What is the Authority Score
By Erick Inoue, founder of ProLeap · Updated July 22, 2026
How ProLeap measures the strength of your professional profile
How the score is calculated
The Authority Score is a rating from 0 to 100 that summarizes how much your LinkedIn profile communicates professional credibility to whoever finds it for the first time, a recruiter, a potential client, or someone in your network. It’s calculated by analyzing every visible element of the profile, with different weights per section, it’s not a simple average.
| Section analyzed | Why it affects the score |
|---|---|
| Photo and banner | First visual impression, decides whether anyone stops to read the rest. |
| Headline | The most-read field and the most indexed for keyword searches within LinkedIn. |
| About | Where the professional narrative is told in first person, with room for positioning. |
| Experience | Where proof of results lives, or the lack of it. |
| Skills and recommendations | Third-party social validation, weighs on perceived credibility. |
What each range means
Incomplete profile or generic information in nearly every field. Likely doesn’t show up in recruiters’ keyword searches.
Fields are filled in, but generically: headline with just a job title, "About" in third person or missing, experience with no metrics.
A functional profile with clear strengths (usually photo and well-described experience), but with 2 or 3 specific gaps that still cost opportunities.
A profile optimized for search and instant credibility: headline with a clear value proposition, experience with measurable results, relevant recommendations.
A practical example
A sales manager with the headline "Sales Manager at Company X" tends to fall in the 41-60 range: the information is correct, but it says nothing about specialization, industry, or results. Rewritten as "B2B Sales Manager · SaaS Account Expansion Specialist · +40% recurring revenue in 18 months," the same person now communicates positioning and proof of results in the same space, pushing the headline section’s score into the 81-100 range.
Why this matters in practice
Recruiters filter by keywords before even reading the full profile. A low score usually means those keywords aren’t present where LinkedIn’s search algorithm looks for them: headline, about, and experience. The score isn’t a subjective opinion: it’s a picture of how well your profile is structured to be found and understood quickly. Experience entries, specifically, tend to gain more points when rewritten using the STAR method.
What’s your score today?
ProLeap calculates your Authority Score in minutes and hands back, section by section, exactly what is dragging your score down. Calculate my score.
Erick Inoue
Founder of ProLeap and Salto Solutions, specialist in executive branding and AI-powered LinkedIn profile diagnosis.
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