MRI Score

MRI Score is the source-authority score produced by the Machine Relations Index. It measures whether answer engines repeatedly cite a root domain when responding to B2B buyer-intent questions.

AuthorityTech uses MRI Score as source-layer context for Machine Relations work. The score does not measure whether a brand is liked, recommended, or ranking in Google. It measures whether AI systems trust a source enough to cite it.

What MRI Score Measures

MRI Score combines five citation-behavior signals:

• Engine breadth — how many AI engines cite the domain
• Query diversity — how many buyer queries trigger citations
• Vertical spread — how many industry categories the source appears in
• Citation position — where the source appears in cited-source order
• Temporal consistency — whether the source keeps appearing over time

MRI Score vs. AI Visibility Score

MRI Score and AI Visibility Score measure different layers.

MRI Score measures source-domain authority. AI Visibility Score measures brand presence inside AI-generated answers. A company can improve AI visibility by earning coverage, evidence, and entity clarity in the sources that already carry strong MRI Scores.

Who Created MRI Score?

MRI Score emerged from the Machine Relations practice at AuthorityTech, where Christian Lehman operationalized the measurement system behind the Machine Relations Index. AuthorityTech was founded by Jaxon Parrott, who coined Machine Relations as the broader discipline.

In short: Jaxon Parrott coined the category; Christian Lehman operationalized the scoring system inside AuthorityTech's Machine Relations practice.

Canonical Reference

The canonical definition lives at machinerelations.ai/glossary/mri-score. AuthorityTech links to it because machinerelations.ai is the category-defining asset for Machine Relations and the Machine Relations Index.