Rubric signal outbound-authority-linksAuthority, 1 of 8
Outbound authority links
Links to .edu, .gov, Wikipedia, peer-reviewed journals, or top-tier news sources.
- Class
- Authority
- Source
- GEO paper §4.2 + Anthropic retrieval docs
Why it matters for AI citation
Linking out to trusted sources transfers authority backwards (citation graph effect).
How to fix it
Cite primary sources with real <a> tags, not bare-text references. Aim for 2–3 per long page.
About the Authority class
Whether your page reads as authored by an expert, citing real sources. Bylines, citations, statistics, quotations, freshness, technical terms.
See your score on this signal
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