How Market Authority scores are produced, what sources are used, and why the result is independent.
The Market Authority Assessment evaluates a business across two dimensions — Human Authority and Structural Confidence — using publicly available, third-party verified data sources.
The result is a single composite score on a scale of 0 to 100. The scoring methodology, pillar structure, and formula weighting are published at
Market Authority Standard.
Each of the eight components draws from specific third-party sources. No data is self-reported or submitted by the business being assessed.
Human Authority is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, calculated across four equal-weight components.
| Component | Primary sources |
|---|---|
| Strategic Positioning | Public website, brand messaging, product and service positioning language across all public-facing channels |
| Proof & Validation | Trustpilot, Google Maps reviews, verified press coverage, industry awards databases, certification and accreditation bodies |
| Trust Infrastructure | Schema.org structured data scan (JSON-LD), privacy policy, GDPR compliance signals, legal entity disclosure on website |
| Market Presence | Search index presence, social media platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn), press citation volume, content breadth and depth |
Structural Confidence is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, calculated across four equal-weight components.
| Component | Primary sources |
|---|---|
| Filing Compliance | National company registries: CRO (Ireland), Bolagsverket (Sweden), Companies House (UK), CVR (Denmark), and equivalent registries in other jurisdictions |
| Financial Risk Signals | Filed annual accounts, solvency ratios, audited financial statements, credit reference agencies (D&B, Creditsafe, UC) |
| Governance Stability | Registered director history, ownership records, officer appointment and resignation frequency |
| Operational Longevity | Company registration date, continuous trading record, entity age |
The assessment is conducted by Digital Scorecard. The business being assessed has no involvement in data collection or scoring.
An MAI score reflects the state of publicly verifiable signals at the time of assessment. Commissioning an assessment does not influence the result — the score is determined entirely by what exists in public sources.
A business improves its score by improving the underlying signals: earning more independent reviews, publishing complete schema markup, maintaining filing compliance, building verifiable press coverage. Those improvements must be real and independently verifiable.
There is no mechanism by which a business can purchase a higher score.
When a business is assessed and receives a score it is then allocated into one of 4 categories.
Those that are scored at 64 and below are not Certified. The other 3 categories are shown.
| Certification | MAI Score | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|
| MAI Gold | 80 and above | A business that is leading in its sector. |
| MAI Silver | 70 – 79 | A business with significant authority in its market. |
| MAI Certified | 65 – 69 | A mark of credibility in its sector. |
The Market Authority Assessment is applied in three variants, each differing in the depth and source coverage used.
The scoring formula and component structure are identical across all three methods. MAI Assessed provides the highest source depth and the most precise result.
| Level | Method | Output |
|---|---|---|
| MAI Expected | Public signal estimate using four sources: Trustpilot data, company registry age, employee scale, press mention volume | Score range + confidence level |
| MAI Estimated | Desk-based review using additional public signals: website, social media, basic registry check. Used primarily for sector benchmarking and competitor mapping | Single estimated score |
| MAI Assessed | Full assessment by Digital Scorecard analysts across all eight components, with primary source research, financial data review, and complete source citation | Full MAI score (HA + SC) with sourced report |
Assessments are conducted in accordance with: Nugent, E. (2025). The Market Authority Standard, Version 1.1. Digital Scorecard. digitalscorecard.com/market-authority-standard/