The measurement standard
The CLEO Presence Index.
One number from 0 to 100, built from ten signals in two layers, always shown with its coverage and a 95% range.
Definition
The CLEO Presence Index (the Index) scores how present a business is across Maps, Search, AI Search, Social and Reviews, and the website beneath them, on one scale from 0 to 100. It is a weighted composite of ten signals in two layers: Presence Recognition (70), whether search engines, AI answers, reviewers and independent sources find, trust and recommend the business, and Presence Readiness (30), whether they can reach and read it. Signals without data lower coverage rather than scoring as zero, and every score is shown with its coverage and a 95% range.
Standard
Why presence needs one number
Buyers now meet a business on five surfaces before they reach its website: Maps, Search, AI Search, Social and Reviews. AI answers compress those surfaces into a short list of names, and a business that is not named is rarely considered. Tracking each surface in a separate dashboard makes it easy to improve one while another quietly slips. The Index rolls them into a single, trend-able number, built from ten weighted signals, with a breakdown by layer, surface and signal that shows where to act.
Layers
Recognition and Readiness
The Index groups its ten signals into two layers. Presence Recognition, 70% of the Index, is whether search engines, AI answers, reviewers and independent sources find, trust and recommend the business: it is earned, and it moves over weeks and months. Presence Readiness, 30%, is whether search engines, AI systems and buyers can reach and read the business: it is largely within the business's control, and it changes within days of a fix. Recognition carries more weight because it is what buyers experience. A technically perfect website that nobody recommends should not score well.
Whether search engines, AI answers, reviewers and independent sources find, trust and recommend the business. Earned, and moves over weeks and months.
Whether search engines, AI systems and buyers can reach and read the business. Largely within the business's control, and changes within days.
Why not owned and earned? That split describes who controls a channel. It does not tell a team what to do next. Readiness is largely what a business owns and Recognition largely what it earns, so the familiar distinction survives, but the labels now say what to do next. Version 1.0 retires the owned and earned labels.
Every signal, defined and sourced
Every signal is observable from outside the business, so the Index is computed the same way for every business in a category. Each signal's definition, source and scoring rule is published in the methodology.
Reading it
The bands, and when a grade is shown
Rarely found or recommended. Significant room to grow.
Foundations in place. Recognition is inconsistent.
Competitive presence across most surfaces.
A default answer across most of the category's questions.
Every score, the Index and each individual signal, lives on the same 0 to 100 scale. A grade appears only when the evidence supports it.
Rated
Coverage of 80% or more. The Index is shown with its grade.
Provisional
Coverage of 50 to 79%. The Index is shown without a grade.
Unrated
Coverage below 50%. No Index is shown, and the live signals are shown on their own.
Stability
A grade changes only after the smoothed index has stayed at least 1.5 points beyond a band boundary for 7 consecutive days, so a business does not flicker between grades on noise.
Rigour
The rules that keep the number honest
AI answers are scored 1, 0.5 or 0
AI Recommendation scores 1 when the business is recommended, 0.5 when it is named without a recommendation, 0 when it is omitted or named negatively, averaged across engines by engine weight. This applies only to AI Recommendation. AI Citation is measured separately, as the share of citing answers that link to the business's own domain.
Negative mentions are excluded
Being named negatively in an AI answer scores 0 for AI Recommendation, and negative coverage is excluded before Independent Mentions are counted.
Press releases earn nothing on their own
Press releases, wire syndication and paid or sponsored placements earn nothing on their own. The independent coverage and AI answers they lead to are counted once, weighted by the credibility of the source.
One engine set, for everyone
Every business is measured on the same five engines: ChatGPT (41%), Google AI Overviews and AI Mode (25%), Gemini (21%), Claude (8%) and Perplexity (5%). The set is fixed for every business, so comparisons are always like for like.
Every reading carries a range
AI signals are proportions measured from hundreds of answers, so each carries a Wilson interval at 95% confidence, the same statistical standard CLEO uses for its GEO Score, and the Index is shown with its 95% range. A change is reported only when it exceeds the minimum detectable change.
Coverage is always shown
Every signal is Live, Warming up, Not measured or Not applicable. Only Live signals count in the Index. Warming up and Not measured signals are excluded and lower coverage, rather than scoring as zero; Not applicable signals are excluded from both. The Index is always shown beside its coverage and its 95% range.
Provenance
What it is not
The Index measures presence against a fixed standard. It does not measure results.
It tells you
- How present a business is across the five surfaces and its website, against a fixed standard
- Where the gap is, by layer, surface and signal
- Whether presence is changing by more than measurement noise
- How much of the method a score rests on, and how certain it is
- How a business compares with others in its category on the same questions
It does not tell you
- How much revenue presence produces; results are reported separately
- What any single AI answer will say to any single buyer
- Why an individual engine favours one business over another
- Whether AI answers describe the business accurately (open question 1)
- How a business appears in a personalised, logged-in session
Results sit outside the index
Traffic, leads, pipeline and paid reach matter most to a business, but they depend on data only the business can grant, and paid reach can be bought. CLEO reports results alongside the index, from connected data, and never inside it. That keeps the index comparable across businesses and keeps paid media from inflating a measure of organic presence.
Naming
One name, everywhere
Usage
Called the CLEO Presence Index in full on first mention, and the Index after that, in every page, report and conversation. It is never shortened to an acronym. The name is reserved to CLEO. Others may describe a score as based on the CLEO Presence Index methodology.
One number. Shown with its working.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the CLEO Presence Index?
The CLEO Presence Index (the Index) scores how present a business is across Maps, Search, AI Search, Social and Reviews, and the website beneath them, on one scale from 0 to 100. It is a weighted composite of ten signals in two layers: Presence Recognition (70), whether search engines, AI answers, reviewers and independent sources find, trust and recommend the business, and Presence Readiness (30), whether they can reach and read it. Signals without data lower coverage rather than scoring as zero, and every score is shown with its coverage and a 95% range.
Why does presence need one number?
Buyers now meet a business on five surfaces before they reach its website: Maps, Search, AI Search, Social and Reviews. AI answers compress those surfaces into a short list of names, and a business that is not named is rarely considered. Tracking each surface in a separate dashboard makes it easy to improve one while another quietly slips. The Index rolls them into a single, trend-able number, built from ten weighted signals, with a breakdown by layer, surface and signal that shows where to act.
How is the CLEO Presence Index calculated?
The Index is a weighted average of the live signals among its ten. Presence Recognition carries 70: AI Recommendation 24, Organic Search Visibility 14, Reviews & Ratings 12, AI Citation 10 and Independent Mentions 10. Presence Readiness carries 30: Crawl & Render Access 9, Site Content & Technical SEO 9, Social Profiles 6, Local Listings 4 and Structured Data 2. Each signal is scored from 0 to 100 on a published curve, so a signal's weight is the most it can contribute.
What happens if a signal has no data?
It is not scored as zero. Every signal is Live, Warming up, Not measured or Not applicable. Warming up and Not measured signals are excluded from the Index and lower its coverage; Not applicable signals are excluded from both. The Index is always shown beside its coverage, so it is clear how much of the method a score rests on.
What do the score bands mean?
Weak is 0 to 39: rarely found or recommended, with significant room to grow. Building is 40 to 64: foundations in place, recognition inconsistent. Strong is 65 to 84: competitive presence across most surfaces. Leading is 85 to 100: a default answer across most of the category's questions. A grade is shown only when coverage is at least 80% (Rated); at 50 to 79% the Index is Provisional and shown without a grade, and below 50% it is Unrated and not shown. A grade changes only after the smoothed index has stayed at least 1.5 points beyond a band boundary for 7 consecutive days.
Do press releases count towards the Index?
Not on their own. Press releases, wire syndication and paid or sponsored placements earn nothing. The independent coverage and AI answers they lead to are counted once, weighted by the credibility of the source. A business improves its score by earning coverage, not by distributing releases.
Can a business pay to improve its score?
No. No business can pay to change its score, and there is no manual adjustment. Traffic, leads, pipeline and paid reach are reported alongside the Index, from connected data, and never inside it.
Which engines does the Index use?
Every business is measured on the same five engines: ChatGPT (41%), Google AI Overviews and AI Mode (25%), Gemini (21%), Claude (8%) and Perplexity (5%).
Who governs the method?
CLEO stewards the Index and publishes the full method. Every score carries the version that produced it. There are up to two releases a year, each preceded by a public comment window of at least 30 days. CLEO's methodology lead decides, advised by an external review panel whose advice is published, and every proposal receives a published response with reasons.
How can I propose a change to the method?
Book a conversation with the CLEO team. A proposal names the part of the method affected, the precise change, why it makes the Index a better measure of presence, the evidence, its estimated effect on existing scores, the data it needs and how it could be gamed. Proposals are published, anyone may comment during the comment window, and adopted changes are credited to their proposers.
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