Authority: being a go-to source

What authority means here

Authority is how much AI treats your brand as a go-to source in your category, not just something it can mention. A brand with high authority gets recommended as a top option; a brand with low authority gets named in passing, if at all.

How to read it

It's one of the signals behind your AI Visibility score. A low score means the assistants don't yet see you as a trusted name for the topics you care about, so they lean on competitors when they answer.

What to do

Authority is earned off your own site, through proof other people can point to:

• Publish case studies, original research, and data worth citing.
• Earn named partnerships, awards, and coverage in credible, independent places.
• Build a presence on the sources AI trusts most (see off-site presence, and, for a strong independent signal, a Wikipedia presence).

This is the slowest lever to move, but the one that turns "mentioned" into "recommended."