AI authority
How far AI engines trust a company enough to name it, recommend it, and describe it accurately when buyers ask for help. It rests on two things: the company's own search signals, and what trusted independent sources say about it. CRISP™ measures both, on five factors.
What it tells a buyer or a marketer
When a buyer asks an AI engine which company to choose, the engine writes one answer and names a few companies. AI authority is how far the engines trust a company enough to be one of them: named when buyers describe the need, put forward when they are deciding, and described accurately when they ask about it by name.
For a marketer, it is the question behind every AI answer about their market. A company can be well known and still lack it, because the engines lean on what independent sources say as much as on the company's own pages. A company with little search traffic can hold it, because the sources the engines trust carry its story.
How it relates to AI SEO and AI visibility
People often search for AI SEO. What decides the answer is AI authority: a company's search signals, meaning a site the engines can find, read, and quote, plus what trusted independent sources say about it. AI visibility, whether the engines name the company at all, is where it starts.
CRISP measures both halves on five factors. Presence and Consensus read whether and how widely the engines name a company, Reputation reads whether they speak in its favour, Influence reads whether credible third parties carry its story, and Source reads whether the engines can check what they say against a record they can read.
What moves it
AI authority moves when what the engines read changes: coverage in the publications, rankings, comparison sites, and directories they cite for a market, a site they can reach and quote, and the same facts about the company everywhere they look. The AI Authority Index™ finds that the engines decide who to recommend through independent sources, so on-site work alone rarely moves it. The CRISP methodology publishes how it is collected and scored.
Related terms
AI authority is measured on the five CRISP factors, and AI visibility is where it starts. AI SEO is the search half of it. The AI Authority Index publishes it for every company on a market's Leaderboard, and the free AI Authority Check™ reads it for one company.
See also
Run the free AI Authority Check
Questions
What is AI authority?
How far AI engines trust a company enough to name it, recommend it, and describe it accurately when buyers ask for help. It rests on the company's own search signals and on what trusted independent sources say about it.
How is AI authority different from AI SEO?
AI SEO is the search half: a site the engines can find, read, and quote. AI authority adds the other half, what independent sources say about the company, which the engines weigh when they decide who to recommend.
How do I measure my company's AI authority?
Ask the questions your buyers ask on every engine they use, repeatedly, and read what comes back. The free AI Authority Check does that for your market and scores all five CRISP factors.
How do I improve my AI authority?
Win the independent sources the engines cite for your market, keep your facts consistent everywhere, make your site readable to the engines, and measure again on the same questions.