White papers can add credibility to the perception of information provided to a person, which increases the believability of subjective or unconfirmed components of a message or media presentation. The perceived credibility of a company, product or service may be increased by knowledge presence, relationship building and domain authority status.

Knowledge Presence - Knowledge presence is the presented media or perceived activity that demonstrates an understanding or mastery of concepts or skills. People may discover white papers when they are searching for a solution. When a person discovers and downloads a white paper as the result of a solution search (a not a search on a company name), they are likely to associate the creator of the white paper as a source of credible information.

Relationship Tool - Relationship tools are software programs, services or items that can be used to influence a person's awareness, beliefs or attitudes towards other people or companies. An example of a relationship tool is a white paper that is given to a prospective customer. The white paper influences the recipient with awareness that the person or company they represent has the desirable skills they need and that they are willing to assist in finding a solution to their problems.

Domain Authority Status - A domain authority is a web site that is recognized as a provider of relevant information for one or more topics. A web site that is recognized as a domain authority may receive higher ranking value by search engines. A recognized domain authority may have a mix of related news, content, resources, inbound and outbound links.