The monthly own-data study
The Area Authority Index, Edition 1
Edition 1 · August 2026 · All figures as of 2026-08-12 unless a snapshot date is shown.
The Area Authority Index is a monthly own-data study of real estate area authority websites, published by Katie Van Nes of Most Referred Expert and the Lofty Master Class. Each edition reports measured figures from the sites this practice builds and monitors: page counts, page-type mix, search footprint, internal linking, and QA outcomes.
Edition 1 is the baseline. Every number below states its sample size, and every later edition re-runs the same queries under the same rules, so the figures can be diffed month over month.
What are the headline findings of Edition 1?
The Index tracks 1,001 pages, 831 of them live, across 14 client builds.
The median farm runs 36 live pages, and the middle half of clients run 29 to 81. (Edition 1, as of 2026-08-12; N=1,001 tracked pages; distribution over N=13 clients with at least one live page.)
An area authority farm is a portfolio, not a blog.
Listings pages (31.0%) and guides (26.7%) together make up the majority of the live fleet, spread across five distinct page types. (Edition 1, as of 2026-08-12; N=831 live pages.)
Ranking footprint arrives before traffic.
The median tracked domain holds 177 organic keywords alongside an estimated 2 monthly organic visits, and three quarters of tracked domains sit at or under an estimated 6 monthly visits. (Edition 1; N=37 domains; single Semrush snapshot, 2026-08-09; traffic is Semrush's monthly-estimate unit.)
We publish what our own QA gate cannot see.
28.6% of 6,600 automated check-outcomes established nothing, either because a page had nothing for the check to evaluate or because the check could not reach what it needed. An earlier run on a smaller corpus read 27.1%, so the share held across two runs. (Edition 1, as of 2026-08-12; N=6,600 check-outcomes on 364 pages; corroborating run 2026-08-06, N=4,041 outcomes on 221 pages.)
Internal links are hand-approved from machine proposals.
Of 598 machine-proposed cross-link candidates across 257 pages, 148 (24.7%) were approved for injection, and the median page in the graph carries one outbound candidate. (Edition 1, as of 2026-08-12; N=257 pages, 598 candidate edges.)
What are the Edition 1 numbers?
All rows below are Edition 1 figures, as of 2026-08-12; rows built from a search snapshot carry their batch date.
| Figure | Value | N |
|---|---|---|
| Tracked pages | 1,001 total: 831 live, 92 at the review gate, 78 queued | 1,001 tracked pages |
| Client builds tracked | 14 (13 with at least one live page) | 1,001 tracked pages |
| Page types | 5: listing, guide, blog, market, foundation | 1,001 tracked pages |
| Live page-type mix | listing 31.0%, guide 26.7%, market 20.0%, blog 16.1%, foundation 6.1% | 831 live pages |
| Live pages per client | median 36; middle half 29 to 81; smallest under 10 (bucketed); largest 200+ (bucketed) | 13 clients |
| Organic keywords per domain | median 177; middle half 68 to 377; min 3; max 748 | 37 domains (Semrush snapshot 2026-08-09) |
| Organic traffic per domain, monthly estimate | median 2; middle half 0 to 6; min 0; max 200+ (bucketed) | 37 domains (Semrush snapshot 2026-08-09) |
| Search snapshot coverage | 39 domains in the overview snapshot (37 with ok status) and 42 in the backlinks snapshot; coverage is counted in domains and exceeds the 14 tracked clients | 81 snapshot rows (batches 2026-08-09 and 2026-07-31) |
| Cross-link graph | 257 pages, 598 candidate edges: 148 approved (24.7%), 450 proposed | 257 pages, 598 edges |
| Outbound candidates per page | median 1 (middle half 1 to 1, max 22); 30 of 257 pages carry zero | 257 pages, 598 edges |
| QA gate corpus | 364 pages graded (of 723 files scanned) across 5 builds, 6,600 recorded check-outcomes | 364 pages, 6,600 outcomes |
| Check-outcome shares | met 50.7%, vacuous 23.0%, warned 10.1%, failed 8.1%, unprobed 5.6%, not applicable 2.5% | 6,600 check-outcomes |
| Checks that established nothing | 28.6% (vacuous plus unprobed); the 2026-08-06 run read 27.1% | 6,600 outcomes; corroboration N=4,041 |
| Per-page met share | median 50.0%; middle half 43.8% to 61.1%; range 34.8% to 68.8% | 364 pages |
| Most-warned checks | schema (262 warnings), hidden-text (209), links-planned (111), comments (67), links-outbound (15) | 364 pages |
| Data freshness | every tracked page row last verified against its live site between 2026-07-03 and 2026-08-12 (UTC) | 1,001 tracked pages |
Read the table with these caveats, which ship beside the figures in every edition:
- Gate figures grade source files. The QA gate measured the practice's page-source corpus; live-fetched pages were not graded in this edition, and 359 of the 723 scanned files were untypeable and excluded. Pass/fail verdicts are deliberately withheld: body fragments and templates cannot pass standalone, so that split would mislead.
- Traffic is an estimate from one snapshot. The keyword and traffic figures come from single Semrush snapshot batches (overview 2026-08-09, backlinks 2026-07-31) in Semrush's monthly-estimate units. One snapshot supports no trend claim; trends begin in Edition 2.
- 598 counts candidates. Any claim about injected internal links uses the 148 approved edges.
- Aggregate only. No client names, no client domains, no per-site figures appear anywhere in this edition. Where a single client dominates a distribution endpoint, the value ships as a bucket (“under 10”, “200+”).
What does the Area Authority Index measure, and how?
Edition 1 draws on four instruments, all internal to the practice:
The page tracker.
Every page the practice builds is tracked with a status verified against the live site itself. Edition 1 covers 1,001 tracked pages (N=1,001, as of 2026-08-12), each row last verified between 2026-07-03 and 2026-08-12.
Search snapshots.
Semrush domain-overview and backlink snapshots supply the keyword and traffic figures (37 ok-status domains in the keyword and traffic distributions; batches 2026-08-09 and 2026-07-31).
The QA gate.
An automated pre-publish gate grades each page against a fixed set of checks. Edition 1 records 6,600 check-outcomes across 364 graded pages in 5 builds (as of 2026-08-12), including the outcomes where the gate established nothing, because a gate's blind spots belong in the study as much as its passes.
The cross-link engine.
Machine-proposed internal links, reviewed before injection: 257 pages, 598 candidates, 148 approved (as of 2026-08-12).
Scope, stated plainly. The sample is every site this practice builds or monitors and no others: 14 client builds as of Edition 1 (N=1,001 tracked pages, 2026-08-12). Treat the figures as a practice-level census rather than an industry survey. That scope is also the point: every number here is measured on real, live client work, under rules that let the same measurement run again next month.
Anonymization. The Index is aggregate-only by design. Every published value is a fleet-level count, share, or distribution statistic, and any endpoint that a single client dominates is bucketed before it ships.
What changes in Edition 2?
The Index is monthly, and Edition 2 ships in September 2026 by re-running every query above under the same rules. Edition 1 cannot yet report time-to-indexed, time-to-first-traffic, or any keyword or traffic trend, because only one search snapshot per source exists and a trend needs at least two. A second snapshot creates the first deltas the Index can publish: keyword and traffic movement per domain, live-page growth against the 831-page baseline (N=1,001 tracked, Edition 1, 2026-08-12), and cross-link approval progress against the 148-edge baseline.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Area Authority Index?
The Area Authority Index is a monthly own-data study of real estate area authority websites, published by Katie Van Nes of Most Referred Expert and the Lofty Master Class. Edition 1 (August 2026) reports 1,001 tracked pages, 831 of them live, across 14 client builds (N=1,001, as of 2026-08-12).
Who publishes the Area Authority Index?
Katie Van Nes, founder of Most Referred Expert and host of the Lofty Master Class, publishes the Area Authority Index monthly. The sites measured are built on the Area Authority Method, her named system for real estate farming in the AI search era.
Where does the Area Authority Index data come from?
From Katie Van Nes's own practice instruments: a page tracker verified against each live site, Semrush domain snapshots, an automated pre-publish QA gate, and a reviewed cross-link engine. Edition 1 (as of 2026-08-12) spans 1,001 tracked pages, 37 snapshot domains, 6,600 QA check-outcomes, and 598 cross-link candidates.
Is the Area Authority Index a random sample of all real estate agents?
No. The sample is every site Katie Van Nes's practice builds or monitors and no others: 14 client builds in Edition 1 (N=1,001 tracked pages, as of 2026-08-12). The figures describe this fleet as a practice-level census, and the scope is stated on every edition so a reader can weigh the numbers correctly.
How is client privacy protected in the Index?
Every figure is aggregate-only: no client names, no client domains, no per-site numbers. Where a single client dominates a distribution endpoint, the value is published as a bucket, such as “under 10” or “200+”, so no client can be identified from any Edition 1 figure.
How often is the Area Authority Index published?
Monthly. Edition 1 is August 2026, and Edition 2 ships in September 2026. Each edition re-runs the same queries under the same rules, so month-over-month deltas begin with the second edition.
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By Katie Van Nes · Founder, Most Referred Expert · Lofty Certified Success Partner · SUCCESS® Certified Coach
Always happy to help 🙋♀️ ☎️