UK Councils
Search every site in this cohortuk-councils
Every principal local authority in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Median score
61
across 320 sites
Middle half
54–66
spread around the median
Full range
29–77
lowest to highest
Gated
97 of 320
block AI crawlers outright
Middle of 31 cohorts. All cohorts 54 · best cohort 63.
Where this list came from
The source, and how we filtered it
| Source | GOV.UK Local Links Manager, Government Digital Service (GOV.UK) (2026-11-02) |
|---|---|
| License | Crown copyright, published by GOV.UK under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which permits copying, publishing and adapting the information, including commercially, with attribution. |
| Cite as | Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. |
| How we filtered it | Took every authority (name and GSS code) in Local Links Manager's nightly export (last modified 2026-11-02). For each, asked the Local Links Manager API (/api/local-authority?authority_slug=) with a slug derived from the name, or a variant (18 listed in the script). The answer is accepted only when the API returns the same GSS code; homepage, tier and country come from the API. Three authorities abolished in 2019 and 2021 were dropped, since the API maps their old slugs to the councils that replaced them. Homepages were trimmed, the host lowercased and cut to the root (6 had a path, noted). |
| Instead of | ONS code lists alone (no websites); the .gov.uk register (domains, not homepages); guessing homepages from names. |
| Built | 2026-11-02 |
The filtering is ours and is disclosed as ours. The source published a list; the decision about which rows of it belong in a cohort was a judgment call, and it is written down so somebody can disagree with it.
Distribution
Where the 320 sites land
| Grade | Share of the cohort | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adequate | 174 | 54.4% | |
| Not ready | 8 | 2.5% | |
| Weak | 134 | 41.9% | |
| Strong | 4 | 1.2% |
By dimension
What the cohort earns, dimension by dimension
The mean share of each dimension’s available points that this cohort earned. Low here means the whole sector is weak on it, not that one site dragged an average down. The per-site spread is in the dataset.
| Dimension | Mean share earned | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| #1 · Reach
These parameters determine the fundamental ease of access that AI has to your site information. |
81% | |
| #2 · Read
AI generally turns off JavaScript. Does your site information survive without it? |
55% | |
| #3 · Understand
Does a machine know who and what you are? |
23% | |
| #4 · Act
Sitemaps, redirects, 404s, licensing terms, and not wasting the crawl budget. |
88% |
How much of each site we read
The cap is 32 URLs and it is a ceiling, not a promise. A portal whose every link points at a different host yields one page; a university yields the full sample. The median here is 32, the range 1–32, published so that "we sampled 32 URLs per site" cannot become a claim the data does not support.
6 sites in this cohort served a certificate we could not verify. They were read anyway and scored normally, because reporting no response for a site every browser loads would describe our TLS stack rather than the site, and each one carries the finding in its row.
Where this cohort fails
12 tests almost nobody in this cohort passes
Universal — nobody passes these
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT-3 | If you have a public API, is it described in a standard file? | 1 | 2 | |
| EXT-1 | Do you publish an llms.txt file for coding assistants? | 320 | 0 | |
| EXT-11 | Have you marked the part of a page that answers a spoken question? | 320 | 0 | |
| EXT-12 | Do you tell search engines the moment a page changes? | 320 | 0 | |
| EXT-14 | Does your site offer its actions to AI browsers as tools? | 317 | 0 | |
| EXT-15 | Can an AI agent find out how to sign in to your site? | 1 | 0 | |
| EXT-16 | Do you publish a card or a skills list for the agents you run? | 320 | 0 | |
| EXT-17 | Do you list your agents in your domain's DNS records? | 316 | 0 | |
| EXT-2 | Do you list your APIs and agent tools where agents look for them? | 16 | 0 | |
| EXT-7 | If you run real question-and-answer pages, are they marked as such? | 33 | 0 | |
| RED-10 | Do you offer a plain-text (Markdown) copy of your pages? | 292 | 2 | |
| RED-12 | If a machine asks for Markdown, does your site give it? | 320 | 2 |
Near-universal — 95% and above
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UND-2 | Does your site use the page labels that search engines still read for what you publish? | 320 | 3 | |
| UND-5 | Does the author label in your page code point to that person? | 279 | 1 | |
| UND-1 | Does your site say clearly who you are? | 320 | 2 | |
| PST-2 | Have you posted a Content Signals statement about what AI may do with your content? | 320 | 0 | |
| UND-10 | Does your page code link to your official profiles elsewhere? | 320 | 2 | |
| UND-6 | Are your published and updated dates honest and visible? | 320 | 6 | |
| EXT-13 | Can an assistant ask your site a question directly? | 320 | 0 | |
| PST-4 | Have you reserved your text and data mining rights in a form machines can read? | 320 | 0 | |
| EXT-4 | Can an AI assistant connect to your site as a tool? | 320 | 0 |
Common — 90 to 95%
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXT-5 | Is your page code one connected description of your organization? | 320 | 0 |
Coral bars mark tests worth 2 points or more, the failures that actually move a score.
Every site
Every 382, named, with a report for each
Whether or not it has been scanned. Rows with no website on record, sites that were unreachable and sites that turned us away stay in the table with the reason on them, and none of them enters an average: dropping them would shrink the population to the part that was easy to measure. A few points between two neighbors is noise. The box filters every row in the cohort, not only the page you are on; click a header to sort the rows on this page by name or by score.
Showing 101–200 of 382 · page 2 of 4
| Site | Score | Gated | Pages read | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloucestershire County Council gloucestershire.gov.ukregister id E10000013; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 44 | Gated | 25 | |
| Gosport Borough Council gosport.gov.ukregister id E07000088; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 57 | Gated | 32 | |
| Gravesham Borough Council gravesham.gov.ukregister id E07000109; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 32 | |
| Great Yarmouth Borough Council great-yarmouth.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000145; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Guildford Borough Council guildford.gov.ukregister id E07000209; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | No | 32 | |
| Halton Borough Council www3.halton.gov.ukregister id E06000006; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 46 | No | 1 | |
| Hampshire County Council hants.gov.ukblockedregister id E10000014; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 | — | No | — | |
| Harborough District Council harborough.gov.ukregister id E07000131; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 59 | No | 32 | |
| Harlow Council harlow.gov.ukregister id E07000073; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 63 | No | 32 | |
| Hart District Council hart.gov.ukregister id E07000089; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 71 | No | 32 | |
| Hartlepool Borough Council hartlepool.gov.ukregister id E06000001; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 54 | Gated | 32 | |
| Hastings Borough Council hastings.gov.ukregister id E07000062; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 70 | No | 32 | |
| Havant Borough Council havant.gov.ukregister id E07000090; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | Gated | 32 | |
| Herefordshire Council herefordshire.gov.ukregister id E06000019; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 63 | No | 32 | |
| Hertfordshire County Council hertfordshire.gov.ukregister id E10000015; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 54 | No | 32 | |
| Hertsmere Borough Council hertsmere.gov.ukregister id E07000098; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; Local Links Manager gives https://www.hertsmere.gov.uk/home.aspx; cut back to the site root | 48 | No | 32 | |
| High Peak Borough Council highpeak.gov.ukregister id E07000037; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 64 | No | 32 | |
| Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council hinckley-bosworth.gov.ukregister id E07000132; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 53 | No | 7 | |
| Horsham District Council horsham.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000227; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Hull City Council hull.gov.ukregister id E06000010; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 45 | Gated | 32 | |
| Huntingdonshire District Council huntingdonshire.gov.ukregister id E07000011; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 55 | Gated | 32 | |
| Hyndburn Borough Council hyndburnbc.gov.ukregister id E07000120; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 47 | Gated | 32 | |
| Ipswich Borough Council ipswich.gov.ukregister id E07000202; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 32 | |
| Isle of Wight Council iow.gov.ukblockedregister id E06000046; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Kent County Council kent.gov.ukblockedregister id E10000016; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Kirklees Council kirklees.gov.ukregister id E08000034; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 41 | No | 32 | |
| Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council knowsley.gov.ukregister id E08000011; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 55 | Gated | 32 | |
| Lancashire County Council lancashire.gov.ukregister id E10000017; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 64 | No | 7 | |
| Lancaster City Council lancaster.gov.ukregister id E07000121; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 57 | Gated | 32 | |
| Leeds City Council leeds.gov.ukregister id E08000035; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 70 | No | 32 | |
| Leicester City Council leicester.gov.ukregister id E06000016; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 74 | No | 32 | |
| Leicestershire County Council leicestershire.gov.ukblockedregister id E10000018; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 | — | No | — | |
| Lewes District Council lewes-eastbourne.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000063; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Lichfield District Council lichfielddc.gov.ukregister id E07000194; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 54 | Gated | 32 | |
| Lincolnshire County Council lincolnshire.gov.ukregister id E10000019; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 32 | |
| Liverpool City Council liverpool.gov.ukregister id E08000012; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 67 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Barking and Dagenham lbbd.gov.ukblockedregister id E09000002; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 | — | No | — | |
| London Borough of Barnet barnet.gov.ukblockedregister id E09000003; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: challenge page (Imperva) | — | No | — | |
| London Borough of Bexley bexley.gov.ukregister id E09000004; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Brent brent.gov.ukregister id E09000005; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 60 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Bromley bromley.gov.ukregister id E09000006; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 57 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Camden camden.gov.ukblockedregister id E09000007; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| London Borough of Croydon croydon.gov.ukregister id E09000008; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 77 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Ealing ealing.gov.ukregister id E09000009; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Enfield new.enfield.gov.ukblockedregister id E09000010; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| London Borough of Hackney hackney.gov.ukregister id E09000012; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 73 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham lbhf.gov.ukregister id E09000013; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 48 | No | 1 | |
| London Borough of Haringey haringey.gov.ukregister id E09000014; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 57 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Harrow harrow.gov.ukregister id E09000015; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Havering havering.gov.ukregister id E09000016; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 50 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Hillingdon hillingdon.gov.ukregister id E09000017; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Hounslow hounslow.gov.ukregister id E09000018; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 67 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Islington islington.gov.ukregister id E09000019; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Lambeth lambeth.gov.ukregister id E09000022; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 53 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Lewisham lewisham.gov.ukregister id E09000023; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 50 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Merton merton.gov.ukregister id E09000024; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 73 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Newham newham.gov.ukregister id E09000025; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Redbridge redbridge.gov.ukregister id E09000026; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Richmond upon Thames richmond.gov.ukregister id E09000027; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 50 | Gated | 6 | |
| London Borough of Southwark southwark.gov.ukregister id E09000028; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 58 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Sutton sutton.gov.ukregister id E09000029; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 48 | No | 32 | |
| London Borough of Tower Hamlets towerhamlets.gov.ukregister id E09000030; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Waltham Forest walthamforest.gov.ukregister id E09000031; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | Gated | 32 | |
| London Borough of Wandsworth wandsworth.gov.ukregister id E09000032; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 44 | Gated | 32 | |
| Luton Borough Council m.luton.gov.ukregister id E06000032; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; Local Links Manager gives https://m.luton.gov.uk/Page/Show; cut back to the site root | 62 | No | 1 | |
| Maidstone Borough Council maidstone.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000110; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Maldon District Council maldon.gov.ukregister id E07000074; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 59 | No | 32 | |
| Malvern Hills District Council malvernhills.gov.ukregister id E07000235; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 49 | Gated | 28 | |
| Manchester City Council manchester.gov.ukblockedregister id E08000003; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Mansfield District Council mansfield.gov.ukregister id E07000174; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 32 | |
| Medway Council medway.gov.ukregister id E06000035; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 58 | Gated | 32 | |
| Melton Borough Council melton.gov.ukregister id E07000133; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 70 | No | 32 | |
| Mid Devon District Council middevon.gov.ukregister id E07000042; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 31 | |
| Mid Suffolk District Council midsuffolk.gov.ukregister id E07000203; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 58 | No | 21 | |
| Mid Sussex District Council midsussex.gov.ukregister id E07000228; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 51 | No | 7 | |
| Middlesbrough Borough Council middlesbrough.gov.ukblockedregister id E06000002; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Milton Keynes City Council milton-keynes.gov.ukregister id E06000042; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 63 | No | 32 | |
| Mole Valley District Council molevalley.gov.ukregister id E07000210; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 70 | No | 32 | |
| New Forest District Council newforest.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000091; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Newark and Sherwood District Council newark-sherwooddc.gov.ukregister id E07000175; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 75 | No | 27 | |
| Newcastle City Council newcastle.gov.ukregister id E08000021; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 32 | |
| Newcastle-under-Lyme District Council newcastle-staffs.gov.ukregister id E07000195; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 26 | |
| Norfolk County Council norfolk.gov.ukblockedregister id E10000020; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| North Devon Council northdevon.gov.ukregister id E07000043; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 72 | No | 32 | |
| North East Derbyshire District Council ne-derbyshire.gov.ukblockedregister id E07000038; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| North East Lincolnshire Council nelincs.gov.ukunreachableregister id E06000012; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | — | No | — | |
| North Hertfordshire District Council north-herts.gov.ukregister id E07000099; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 70 | No | 32 | |
| North Kesteven District Council n-kesteven.gov.ukregister id E07000139; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 65 | No | 32 | |
| North Lincolnshire Council northlincs.gov.ukregister id E06000013; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 42 | Gated | 1 | |
| North Norfolk District Council north-norfolk.gov.ukregister id E07000147; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 64 | No | 32 | |
| North Northamptonshire Council northnorthants.gov.ukregister id E06000061; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 32 | |
| North Somerset Council n-somerset.gov.ukregister id E06000024; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 73 | No | 32 | |
| North Tyneside Council my.northtyneside.gov.ukregister id E08000022; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 47 | No | 1 | |
| North Warwickshire Borough Council northwarks.gov.ukregister id E07000218; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 67 | No | 32 | |
| North West Leicestershire District Council nwleics.gov.ukregister id E07000134; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 50 | Gated | 7 | |
| North Yorkshire Council northyorks.gov.ukregister id E10000023; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 66 | No | 32 | |
| Northumberland County Council northumberland.gov.ukregister id E06000057; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 60 | Gated | 32 | |
| Norwich City Council norwich.gov.ukregister id E07000148; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 65 | Gated | 32 | |
| Nottingham City Council nottinghamcity.gov.ukregister id E06000018; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 51 | Gated | 32 | |
| Nottinghamshire County Council nottinghamshire.gov.ukregister id E10000024; address from GOV.UK Local Links Manager (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 2 |
Scores are for the population, not for ranking two named sites against each other. A few points between neighbors is noise. See what these numbers can and cannot support. Headline figures: summary.json (CC BY 4.0). The site-by-site data on this page is licensed; a bulk copy is from TEN7 for a fee.