How many websites pass the External No Negative check?

Based on 512 audited sites · Updated 2026-07-16

98.4%of audited sites pass this check↓0.4% vs last month

95% confidence interval: 96.9%–99.2%

About This Check

Checks for negative or controversy signals in mention titles. Negative signals can reduce AI citation likelihood.

Why This Matters

LLM Discoverability

Negative press or controversy signals in external content can cause AI systems to apply a cautionary modifier when citing an entity, reducing recommendation frequency in trust-sensitive contexts.

SEO Impact

Negative coverage can trigger manual reviews and affect brand query ranking; for YMYL categories, a pattern of negative mentions is a significant risk factor for algorithmic demotion.

What To Do Next

1.6% of audited sites need attention on external no negative (8 of 512 sites are warning or failing).

Prioritize external no negative 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 98.4% 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

98.4%pass(504)

0%warn(0)

1.6%fail(8)

Compliance Trend

Daily pass, warning, and failure rates across benchmark snapshots (up to 90 days).

Industry Breakdown

How different industries perform on this check.

100% of audited Finance & Banking sites pass this check (n=30), compared with 98% of Travel & Hospitality sites (n=50).

credible samples first · then pass rateshown-industry average 98.7%

Industry pass rates, average audit scores, and sample sizes. A marker in each pass-rate bar shows the weighted average across the displayed industries.
Industry	Pass rate	Avg score	Sites
Finance & Banking	100%	72.8	30
Media & Entertainment	98.6%	73.8	73
Technology	98.3%	72	232
Travel & Hospitality	98%	74.8	50
E-Commerce	100%	69.6	28limited
Education	100%	71.8	22limited
Government	100%	73.1	13limited
Food & Beverage	100%	71.1	10limited
Other	100%	67	7limited
Healthcare	100%	76.7	7limited

Related Checks

Run a free audit to see whether your site passes this check, or browse the leaderboard and the audited-sites directory.