Methodology v0.1 · draft
The HighRegard Score
One number for how findable, trusted and chosen a local business is, built from five module scores. This page publishes the method before the number is used in any live workspace, so it can be argued with first.
Status
A draft. The composite appears on this site as an illustration only until every module behind it is live and this page reaches version 1.0.
The modules
Five things a customer’s decision actually depends on
Each module has its own published or planned method. The composite is only ever as good as the modules, so their status is stated here.
Website · 25%
The Website Score (methodology v1.1): seven components measured from the initial HTML of your pages.
Google Maps · 25%
Maps score = 0.6 × top-3 coverage + 0.4 × top-10 coverage over the valid points of the latest geo-grid scan, all tracked terms pooled (query-weighted). Failed points are excluded, never counted as absent. Module v0.1.
AI visibility · 20%
Mention rate and accuracy across a fixed bank of customer prompts put to named assistants, with sources cited.
Reputation · 15%
Review count, rating, recency and response rate on the profiles customers actually consult.
Authority · 15%
Referring domains, citation consistency and the presence of the registers and profiles assistants cite.
How the composite is calculated
Professional judgement Each module produces a bounded score from 0 to 100 by its own method. The HighRegard Score is the weighted mean of the module scores that were measured, using the weights above renormalised over the measured modules. A module with no data is excluded from the mean and shown as “not measured”, and the workspace shows a completeness figure alongside the score: the share of the proposed weight that was actually measured. A score of 67 at 40% completeness and a score of 67 at 100% completeness are different things, and the interface never lets them look the same.
Why these weights
Professional judgement The weights are opinions, held consistently and published so they can be disagreed with. Website and Maps carry the most because, for the local-service businesses this consultancy serves, they are where the largest measured swings in enquiries have come from. AI visibility carries slightly less because it is newer and more volatile; reputation and authority less again because they move slowly and are partly consequences of the first three. Working hypothesis As the planned research runs, the weights will be reviewed against measured outcomes, and any change will be a new version of this page.
What it deliberately does not claim
Professional judgement The score demonstrates the presence of measured strengths and deficiencies. It does not count lost customers, forecast revenue, or promise that a higher score produces more enquiries. Movement in the score is only meaningful between measurements taken with the same module versions; the workspace records the versions with every measurement, so scores from different versions are never silently compared.
Versioning
Version 0.1, September 2026: a draft published before use. The Website module (v1.1) and the Google Maps module (v0.1, with its definitions on the module page and its calibration in the research note) are live; AI visibility, reputation and authority are not. Version 1.0 will be issued when all five modules are live in the application and their methods are published; until then the composite appears on this site as an illustration and is labelled as such wherever it is shown.
Start with the module that is live
The Website Score runs on your own pages in about fifteen seconds, free, against the published method.