How many websites pass the External Authoritative check?
Based on 512 audited sites · Updated 2026-07-16
95% confidence interval: 61.8%–70%
About This Check
Checks whether mentions appear on high-authority (Tier 1/2) sources like Wikipedia, Forbes, or TechCrunch.
Why This Matters
LLM Discoverability
Mentions on high-authority sources (Wikipedia, major publications, academic journals) are the gold standard for AI entity credibility and are heavily weighted in knowledge graph construction.
SEO Impact
Links from Tier 1 domains (Wikipedia, Forbes, TechCrunch, .edu/.gov sites) deliver outsized PageRank and domain authority benefits that can disproportionately improve rankings across the entire site.
What To Do Next
34% of audited sites need attention on external authoritative (174 of 512 sites are warning or failing).
- Prioritize external authoritative on templates that create many URLs, because one template fix can improve a large share of off-site presence & mentions.
- After changing the page, re-run the audit and compare the observed value for this check instead of relying on visual inspection alone.
- Use the 66% pass rate as a benchmark: if your site fails here, passing the check moves it closer to the visible majority of crawlable, AI-readable pages.
Status Breakdown
Compliance Trend
Daily pass, warning, and failure rates across benchmark snapshots (up to 90 days).
Industry Breakdown
How different industries perform on this check.
74% of audited Media & Entertainment sites pass this check (n=73), compared with 46% of Travel & Hospitality sites (n=50).
| Industry | Pass rate | Avg score | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media & Entertainment | 74% | 73.8 | 73 |
| Technology | 71.1% | 72 | 232 |
| Finance & Banking | 63.3% | 72.8 | 30 |
| Travel & Hospitality | 46% | 74.8 | 50 |
| Recruitment & HR | 100% | 80 | 3limited |
| Telecommunications | 100% | 75.7 | 3limited |
| Education | 86.4% | 71.8 | 22limited |
| Healthcare | 71.4% | 76.7 | 7limited |
| Retail | 66.7% | 78.3 | 3limited |
| E-Commerce | 60.7% | 69.6 | 28limited |
Related Checks
Run a free audit to see whether your site passes this check, or browse the leaderboard and the audited-sites directory.