Methodology
The Intelligence Score, in full.
The Intelligence Score is a 0–100 diagnostic. Six dimensions are each scored 0–100 against the rubric on this page, and the headline number is their plain arithmetic mean. There is no weighting and no curve. Every report prints all six values, so the headline figure can be reproduced by anyone holding the document.
Meridian Robotics
A fictional subject used to demonstrate the format.
01Bands
What a number means.
The band is the coarse read. The useful signal is the spread: a subject at 78 with every dimension between 74 and 82 has a different problem from a subject at 78 with one dimension at 41.
Little to fix, much to defend. The work is holding position while the category moves.
Real strengths with one or two dimensions carrying the loss. Fixing the weakest usually moves the headline five points.
The public record understates the business. Most of the gap is execution, not strategy.
The market is deciding about you from evidence you did not choose. This is the expensive band.
02Company rubric
Six dimensions for a company.
Used in every Company X-Ray and in the company half of the Executive Package.
Brand
Is the company recognised, and is it recognised for the right thing?
Raises the score
Consistent naming and description across owned and third-party sources, distinct category language, unaided recall in search behaviour.
Lowers the score
Different descriptions of the business on different platforms, category vocabulary borrowed from competitors, a positioning nobody repeats back.
SEO
When someone searches the problem you solve, do they reach you?
Raises the score
Coverage of non-brand category queries, technically clean and crawlable pages, internal linking that matches how buyers actually search.
Lowers the score
Ranking only for your own name, comparison sites outranking you on your own category, pages with no title, description or structured data.
AI visibility
What do AI assistants say when someone asks about your category?
Raises the score
Being named unprompted in category answers, sources the assistants cite, structured data and clear factual pages they can quote.
Lowers the score
Being absent from category answers, being described from a competitor's framing, being confused with a similarly named company.
Trust
Would a cautious buyer feel safe transacting with you?
Raises the score
Verifiable identity, security and compliance evidence, real reviews across more than one platform, clear pricing and terms.
Lowers the score
No named team, no address, thin or single-platform reviews, missing legal pages, claims with nothing behind them.
Market position
Where do you sit against the alternatives a buyer is also reading?
Raises the score
A defensible difference stated in your own words, strength on the axes buyers compare, presence in the comparisons they read.
Lowers the score
A crowded middle, feature parity described in generic terms, absence from the comparison content that decides the deal.
Growth potential
How much upside is reachable without changing the business?
Raises the score
Large addressable demand you do not yet capture, obvious unbuilt pages and channels, high-intent queries with weak incumbents.
Lowers the score
Demand already captured, saturated channels, upside that depends on a new product rather than better execution.
03Founder rubric
Six dimensions for a person.
Used in every Founder X-Ray. Different rubric, different questions – a founder score and a company score are not interchangeable.
Personal brand
Is there a consistent, deliberate professional identity?
Raises the score
The same role and story across profiles, a stated point of view, a recognisable area of expertise.
Lowers the score
Profiles that disagree with each other, an outdated title, an identity defined entirely by an employer.
Digital presence
How much of the public record is under your control?
Raises the score
An owned page that ranks, active professional profiles, current photography and biography, a claimed knowledge panel.
Lowers the score
Nothing owned on the first page of results, dormant profiles, a name that resolves to someone else.
Authority
Does anyone credible vouch for what you know?
Raises the score
Independent citations, published writing, speaking, media quotes, recognisable co-signers.
Lowers the score
Expertise asserted only by you, no third-party evidence, credentials that cannot be checked.
Reputation
What is the tone of the public record about you?
Raises the score
Consistent, constructive coverage, positive or neutral sentiment across source types, no unresolved public disputes.
Lowers the score
Sentiment that splits sharply by source, unanswered criticism sitting high in results, stale negative coverage nobody has displaced.
AI presence
Do AI assistants know who you are, and do they get it right?
Raises the score
Being named and correctly described, an entity the assistants can resolve, sources they are willing to cite.
Lowers the score
Assistants describing your company instead of you, confusing you with a namesake, or declining to answer at all.
Positioning
Does the public record describe the founder you have become?
Raises the score
A current narrative, the right seniority signalled, a clear next chapter implied.
Lowers the score
A story frozen at an earlier company, a role the market has outgrown, no stated direction.
04Limits
What the score is not.
A rubric is only honest if it says where it stops.
- Not a valuationIt measures the public record, not the business. A quiet company with excellent economics can score 58, and it should.
- Not a predictionEvery dimension describes something already observable. Nothing in the score forecasts revenue, funding or outcome.
- Not a rankingWe do not publish leaderboards and we do not sell a place on one. Your score is yours; comparison is your own to make.
- Not a judgement of qualityIt reads how legible you are, not how good you are. The most common finding is a good business with an under-written public record.
05Method questions
About the score.
Six dimensions are each scored 0–100 against the rubric published on this page. The headline Intelligence Score is the plain arithmetic mean of those six numbers, rounded to the nearest whole number. There is no weighting and no curve, so you can reproduce the headline figure yourself from the six values printed in your report.
Because weighting is where scores go to become unfalsifiable. An unweighted mean is worse at flattering a subject and better at being checked, which is the trade we want. If a dimension matters more to your business than the others, the report tells you which one – you do the weighting, in your own head, with the evidence in front of you.
No. They use different rubrics and measure different things. A Company Intelligence Score of 84 and a Personal Brand Score of 84 are not the same statement. Within a rubric, two subjects are directly comparable, and so is the same subject three months apart.
Rarely, and never silently. When a dimension definition changes, the version is stated in the report footer so an old report and a new one can be compared honestly.
The bands are defined by the rubric, not by a distribution of customers. Below 50 means the public record is being written by other people. Above 85 means the work has shifted from building visibility to defending it. In practice the band matters less than the spread: one dimension twenty points below the rest is the finding, whatever the headline says.
See your six numbers.
The rubric is published, the samples are open, and the report takes about six minutes. There is nothing left to find out except your own score.
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