THE INDEX OF EVIDENCE
Search has always attracted certainty faster than evidence.
AI has accelerated the problem.
The Index of Evidence is a living record of claims that affect search strategy, our current position on them and the evidence strong enough to change our mind.
Method
Every claim in the Index is evaluated against four explicit confidence tiers:
Supported by repeatable evidence, credible research or extensive observation across relevant environments.
There is meaningful evidence, but causality, scale or generalisability remains uncertain.
Plausible or frequently repeated, but current evidence is insufficient for us to treat it as a strategic assumption.
Available evidence currently points against the claim, or the claim is materially overstated.
Structure
Each record in the Index of Evidence contains the following mandatory schema fields:
Field 01
The specific search statement or hypothesis evaluated.
Field 02
Strong / Developing / Limited / Challenged.
Field 03
Timestamp of the most recent evidence check.
Field 04
Engine, platform, market, or architecture scope.
Field 05
Detailed strategic synthesis and practical implications.
Field 06
Explicit criteria or test data required to shift confidence.
Field 07
Primary documentation, patents, experiments, or observational logs.
Research Queue
These are framed explicitly as hypotheses to research before publication, not conclusions:
Traditional organic rankings influence visibility in generative search.
Brand mentions can matter independently of followed backlinks.
llms.txt materially improves brand visibility in major AI assistants.
Structured data directly increases the likelihood of being cited by LLMs.
Reddit is an important discovery and evidence surface for conversational search.
Content freshness is a universal ranking advantage.
Publishing more content increases topical authority.
Zero-click search makes SEO traffic an inadequate measure of search value.
Entity consistency across third-party sources matters to AI retrieval.
AI-generated content is inherently disadvantaged in organic search.
SEARCH PRACTICE STANDARD
Claims move into the Index only when the sources are visible, the level of confidence is explicit and the criteria for changing our mind are stated.
Explore The AI SEO Bullshit Filter, read Fewer Deliverables More Leverage, or review our 10 core principles.
Start Here
Start with an Index Review to evaluate your technical, structural, and AI search performance.