Is this entity associated with this topic elsewhere?
56. Your website is only ONE piece of the evidence
57. Authority exists across the web , not just on your domain YOUR WEBSITE SOCIAL PUBLISHERS INDUSTRY SITES YOUTUBE/VIDEO YOUR BRAND RESEARCH/DATA REVIEWS COMMUNITIES CITATIONS
58. There are TWO kinds of AI visibility
59. Cited: The AI uses you as Mentioned: evidence The AI knows/recommends/talks about your brand
60. You want both
61. We've been very focused in SEO on citations. If a LLM uses your research to answer the question and nobody ever hears your name, that's useful, it isn't the same as brand visibility . but
62. So what creates AI Authority ?
63. DISCOVERABLE Can machines find and understand you? USEFUL Do you have information worth retrieving? CORROBORATED Do independent sources validate what you say? ASSOCIATED Does the web consistently connect your brand with the subject? TALKED ABOUT Are people and publishers discussing you?
64. You can not manufacture authority entirely on your own website
65. If authority lives across the ecosystem, what should we actually build ?
66. 1. Entity Clarity Who are you? What do you do? What topics/entities are consistently associated with you?
67. 2. Owned Evidence Do you publish something genuinely useful, original or referenceable? ➢ Research ➢ Data ➢ Expert commentary ➢ Tools ➢ Methodologies ➢ Primary -source information
68. 3. Third -Party Corroboration Who else confirms or discusses it? ➢ Publishers ➢ Industry authorities ➢ Experts ➢ Communities ➢ Customers ➢ Independent reviews
69. 4. Engagement Footprint Are people actually talking about you? ➢ Brand mentions ➢ Search demand ➢ Social conversation ➢ Video ➢ Forums/community discussion ➢ Repeated topic association
70. The goal isn't to look authoritative. It's to leave evidence of authority.
71. Example 1: Venngage.com Tells the web it is authoritative ➢ Lots of content about subject ➢ Heavy keyword optimised ➢ SEO led FAQ pages ➢ Product CTAs throughout
72. Self Authored In several articles they refer to themselves as “Best ” Claims “the best graphic design tool out there.”
73. YouTube channel with mostly optimised “how to” content and low engagement
74. Example 2: Canva.com Creates evidence of authority around subject ➢ Original data ➢ Third -party media coverage ➢ Mass user behaviour data ➢ Industry awards/recognition ➢ People discussing the findings elsewhere
75. Independent Research Partner Collaboration
76. YouTube channel with several sub categories. Considerable and consistent engagement from community, live events and conferences
77. Two Ways to Build Authority VENNGAGE CANVA Optimise the website for authority Build evidence of authority across the ecosystem
78. One optimises the The other expands the claim evidence
79. Visibility in LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overview) Tool used: Peec AI
80. For the love of God let’s not go down the spammy road again people (even if it works)
81. LLM optimisation is already spammy Synthetic mentions - Mass -produced FAQ content - Fake citations - LLM seeding tactics
82. We have seen this movie before
83. The short -term tricks will change. Building genuine authority won't.
84. Create things that linked to. talked about. cited. shared. remembered. THAT is Authority! deserves to be:
85. This is what Digital PR was doing all along
86. What do publishers and content producers want ?
87. Ideas, data, assets and stories that resonate .
88. It’s the same “ game ”, different “ yard ”.
89. And if you think it is too difficult to come up with ideas in your vertical ?
90. Can you name some things that are white ?
91. Now name some things that are white , that are in the fridge ?
92. If you ask someone for a drill and they don’t have one
93. But , if you tell someone you want to make a hole in the wall, there are loads of ways they can help you.
94. STOP asking: how do we get links ? START asking: how do we make this brand impossible to ignore ?
95. And on that note, I have some news !
96. No tricks. No carrots. Build something worth noticing.
97. I’m limited on time to show you how to do ideation…
98. FREE Tickets for SMX Attendees with code ” SMXBerlin ” Online Ideation Workshop “How to Think Like a 50s Ad Exec & Execute Like a Geek” Thurs 22 nd Oct - 3-5pm UK / 4 –6pm CEST https://www.eventbrite .co.uk/e/how-to-think-like-a-50s-ad-executive-execute-like-a-geek-tickets-2002433037118
99. She’s back! Lisa Paasche lisa@ekte -vision.com Instagram: @ EkteLisa