Author Authority Signals

The Author Authority parameter checks whether a page proves who wrote it and why they are qualified. friendly4AI reads your page HTML and JSON-LD, looks for five author-identity signals, and combines them into a weighted composite from 0 to 100. A score of 80 or higher passes, 1-79 is partial, and 0 fails.

What does the Author Authority parameter measure?

Five sub-signals feed the weighted composite:

• Person JSON-LD with a name — 25%. A Person schema that carries a name. A byline name on its own does not count.
• Person.sameAs across 2+ platforms — 20%. A sameAs list spanning at least two distinct platform hosts, for instance LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Visible bio over 20 words — 20%. More than 20 words of bio text inside an author, bio, or byline element.
• Author-page link — 15%. A link whose href contains /author/, /authors/, or /team/.
• Credential markers — 20%. Terms like "PhD", "Dr.", "professor", "certified", or "years of experience" in the schema jobTitle or a byline context.

Why does author authority matter for AI-readiness?

When an AI system decides what to trust and cite, it leans on who wrote the content. A named author, verifiable credentials, and a link to a profile map straight onto the experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) signals that answer engines use to rank and attribute sources. Anonymous content reads as lower-trust, so it gets quoted less. Give a model a named expert with a Person schema and cross-platform sameAs links, and it has a verifiable identity it can stand behind when it surfaces your page. This pairs with related signals like citation-evidence-density, content-depth, and structured-data.

How is the Author Authority score calculated?

Under the v4.5 methodology this is a weighted composite, not a simple tri-level ladder. The processor scores each sub-signal as present (100) or absent (0), then computes:

round(0.25·schema + 0.20·sameAs + 0.20·bio + 0.15·authorLink + 0.20·credentials)

The composite maps to bands: 80 or higher passes, 1-79 is a partial, and a composite of 0 (no qualifying signal at all) fails. Watch one nuance: the schema sub-signal only counts when a Person schema carries a name. A schema-less page therefore caps its own ceiling, even with a strong bio and solid credentials.

How do I fix a low Author Authority score?

• Add Person JSON-LD with name and jobTitle for each author, and include a sameAs array that links at least two profiles (say, LinkedIn and a personal site).
• Publish a visible author bio longer than 20 words inside an element whose class or id contains author, bio, or byline.
• Point bylines at a dedicated author page under /author/, /authors/, or /team/.
• Surface credentials in the bio or schema jobTitle — degrees, certifications, years of experience — so the credential sub-signal fires.
• Re-scan, then check the score_schema, score_same_as, score_bio, score_author_link, and score_credentials evidence fields to see which sub-signal is missing.