{
 "title": "Best in Show: a study of 50 UK agency websites, August 2026 edition",
 "publisher": "Dog on the Table",
 "creator": "Dog on the Table",
 "source_url": "https://dogonthetable.com/tools/seo-ai-standard/agency-study/",
 "licence": "CC BY 4.0",
 "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
 "dataset_version": "1.0",
 "edition": "August 2026",
 "assessed_on": "2026-08-19",
 "method": {
  "standard": "Modern SEO + AI Optimisation Standard",
  "standard_version": "1.1",
  "checks_scored": 13,
  "checks_total": 32,
  "weight_points_scored": 47,
  "rescaled_to": 100,
  "pages_assessed": "homepage, About page and one recent blog post",
  "method_url": "https://dogonthetable.com/tools/seo-ai-standard/agency-study/#methodology"
 },
 "cohort_size": 50,
 "aggregates": {
  "mean_score": 40.2,
  "median_score": 42.0,
  "max_score": 68.1,
  "sites_scoring_70_or_more": 0,
  "llms_txt_recorded": 23,
  "sites_blocking_an_ai_crawler": 2
 },
 "checks": [
  {
   "key": "geo2",
   "label": "Credentialed expert quotes",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 3,
   "partly": 3,
   "no": 44,
   "yes_pct": 6.0,
   "partly_pct": 6.0,
   "no_pct": 88.0
  },
  {
   "key": "geo1",
   "label": "Attributed statistics",
   "weight": 5,
   "yes": 2,
   "partly": 5,
   "no": 43,
   "yes_pct": 4.0,
   "partly_pct": 10.0,
   "no_pct": 86.0
  },
  {
   "key": "geo3",
   "label": "Authoritative citations",
   "weight": 2,
   "yes": 7,
   "partly": 12,
   "no": 31,
   "yes_pct": 14.0,
   "partly_pct": 24.0,
   "no_pct": 62.0
  },
  {
   "key": "chr1",
   "label": "Question headings",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 2,
   "partly": 21,
   "no": 27,
   "yes_pct": 4.0,
   "partly_pct": 42.0,
   "no_pct": 54.0
  },
  {
   "key": "che2",
   "label": "High-effort original content",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 10,
   "partly": 23,
   "no": 17,
   "yes_pct": 20.0,
   "partly_pct": 46.0,
   "no_pct": 34.0
  },
  {
   "key": "aut3",
   "label": "First-hand experience",
   "weight": 1,
   "yes": 10,
   "partly": 25,
   "no": 15,
   "yes_pct": 20.0,
   "partly_pct": 50.0,
   "no_pct": 30.0
  },
  {
   "key": "cgt1",
   "label": "Canonical fact base",
   "weight": 5,
   "yes": 2,
   "partly": 36,
   "no": 12,
   "yes_pct": 4.0,
   "partly_pct": 72.0,
   "no_pct": 24.0
  },
  {
   "key": "chr3",
   "label": "Scannable structure + markup",
   "weight": 3,
   "yes": 20,
   "partly": 18,
   "no": 12,
   "yes_pct": 40.0,
   "partly_pct": 36.0,
   "no_pct": 24.0
  },
  {
   "key": "aut2",
   "label": "Authors as entities",
   "weight": 3,
   "yes": 5,
   "partly": 34,
   "no": 11,
   "yes_pct": 10.0,
   "partly_pct": 68.0,
   "no_pct": 22.0
  },
  {
   "key": "dis1",
   "label": "Disambiguation factoids",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 2,
   "partly": 40,
   "no": 8,
   "yes_pct": 4.0,
   "partly_pct": 80.0,
   "no_pct": 16.0
  },
  {
   "key": "dis2",
   "label": "Organisation schema + sameAs",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 34,
   "partly": 10,
   "no": 6,
   "yes_pct": 68.0,
   "partly_pct": 20.0,
   "no_pct": 12.0
  },
  {
   "key": "aut1",
   "label": "Bylines to credentialed bios",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 6,
   "partly": 39,
   "no": 5,
   "yes_pct": 12.0,
   "partly_pct": 78.0,
   "no_pct": 10.0
  },
  {
   "key": "chr2",
   "label": "Answer-first chunks",
   "weight": 4,
   "yes": 14,
   "partly": 32,
   "no": 4,
   "yes_pct": 28.0,
   "partly_pct": 64.0,
   "no_pct": 8.0
  }
 ],
 "top10": [
  {
   "rank": 1,
   "name": "Opace",
   "city": "Birmingham",
   "url": "https://opace.agency",
   "score": 68.1,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 62.8,
   "run_max": 76.6
  },
  {
   "rank": 2,
   "name": "Rapid SEO London",
   "city": "London",
   "url": "https://rapidseo.london",
   "score": 64.9,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 52.1,
   "run_max": 69.1
  },
  {
   "rank": 3,
   "name": "SALT.agency",
   "city": "Leeds",
   "url": "https://salt.agency",
   "score": 59.6,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 56.4,
   "run_max": 63.8
  },
  {
   "rank": 4,
   "name": "Vixen Digital",
   "city": "Brighton",
   "url": "https://vixendigital.com",
   "score": 57.4,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 48.9,
   "run_max": 61.7
  },
  {
   "rank": 5,
   "name": "Get Found",
   "city": "Birmingham",
   "url": "https://get-found.co.uk",
   "score": 54.3,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 54.3,
   "run_max": 57.4
  },
  {
   "rank": 6,
   "name": "Dark Horse",
   "city": "Manchester",
   "url": "https://darkhorse.co",
   "score": 54.3,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 44.7,
   "run_max": 54.3
  },
  {
   "rank": 7,
   "name": "StudioHawk UK",
   "city": "London",
   "url": "https://studiohawk.co.uk",
   "score": 50.0,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 50.0,
   "run_max": 54.3
  },
  {
   "rank": 8,
   "name": "Sierra Six Media",
   "city": "London",
   "url": "https://sierrasixmedia.co.uk",
   "score": 50.0,
   "band": "Emerging",
   "run_min": 46.8,
   "run_max": 60.6
  },
  {
   "rank": 9,
   "name": "Hallam",
   "city": "Nottingham",
   "url": "https://hallam.agency",
   "score": 48.9,
   "band": "Exposed",
   "run_min": 48.9,
   "run_max": 53.2
  },
  {
   "rank": 10,
   "name": "Artemis Marketing",
   "city": "Sussex",
   "url": "https://artemis.marketing",
   "score": 48.9,
   "band": "Exposed",
   "run_min": 48.9,
   "run_max": 50.0
  }
 ],
 "score_ranges": [
  {
   "range": "0 to 9",
   "from": 0,
   "to_below": 10,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 0
  },
  {
   "range": "10 to 19",
   "from": 10,
   "to_below": 20,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 2,
   "total": 2
  },
  {
   "range": "20 to 29",
   "from": 20,
   "to_below": 30,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 9,
   "total": 9
  },
  {
   "range": "30 to 39",
   "from": 30,
   "to_below": 40,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 11,
   "total": 11
  },
  {
   "range": "40 to 49",
   "from": 40,
   "to_below": 50,
   "named_top10": 2,
   "unnamed": 18,
   "total": 20
  },
  {
   "range": "50 to 59",
   "from": 50,
   "to_below": 60,
   "named_top10": 6,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 6
  },
  {
   "range": "60 to 69",
   "from": 60,
   "to_below": 70,
   "named_top10": 2,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 2
  },
  {
   "range": "70 to 79",
   "from": 70,
   "to_below": 80,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 0
  },
  {
   "range": "80 to 89",
   "from": 80,
   "to_below": 90,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 0
  },
  {
   "range": "90 to 100",
   "from": 90,
   "to_below": 100,
   "named_top10": 0,
   "unnamed": 0,
   "total": 0
  }
 ],
 "notes": [
  "Only the 10 highest-scoring agencies are named. The other 40 appear only as counts per 10-point score range.",
  "A range such as 40 to 49 covers scores from 40.0 up to, but not including, 50.0.",
  "Scores describe selected public pages on the assessment date. They do not measure search rankings, visibility in AI answers or the quality of an agency's work.",
  "run_min and run_max show the lowest and highest of the repeated assessments for a named agency."
 ]
}