@maestroagora/agora 1.1.0 → 1.2.0

This diff represents the content of publicly available package versions that have been released to one of the supported registries. The information contained in this diff is provided for informational purposes only and reflects changes between package versions as they appear in their respective public registries.
@@ -1,1387 +1,760 @@
1
- # Agora Marketing
2
-
3
- Canonical skill reference adapted from the user-provided handbook dated
4
- 2026-07-17 and rebuilt for the v1.1.0 persuasion contract. The source transcript
5
- is summarized as operating doctrine, not published verbatim. Evidence grades,
6
- limits, ethical controls, and durable source links remain authoritative.
7
-
8
- ## Contents
9
-
10
- - [Core doctrine](#core-doctrine)
11
- - [The destination belief](#the-destination-belief)
12
- - [Mechanism and company transformation](#mechanism-and-company-transformation)
13
- - [Commercial modes](#commercial-modes)
14
- - [Construction order](#construction-order)
15
- - [Portable LLM activation contract](#portable-llm-activation-contract)
16
- - [Source basis and authority](#source-basis-and-authority)
17
- - [Format router](#format-router)
18
- - [Required brief](#required-brief)
19
- - [Build the argument](#build-the-argument)
20
- - [Emotion without hype](#emotion-without-hype)
21
- - [Mechanism controls](#mechanism-controls)
22
- - [Proof and claim control](#proof-and-claim-control)
23
- - [Rejection gates](#rejection-gates)
24
- - [Concision and format standard](#concision-and-format-standard)
25
- - [CTA standard](#cta-standard)
26
- - [Spoken delivery](#spoken-delivery)
27
- - [Human voice and AI-writing-tell gate](#human-voice-and-ai-writing-tell-gate)
28
- - [Written GEO/AEO and citability gate](#written-geoaeo-and-citability-gate)
29
- - [Operational workflow](#operational-workflow)
30
- - [Applied weak and strong pairs](#applied-weak-and-strong-pairs)
31
- - [Release checklist](#release-checklist)
32
- - [Experiment and learning standard](#experiment-and-learning-standard)
33
- - [Evidence register](#evidence-register)
34
- - [Evidence maintenance](#evidence-maintenance)
35
- - [Change log](#change-log)
36
-
37
- ## Core doctrine
38
-
39
- **Compelling argument before compelling words.**
40
-
41
- Agora leads one audience from a real stake to one defensible buying,
42
- investment, or positioning belief. Persuasion is the supported path between
43
- those points. It is not a feature inventory, category definition, compliance
44
- pass, or pile of claims.
45
-
46
- For `SELL`, `INVEST`, and `POSITION`, use this mandatory commercial spine:
47
-
48
- `Recognizable reality -> consequence or opportunity -> new decision criterion -> company or product mechanism -> defensible destination belief -> action or investment relevance.`
49
-
50
- Moves may share sentences; none may disappear. An objective channel can cap
51
- tone and length, but it cannot delete the argument.
52
-
53
- Before delivery, silently locate the exact words that carry each of the six
54
- moves. If any move has no concrete phrase in the draft, rebuild it. Compact
55
- heroes, profiles, paywalls, emails, and spoken pitches are not exempt. Combine
56
- moves rather than deleting them, and do not expose the audit.
57
-
58
- Truth and safety outrank persuasion. Verified facts and brand constraints
59
- outrank polish. A flat but supported case can be edited. Hype without proof
60
- cannot.
61
-
62
- When rules conflict, use this priority: truth and safety; verified facts and
63
- brand constraints; the audience's decision; clarity and citability;
64
- persuasion; brevity; stylistic polish.
65
-
66
- ## The destination belief
67
-
68
- Every asset needs one primary destination belief: the conclusion the audience
69
- must accept before the next decision makes sense.
70
-
71
- A valid destination belief is:
72
-
73
- - specific to the audience, commercial job, and moment;
74
- - necessary for buying, investing, positioning, understanding, or acting;
75
- - supported by supplied or verified evidence;
76
- - narrow enough for one asset;
77
- - honest about conditions and uncertainty.
78
-
79
- Write it before drafting the visible copy. Do not expose it as planning
80
- scaffolding. Do not replace it with a category label, slogan, or list of
81
- capabilities.
82
-
83
- Simple transactional copy may need only one claim and one action. Do not force
84
- a full commercial spine onto a confirmation, alert, or known utility task.
85
-
86
- ## Mechanism and company transformation
87
-
88
- The mechanism explains what the company or product changes, what causes that
89
- change, why the change matters to this audience, and what limits apply. It is
90
- the reason the destination belief can follow from the facts.
91
-
92
- Count the consequence or opportunity move only when the copy names a concrete
93
- business effect, decision risk, blocked task, exposure, or available gain.
94
- Words such as `matters`, `confidence`, `better`, or `before acting` do not carry
95
- the stake by themselves.
96
-
97
- Company transformation is the factual movement the company creates between
98
- the recognizable reality and the useful after-state. For example, software may
99
- turn observed answer evidence into prioritized work, or turn mismatched finance
100
- records into routed exceptions. The transformation must be supported by
101
- supplied product behavior. It is not a performance promise.
102
-
103
- Use a supported causal or operating verb as the primary brand verb. Reject
104
- `shows`, `helps`, `supports`, or `built for` when a stronger factual verb is
105
- available. Prefer exact verbs such as `records`, `reconciles`, `routes`, or
106
- `turns`. Never strengthen the verb beyond the evidence.
107
-
108
- A mechanism may be standard. Explain its fit and execution instead of inventing
109
- exclusivity, branded jargon, or superiority.
110
-
111
- ## Commercial modes
112
-
113
- Choose one primary mode. An explicit mode wins. Otherwise infer it from the
114
- audience, asset, and decision:
115
-
116
- | Mode | Infer when the task concerns |
117
- |---|---|
118
- | `INVEST` | Investors, funding, pitches, or capital-focused profiles |
119
- | `SELL` | Marketing, sales, ads, landing pages, outreach, or paywalls |
120
- | `POSITION` | Company profiles, category narratives, or brand descriptions |
121
- | `INFORM` | Editorial or educational work |
122
- | `TRANSACT` | Buttons, confirmations, alerts, or utility microcopy |
123
-
124
- Mode answers "what commercial job must the copy do?" Surface answers "where
125
- and how will the copy appear?" Route them separately. A Crunchbase investor
126
- description is `INVEST` on an objective indexable surface. A published video
127
- description is written even when the related script is spoken.
128
-
129
- For a tightly limited objective company profile, preserve the supported
130
- operational problem and company transformation. A category label is optional.
131
- Do not spend the limit on `Company is [category] that [feature list]` when the
132
- supplied facts support a problem-to-transformation argument.
133
-
134
- `SELL`, `INVEST`, and `POSITION` require the complete commercial spine.
135
- `INFORM` requires a defensible informational conclusion and source fidelity,
136
- without manufacturing a sales case. `TRANSACT` requires the clearest supported
137
- action, state, and consequence, without manufacturing stakes.
138
-
139
- For `INVEST`, state investment relevance in the visible copy. Placement in an
140
- investor directory does not carry this move. Use a neutral sentence that says
141
- the company `merits evaluation because` of a specific supported mechanism or
142
- workflow position. Do not end with abstract category restatements built on
143
- `represents`, `focused on`, `approach to`, or `positioned at`. Do not substitute
144
- traction, market hype, or a funding CTA.
145
-
146
- When several fields form one company profile, make the longest field carry the
147
- complete commercial spine. A short field may compress the problem or criterion
148
- with the transformation, but the Full Description cannot become a feature
149
- inventory. Do not include every supplied capability by default. Omit facts
150
- that do not advance the destination belief.
151
-
152
- ## Construction order
153
-
154
- Use this exact order:
155
-
156
- `Commercial job -> destination belief -> argument -> proof gate -> channel formatting -> written GEO/AEO when applicable -> AI-writing-tell edit -> compression.`
157
-
158
- The proof gate comes before channel compliance. A polished, objective,
159
- extractable, or natural-sounding draft still fails when its premise is missing
160
- or unsupported.
161
-
162
- Channel rules cap tone without deleting the argument. For objective platforms
163
- such as Crunchbase, write the strongest objective argument permitted and
164
- explain any channel conflict after the copy.
165
-
166
- ## Portable LLM activation contract
167
-
168
- When this file is supplied, installed as a skill, or retrieved into context,
169
- use it for writing, rewriting, shortening, critiquing, or planning marketing,
170
- sales, investor, positioning, editorial, interface, outreach, and spoken copy.
171
-
172
- When activated, the LLM must:
173
-
174
- 1. Select the explicit or inferred commercial mode, then route each surface
175
- separately.
176
- 2. Build the destination belief and argument before proof, compliance, voice,
177
- or compression passes.
178
- 3. For `SELL`, `INVEST`, and `POSITION`, include every commercial-spine move.
179
- 4. Require every fact to prove a premise, resolve an objection, or enable
180
- action. Narrow or remove unsupported claims.
181
- 5. Return ready-to-use copy first. Do not expose chain-of-thought, mode labels,
182
- planning scaffolds, or rule-by-rule reasoning.
183
- 6. Apply the written GEO/AEO layer only to written surfaces. Apply technical
184
- publication checks only to indexable public surfaces.
185
- 7. Apply the human-voice and AI-writing-tell gate to every deliverable,
186
- including zero generated em dashes, smart quotes, stock templates, and
187
- generated tripartite rhetoric.
188
- 8. Never invent a fact, route, price, result, source, urgency, scarcity,
189
- testimonial, comparison, market claim, or proof point.
190
-
191
- This is a decision system, not a visible template. Vary the surface structure
192
- while preserving the required reasoning moves.
193
-
194
- ## Source basis and authority
195
-
196
- This handbook synthesizes the Agora writing reference, the consolidated
197
- human-voice reference, and three research reports. The research informs the
198
- rules but does not override the scope or limits of its evidence.
199
-
200
- Supplied source set:
201
-
202
- - User-provided transcript: `agora style marketing.md` (received 2026-07-17).
203
- - User-maintained consolidated reference: `Anti-AI-Writing-Tells.md` (updated
204
- 2026-07-17). It preserves every operational ban from the earlier
205
- `ai-writing-tells-reference (1).md`, removes unsupported numerical detection
206
- claims and fixed editing quotas, and adds evidence-backed limits.
207
- - User-provided research: `Emotional Persuasion and Argument Sequencing in
208
- Marketing and Sales.md` (received 2026-07-17).
209
- - User-provided research: `Evidence on Marketing Copy Length and Structure
210
- Across Digital Formats.md` (received 2026-07-17).
211
- - User-provided research: `Current Evidence on AI Search Visibility Across
212
- ChatGPT Search, Claude Web Search, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews,
213
- Bing Copilot, and Grok.md` (received 2026-07-17).
214
- - CiteSurge-only repository authorities: `content/ai-writing-tells.md`,
215
- `content/ai-writing-tells.ts`, `docs/product/content-audit.md`,
216
- `docs/staff/02-marketing-runbook.md`, and
217
- `docs/staff/public-claim-ledger.md`.
218
-
219
- - The Agora transcript supplies the argument-first doctrine. It is a
220
- direct-response lens, not a universal law or factual claim source.
221
- - The human-voice reference supplies an editing model based on pattern density,
222
- specificity, source fidelity, and author ownership. It does not promise
223
- detector evasion.
224
- - The persuasion research supports argument quality, vivid concrete imagery,
225
- positive affect, diagnostic proof, and manageable information load. It also
226
- shows that narrative, fear, guilt, scarcity, loss framing, and mechanism
227
- language are conditional tools rather than universal conversion laws.
228
- - The copy-structure research supports format-specific decisions and testing,
229
- not one universal short-copy rule.
230
- - The AI-search research supports clear, self-contained, evidence-bearing
231
- passages and engine-specific technical controls. It does not establish a
232
- universal citation formula.
233
- - `content/ai-writing-tells.ts` is the automated scanner authority for gated
234
- CiteSurge public copy.
235
- - `docs/staff/public-claim-ledger.md` controls what CiteSurge may claim in
236
- public. It overrides examples, old copy, briefs, and this handbook.
237
- - `docs/handbook/02-methodology-hiding-rule.md` controls what CiteSurge may
238
- disclose about internal methods.
239
- - Current product docs and live behavior control capability truth.
240
-
241
- When this file is used outside CiteSurge, replace repository-specific claim and
242
- methodology controls with the user's verified product truth, legal constraints,
243
- brand guidance, and source ledger. If those materials are unavailable, do not
244
- assume that an example in this file authorizes the claim.
245
-
246
- Evidence labels used in this file:
247
-
248
- | Label | Meaning |
249
- |---|---|
250
- | `A` | Current first-party or official documentation for the named system. |
251
- | `B` | Controlled, peer-reviewed, preregistered, meta-analytic, or scoped reproducible research. |
252
- | `C` | Observational platform data, vendor study, or bounded case evidence. |
253
- | `D` | Contradiction, missing evidence, or an unresolved claim. Do not teach it as fact. |
254
- | `HOUSE` | Editorial convention chosen for consistency and usability. |
255
- | `EVIDENCE-INFORMED` | Direction supported within a limited population, channel, or outcome. |
256
- | `TEST` | A practical starting variant that requires local measurement. |
257
-
258
- Do not turn a `HOUSE`, `C`, or `TEST` rule into a scientific claim. No evidence
259
- grade authorizes transfer to an unmeasured audience, channel, or outcome. A
260
- result for attention, fluency, click-through, or reply rate is not evidence of
261
- trust, qualified demand, citation, conversion, or revenue unless those outcomes
262
- were measured separately.
263
-
264
- ## Format router
265
-
266
- Route the surface only after choosing the commercial mode. Surface rules change
267
- delivery and publication checks; they do not change the commercial job.
268
-
269
- | Asset class | Required treatment |
270
- |---|---|
271
- | `INDEXABLE_PUBLIC` | Agora argument, human-voice gate, full written GEO/AEO content gate, claim/source review, and technical publication handoff. |
272
- | `PUBLIC_NON_INDEXABLE_WRITTEN` | Agora argument, human-voice gate, written semantic/evidence rules, and public claim review. Use for ads, social posts, decks, and PDFs without an indexable page. Skip canonical, schema, sitemap, and indexability checks. |
273
- | `WRITTEN_PRIVATE` | Agora argument, human-voice gate, concrete entities, self-contained claims, and evidence fidelity. Skip crawl, canonical, sitemap, schema, and indexability checks because the asset has no public URL. |
274
- | `SPOKEN_ONLY` | Agora argument, human cadence, and claim gate. Skip GEO/AEO formatting. Write for breath, delivery, timing, and listener comprehension. |
275
- | `HYBRID` | Classify each output separately. A video script can be spoken-only; its public title, description, transcript, captions, show notes, and companion page are written assets. |
276
-
277
- Keep CTA labels as short as clarity permits. Specificity and a predictable next
278
- step outrank an arbitrary word count. For written public assets, optimize the
279
- claim block around the CTA for extraction and evidence; do not stuff proof,
280
- definitions, or query phrases into the button label.
281
-
282
- Use the complete definition and applicable checks in the written GEO/AEO gate
283
- below. No asset can promise citation, ranking, recommendation, or sale.
284
-
285
- Channel rules cap tone without deleting the argument. For objective platforms
286
- such as Crunchbase, write the strongest objective argument permitted and
287
- explain any channel conflict after the copy.
288
-
289
- ## Required brief
290
-
291
- Capture these inputs before drafting. Infer only low-risk details from supplied
292
- context; state consequential assumptions outside the final copy.
293
-
294
- ```text
295
- Explicit or inferred mode:
296
- Asset class and channel:
297
- Audience and buying context:
298
- Awareness or intent stage:
299
- Problem, desire, or decision:
300
- Current belief:
301
- Destination belief:
302
- Offer, action, or investment relevance:
303
- Verified proof and sources:
304
- Claim and methodology limits:
305
- Voice samples or brand traits:
306
- Length and format constraints:
307
- ```
308
-
309
- If the brief contains several audiences, beliefs, or CTAs, choose one primary
310
- path. Split distinct paths into separate assets rather than joining them with a
311
- long sentence.
312
-
313
- ## Build the argument
314
-
315
- For `SELL`, `INVEST`, and `POSITION`, use this complete sequence:
316
-
317
- 1. **Recognizable reality.** Name the situation in language the audience would
318
- recognize.
319
- 2. **Consequence or opportunity.** State one concrete business effect,
320
- decision risk, or available gain without inventing severity or likelihood.
321
- 3. **New decision criterion.** Establish what a credible choice must do.
322
- 4. **Company or product mechanism.** Explain what changes, what causes the
323
- change, why it matters, and what limits apply.
324
- 5. **Defensible destination belief.** Land the supported conclusion that makes
325
- the buying, investment, or positioning decision rational.
326
- 6. **Action or investment relevance.** Present the next step, or explain why
327
- the company merits evaluation when the channel does not permit a CTA.
328
-
329
- Moves may share sentences; none may disappear. Broken assumptions, comparison,
330
- diagnostic proof, after-state, objections, and illustration are optional
331
- supporting moves. Use them only when they strengthen the required spine.
332
-
333
- The compact logical form is:
334
-
335
- ```text
336
- The desired result requires X.
337
- The current approach lacks X, within the stated scope.
338
- This offer provides X, supported by Y.
339
- Therefore this offer is a credible next step for this audience.
340
- ```
341
-
342
- This syllogism is a house derivation from the transcript's argument-first idea,
343
- not a quoted Agora formula. If any premise cannot be proved, revise the premise
344
- or reduce the claim.
345
-
346
- Fit the expression to the decision without changing the sequence:
347
-
348
- - For a high-consideration or B2B decision, a useful default is concrete stake,
349
- truthful mechanism, diagnostic proof, relevant limits, brief illustration,
350
- then CTA. Treat this as an evidence-aligned heuristic, not a universal law.
351
- - For a low-cost, hedonic, or early-awareness asset, vivid use, positive affect,
352
- and mental imagery may do more work before the proof. The claim still needs
353
- support before the action.
354
- - For `INFORM`, lead with the answer and preserve source fidelity. Do not
355
- manufacture a buying argument.
356
- - For `TRANSACT`, lead with the action or state. Do not manufacture a story or
357
- commercial stake.
358
-
359
- ### Argument continuity test
360
-
361
- For every block, ask:
362
-
363
- - What belief does the reader hold before this block?
364
- - What new information or feeling does this block add?
365
- - Why does the next block follow?
366
- - Would deleting this block weaken the case?
367
-
368
- Delete blocks that repeat the destination, decorate a claim, or smooth a
369
- transition without adding information.
370
-
371
- ## Emotion without hype
372
-
373
- Emotion comes from a real situation and its consequence, not from inflated
374
- word choice.
375
-
376
- `HOUSE`: When several tensions would blur the decision, choose one primary
377
- emotional job for the block:
378
-
379
- - tension from a recognized problem;
380
- - relief from reduced uncertainty or effort;
381
- - control from clear evidence and a next step;
382
- - ambition tied to a credible outcome;
383
- - identity or belonging supported by the audience context;
384
- - curiosity created by a meaningful information gap.
385
-
386
- Then make it concrete:
387
-
388
- ```text
389
- Situation + consequence + available agency
390
- ```
391
-
392
- Prefer "Your team cannot tell which source shaped the answer" over "Navigate
393
- the complex AI landscape with confidence." The first gives the reader a scene,
394
- a problem, and a reason to care. The second asks generic words to carry the
395
- emotion.
396
-
397
- Rules:
398
-
399
- - For truthful fear or risk, state bounded severity and likelihood, then give a
400
- credible response-efficacy path. Do not leave the reader trapped.
401
- - `HOUSE`: Prefer one dominant emotional tension when several would blur the
402
- decision.
403
- - Make the desired change observable in the reader's work or life.
404
- - Prefer a concrete image or consequence to an extra adjective. Stronger
405
- arguments, imagery, and positive affect can help persuasion; excessive
406
- information load can hurt it. These are average effects, not permission to
407
- decorate every sentence.
408
- - Do not invent fears, motives, memories, pain, testimonials, urgency, or
409
- scarcity.
410
- - Do not shame, corner, or conceal material conditions.
411
- - Preserve honest trade-offs. Trust is part of persuasion.
412
-
413
- Conditional persuasion controls:
414
-
415
- | Persuasion device | Safe operating rule |
416
- |---|---|
417
- | Narrative | Use a short story or scene to illustrate relevant evidence. Do not assume stories beat facts or use a story as proof. |
418
- | Curiosity | Open a non-material information gap. Never hide mechanism, fit, price, risk, evidence, or the next step. |
419
- | Fear or risk | State truthful, bounded severity and likelihood, then a credible response-efficacy path. Most supporting research is non-commercial. |
420
- | Loss framing | `TEST` only. Compare it with neutral or gain framing and track intent and reactance, not attention alone. Agency does not make it reliably effective. |
421
- | Guilt | Use sparingly, if at all. Never shame, coerce, or imply moral failure to force action. |
422
- | Scarcity | State only a real, current, relevant limit. No fake inventory, countdown resets, or invented demand. |
423
- | Social proof | Use auditable, comparable, scoped evidence. Popularity without relevance is not proof. |
424
-
425
- Treat named psychological effects as hypotheses for the audience, channel, and
426
- outcome. Never teach the lore that people always buy on emotion and justify
427
- with logic, that stories always beat facts, or that one emotion-first sequence
428
- works everywhere.
429
-
430
- ## Mechanism controls
431
-
432
- The Agora source favors a unique mechanism: a specific reason the offer can
433
- produce the desired result. Keep the useful part; reject invented exclusivity.
434
-
435
- A clear mechanism statement answers:
436
-
437
- - What changes?
438
- - What causes that change?
439
- - Why is this approach relevant to the audience's problem?
440
- - What evidence supports the difference?
441
- - What conditions or limits apply?
442
-
443
- Use "proprietary," "unique," "only," "superior," or market-leadership language
444
- only when current evidence authorizes the exact claim. If the approach is
445
- different but not exclusive, name the concrete difference. If it is standard,
446
- explain its fit and execution instead of creating branded jargon.
447
-
448
- A coherent, truthful causal explanation can make an offer easier to understand
449
- and can raise perceived efficacy. It does not prove actual efficacy. A coined
450
- mechanism is optional; a real reason to believe is not. Never retrofit technical
451
- language around an unsupported outcome.
452
-
453
- Reject a weak primary brand verb when a stronger factual operating verb is
454
- available. `Shows`, `helps`, `supports`, and `built for` often hide the company
455
- transformation. Prefer the exact supplied behavior, such as `records`,
456
- `reconciles`, `routes`, or `turns`. Do not imply causality or performance that
457
- the evidence does not establish.
458
-
459
- For CiteSurge public copy, describe differentiation at the principle,
460
- experience, evidence, and outcome level. Do not disclose prompts, formulas,
461
- weights, thresholds, vendor routing, fixtures, classifiers, infrastructure, or
462
- raw provider diagnostics. Vague "proprietary AI" language is not a substitute
463
- for a reason to believe.
464
-
465
- Run the education-leakage test: if the explanation teaches the category but
466
- leaves the buyer equally likely to choose any competitor, decide whether
467
- category building is intentional. If it is not, connect the lesson to the
468
- offer's verified difference or fit. Never invent exclusivity to close the gap.
469
-
470
- ## Proof and claim control
471
-
472
- Argument strength is limited by proof strength. Choose evidence diagnostic of
473
- the exact claim and decision before applying channel, GEO/AEO, voice, or length
474
- rules. Require every fact to prove a premise, resolve an objection, or enable
475
- action. A true fact that does none of those jobs is still clutter.
476
-
477
- Do not turn an operational mismatch, exception, or review task into financial
478
- risk, a control deficiency, compliance exposure, loss, or business impact
479
- unless the supplied evidence supports that consequence. Keep the stake at the
480
- supported task or decision.
481
-
482
- As a `HOUSE` selection order, look for:
483
-
484
- 1. Current, inspectable product behavior or a non-expired approved claim.
485
- 2. First-hand or original evidence with a disclosed method and date.
486
- 3. Current primary or official sources that support the exact statement.
487
- 4. A verified demonstration, comparison, or consented case record.
488
- 5. A verified, attributable testimonial within its real scope.
489
- 6. Corroboration that is independent, comparable, current, and within scope.
490
-
491
- Then name any material limitation that keeps the conclusion honest. A
492
- limitation is not evidence. No proof means narrow or remove the claim; it does
493
- not mean add adjectives.
494
-
495
- Treat `emerging`, `growing`, `established`, `crowded`, `large`, `expanding`,
496
- `increasingly`, `accelerating`, `rising`, `surging`, `rapidly`, and similar
497
- category-stage or market-trend language as claims. When no market evidence is
498
- supplied, name the category and current situation neutrally.
499
-
500
- Do not add a generic disclaimer such as `outcomes are not guaranteed` merely
501
- because a result claim is unavailable. Omit the result claim. Keep a
502
- qualification only when it is material to the remaining copy or required by
503
- law, policy, or the user.
504
-
505
- Across persuasion research, statistics generally outperform a lone anecdote; a
506
- relevant anecdote can still make an emotionally charged or self-relevant issue
507
- concrete. Use the story to illustrate the evidence, not replace it. In online
508
- review settings, valence, argument quality, usefulness, message trust, and
509
- source credibility predict purchase intention; raw count alone is insufficient.
510
- Category-specific automobile evidence shows that conflicting sources can reduce
511
- intent and early sales. Treat comparability, recency, and consistency as
512
- `HOUSE` proof-diagnosticity checks, and reconcile material discrepancies rather
513
- than hiding them.
514
-
515
- Keep claim types distinct:
516
-
517
- | Type | Treatment |
518
- |---|---|
519
- | Fact | Verify source, wording, date, scope, and expiry. |
520
- | Inference | Show what evidence supports it and retain uncertainty. |
521
- | Opinion | Attribute ownership; do not present it as measured fact. |
522
- | Promise | Confirm authority, delivery scope, conditions, and ability to perform. |
523
-
524
- For CiteSurge:
525
-
526
- - Only non-expired `LIVE` rows in `docs/staff/public-claim-ledger.md` may be
527
- marketed as current.
528
- - `LANDED_INACTIVE`, `OPEN_PENDING`, `FUTURE`, and `UNSUPPORTED` are not current
529
- capabilities.
530
- - Engine behavior claims need current primary support.
531
- - Customer-facing copy must not expose HTTP codes, auth or quota failures,
532
- scraping limits, probe names, raw exceptions, or implementation diagnostics.
533
- - Do not promise that crawler access, schema, AI-readable files, or any single
534
- content edit causes citation.
535
- - Keep brand mention, source selection, answer absorption, visible citation,
536
- referral, recommendation, conversion, and revenue as separate measures.
537
- - Public positioning sells GEO/AEO. Use SEO only for necessary comparison,
538
- decline, or replacement context; never sell it positively. Review every SEO
539
- occurrence before publication.
540
-
541
- ## Rejection gates
542
-
543
- Reject and rebuild a `SELL`, `INVEST`, or `POSITION` draft when:
544
-
545
- - it is only a category definition, claim-ledger paraphrase, or feature
546
- inventory;
547
- - an objective profile uses the shape `Company is [category] that [feature
548
- list]` even though the supplied mechanism supports a decision problem or
549
- company transformation;
550
- - it has no felt stake, company transformation, or destination belief;
551
- - one of the six commercial-spine moves disappeared to satisfy a short or
552
- objective format;
553
- - a paywall merely repeats plan facts without naming the blocked action and how
554
- the supported upgrade change resolves it;
555
- - its facts do not prove a premise, resolve an objection, or enable action;
556
- - its primary brand verb is `shows`, `helps`, `supports`, or `built for` when a
557
- supported causal or operating verb is available;
558
- - a competitor name can replace the company without changing the claim;
559
- - it uses compliance, formatting, or citability as a substitute for persuasion.
560
-
561
- Also reject any draft that fails the proof, continuity, CTA, read-aloud,
562
- defense, fidelity, or AI-writing-tell tests. Rebuild from the first failed
563
- premise rather than polishing the surface.
564
-
565
- ## Concision and format standard
566
-
567
- There is no universal short-copy law. Write the shortest complete decision
568
- path for the channel, audience, stage, device, traffic source, offer complexity,
569
- language, and risk. One asset should still have one destination belief; one
570
- block should do one main job; one sentence should carry one main claim.
571
-
572
- Ranges below are editing controls or starting variants, not guaranteed optima:
573
-
574
- | Format | Working rule | Status and limit |
575
- |---|---|---|
576
- | Headline | Aim for 3-9 words; review above 12. | `HOUSE` |
577
- | Support line | Aim for 12-24 words; review above 30. | `HOUSE` |
578
- | Sentence | Keep most at 20 words or fewer; review above 25. | `EVIDENCE-INFORMED` for accessibility, based on a small screen-reader study; not a conversion law. |
579
- | Marketing paragraph | Usually 1-3 sentences; review above 75 words. | `HOUSE` |
580
- | Hero | Test roughly 25-75 total words when mobile, high intent, or urgency favors compression. | `TEST`; no universal hero optimum. |
581
- | Button CTA | Test 2-5 words, but use more when needed to make the action predictable. | `TEST`; clarity and transparency outrank brevity. |
582
- | B2B cold email | Start around 50-100 words and 3-4 sentences, then ask for interest rather than a calendar commitment. | `EVIDENCE-INFORMED`, from large observational Gong datasets; not causal or universal. |
583
- | Active-deal follow-up | Use roughly 3-6 short sentences with a specific next step; no hard word cap. | `TEST`; context carries more detail. |
584
- | Warm personal email | Start around 50-120 words when no channel constraint says otherwise. | `HOUSE` |
585
- | LinkedIn cold message | Test below roughly 400-500 characters with one reason to care and one low-friction ask. | `C` and `TEST`; LinkedIn findings are product- and use-case-specific. |
586
- | Utility, product, or question-led page | Put the answer, offer, or decision aid in the first sentence or paragraph. | `HOUSE`, aligned with general web usability; do not force this onto narrative or editorial openings. |
587
- | Long sales or comparison page | No global word cap. Put a useful summary before detail, use progressive disclosure, and chunk proof and objections. | `HOUSE`, aligned with general usability practice. |
588
- | Comparison set | Test a static table around five or fewer options; reflow or use readable cards on mobile. | `TEST`; a usability starting point, not a ranking rule. |
589
- | Paid ad | Obey the platform limit. Test personal or subjective framing for attention against objective, brand-consistent framing for conversion. | `TEST`; keep click-through and conversion separate. |
590
- | Social post | No universal character optimum. Preserve the hook, useful substance, and readable shape. | `HOUSE`; test length in the actual platform and content category. |
591
-
592
- On mobile, increase signal and reduce friction; do not merely delete words.
593
- Preserve meaning, evidence, button clarity, and usable comparison structure. Do
594
- not force legal qualifications, technical explanations, translations, or
595
- complex decisions into a house range. Evidence and necessary qualification are
596
- load-bearing; decorative setup is not.
597
-
598
- ### Compression order
599
-
600
- Cut in this order:
601
-
602
- 1. repeated claims and empty recaps;
603
- 2. throat-clearing and generic introductions;
604
- 3. adjective stacks and intensifiers;
605
- 4. formal transitions the logic does not need;
606
- 5. unsupported claims and secondary examples;
607
- 6. a secondary CTA or audience path.
608
-
609
- Never cut a material condition, source, qualification, or next-step detail just
610
- to hit a count.
611
-
612
- Keep a sentence only if it does at least one job:
613
-
614
- - advances the destination belief;
615
- - proves a material claim;
616
- - resolves a real objection;
617
- - makes the action clear.
618
-
619
- If deleting it changes nothing, delete it.
620
-
621
- ## CTA standard
622
-
623
- A CTA should feel like the next logical step, not a sudden hard-sell voice.
624
-
625
- Every CTA must:
626
-
627
- - ask for one concrete action;
628
- - make the next screen, reply, or commitment predictable;
629
- - match the audience's intent and the argument's promise;
630
- - use a specific verb and object when space allows;
631
- - avoid adding a new claim;
632
- - use urgency or scarcity only when verified and material;
633
- - point to a real route or action that works.
634
-
635
- Choose one primary CTA intent. A long page may repeat the same action at useful
636
- decision points; repetition does not create a second CTA path. In a cold B2B
637
- message, a low-friction interest question can be more appropriate than asking
638
- for a meeting immediately. In an active conversation or later deal stage, ask
639
- for the specific next step. Treat both as context-sensitive starting rules.
640
-
641
- Useful patterns, subject to route and offer truth:
642
-
643
- | Intent | Pattern examples |
644
- |---|---|
645
- | Discover | `See the evidence`, `Read the method` |
646
- | Compare | `Compare approaches`, `Compare plans` |
647
- | Evaluate | `Review your gaps`, `View the plan` |
648
- | Act | `Request an audit`, `Book a review` |
649
-
650
- Prefer a precise action over `Learn more`, `Get started`, `Unlock your
651
- potential`, or `Start your journey`, unless the surrounding interface already
652
- makes the outcome unambiguous. Keep supporting proof or risk-reversal in nearby
653
- microcopy, not inside the button. Claims such as "No card required" or a
654
- response time must be verified before use.
655
-
656
- ## Spoken delivery
657
-
658
- Spoken work keeps the selected commercial mode and proof gate. `SELL`,
659
- `INVEST`, and `POSITION` scripts still require the complete commercial spine,
660
- but the moves should sound like one person making one case rather than reading
661
- a framework aloud.
662
-
663
- - Write for breath, emphasis, timing, and listener comprehension.
664
- - Put the recognizable reality and stake early enough to orient the listener.
665
- - Use concrete nouns and operating verbs. Cut stacked abstractions.
666
- - Preserve qualifications and attribution without forcing citation syntax into
667
- the spoken line.
668
- - Read the script aloud and revise any sentence the intended speaker would not
669
- say.
670
- - Skip written GEO/AEO formatting for spoken-only delivery.
671
- - Route every published title, description, transcript, caption, show note,
672
- and companion page as a separate written surface.
673
-
674
- ## Human voice and AI-writing-tell gate
675
-
676
- Apply this gate to every Agora deliverable, including private writing, public
677
- copy, interface text, outreach, editorial work, and spoken scripts. The goal is
678
- not to disguise authorship. Produce specific, accurate, author-owned writing
679
- that fits its channel and survives factual review.
680
-
681
- The consolidated human-voice reference originates in Wikipedia's operational
682
- AI-cleanup guidance. Editors use those patterns to flag and clean likely
683
- model-written prose, and related editorial systems can adopt the same cues.
684
- Agora therefore treats the listed items as mandatory output bans. One cue does
685
- not prove authorship, and following the bans cannot guarantee non-detection.
686
- Detector scores remain secondary signals with false-positive, domain-shift, and
687
- versioning limits.
688
-
689
- ### Global output bans
690
-
691
- Unless immutable source text or an explicit legal, technical, brand, or user
692
- requirement makes preservation necessary, final Agora copy must contain:
693
-
694
- - zero generated em dashes;
695
- - zero curly or smart quotation marks;
696
- - zero prompt acknowledgements or task meta-commentary;
697
- - zero stock phrase templates;
698
- - zero generic significance tails;
699
- - zero fabricated citations, quotations, anecdotes, memories, motives,
700
- credentials, opinions, comparisons, or facts;
701
- - zero banned vocabulary or connectives without a narrow documented exception;
702
- - zero unneeded conclusion or recap paragraphs;
703
- - zero generated tripartite templates;
704
- - zero generated `Not only... but also...`, `not merely... but...`, or `not
705
- just... but...` constructions;
706
- - zero deliberate errors, fake informality, synonym soup, or detector-evasion
707
- promises.
708
-
709
- Use straight quotes. Replace each generated em dash with a comma, colon,
710
- parentheses, or a new sentence. Preserve banned text only inside verified
711
- quotations, legal wording, code, identifiers, proper names, required technical
712
- terms, or other immutable material. `HOUSE` records the operational basis of
713
- these rules; it does not make them optional.
714
-
715
- Run a literal final-character sweep after drafting the ready copy and every
716
- verification note. Replace generated U+2014, U+2018, U+2019, U+201C, and U+201D
717
- punctuation with an ASCII alternative, including when restating a user's
718
- unsupported phrase. A post-copy note cannot reintroduce a banned mark.
719
-
720
- Run a separate triad sweep before delivery. Never generate the prose syntax
721
- `X, Y, and Z` or `X, Y, or Z`; treat this as a mechanical output constraint.
722
- Rewrite generated sequences of three parallel nouns, adjectives, clauses, or
723
- sentence fragments. A flourish such as `measurement, traceability, and
724
- discipline` fails. A recap such as `evidence capture, prioritization, and human
725
- review` also fails; write `captures evidence and keeps prioritization under
726
- human review`. Recast even sourced facts with a natural pair or connected
727
- prose. Preserve the three-part syntax only inside immutable quoted or legal
728
- text, a proper name, or text the user requires verbatim.
729
-
730
- Scan the final prose from the last sentence backward. Find every generated
731
- `, and` and `, or`; when it closes a three-part parallel sequence, rewrite it.
732
- Check every occurrence, including the last sentence and any note. Do not stop
733
- after the first repair.
734
-
735
- ### Global core tests
736
-
737
- - **Competitor-swap test:** if replacing the subject with any competitor leaves
738
- the paragraph accurate, rewrite it with a real mechanism, fact, situation,
739
- boundary, or point of view.
740
- - **Read-aloud test:** if the intended speaker would not say it, revise it.
741
- - **Defense test:** if the author would hesitate to defend a sentence in front
742
- of the buyer, verify, qualify, or remove it.
743
- - **Density test:** judge clusters and repeated templates, not one ordinary word
744
- in isolation.
745
- - **Fidelity test:** compare the revision against the fact ledger. Restore every
746
- material condition, uncertainty, attribution, name, number, date, quotation,
747
- citation, and technical term.
748
-
749
- ### Banned vocabulary and connectives
750
-
751
- Strip these terms by default. Retain one only when it is exact, load-bearing,
752
- technically required, a verified proper name, immutable verbatim text, or an
753
- explicit user or house requirement. Document why no concrete alternative is
754
- more accurate.
755
-
756
- - **Verbs:** `delve`, `underscore`, `showcase`, `foster`, `navigate` as a
757
- metaphor, `harness`, `leverage`, `unlock`, `unleash`, `empower`, `streamline`,
758
- `bolster`, `elevate`, `facilitate`, `enhance`, vague `optimize`, metaphorical
759
- `drive`, metaphorical `craft`, `forge`, and `spearhead`.
760
- - **Adjectives:** `pivotal`, `crucial`, `vital`, `essential`, `robust`,
761
- `seamless`, `holistic`, `comprehensive`, `multifaceted`, `nuanced`,
762
- `intricate`, `meticulous`, `profound`, `transformative`, `groundbreaking`,
763
- `revolutionary`, `cutting-edge`, `state-of-the-art`, `world-class`,
764
- `best-in-class`, `unparalleled`, `unprecedented`, `remarkable`, `noteworthy`,
765
- `notable`, `significant`, `invaluable`, `indispensable`, `paramount`,
766
- `breathtaking`, `stunning`, `vibrant`, `rich` in phrases such as `rich
767
- history`, `bespoke`, and `curated`.
768
- - **Nouns, especially as metaphors:** `tapestry`, `landscape`, `realm`,
769
- `ecosystem`, `journey`, `testament`, `frontier`, `forefront`, `cornerstone`,
770
- `backbone`, `lifeblood`, `powerhouse`, `trailblazer`, and `game-changer`.
771
- - **Connectives:** `moreover`, `furthermore`, `additionally`, `in addition`,
772
- `notably`, `importantly`, `indeed`, `in essence`, `in summary`, `in
773
- conclusion`, `ultimately`, `that said`, `on the other hand`, and `on one
774
- hand`.
775
-
776
- Delete a connective when the relationship remains clear. When one is required
777
- by a formal genre, use the shortest accurate transition.
778
-
779
- ### Banned templates and significance tails
780
-
781
- Delete every generated occurrence of:
782
-
783
- - `It's important to note that...`;
784
- - `It's worth noting` or `It's worth mentioning`;
785
- - `In today's fast-paced world...`;
786
- - `In the ever-evolving landscape of...`;
787
- - `In the realm of...`;
788
- - `A testament to...`;
789
- - `Stands as a...`;
790
- - `Serves as a...`;
791
- - `Plays a crucial`, `pivotal`, or `vital role in...`;
792
- - `Not only X but also Y`;
793
- - `Whether you're X or Y...`;
794
- - `From X to Y, [subject] has...`;
795
- - `At its core...`;
796
- - `When it comes to...`;
797
- - `Navigating the complexities of...`;
798
- - `Unlocking the potential of...`;
799
- - `Harnessing the power of...`;
800
- - `Paving the way for...`;
801
- - `Setting the stage for...`;
802
- - `Bringing X to the forefront`.
803
-
804
- Delete generated tails such as:
805
-
806
- - `..., emphasizing the significance of...`;
807
- - `..., reflecting the continued relevance of...`;
808
- - `..., underscoring the importance of...`;
809
- - `..., highlighting its role in...`;
810
- - `..., demonstrating its impact on...`;
811
- - `..., marking a turning point in...`;
812
- - `..., cementing its place as...`;
813
- - `..., solidifying its reputation for...`;
814
- - `..., showcasing its commitment to...`.
815
-
816
- End with information or a specific, supportable inference.
817
-
818
- ### Banned structural and typography patterns
819
-
820
- Remove:
821
-
822
- - prompt acknowledgements, including `Certainly`, `Of course`, `Absolutely`,
823
- `Great question`, or any acknowledgement of the prompt;
824
- - every paragraph ending with a summary or significance sentence;
825
- - generated tripartite parallelism used as a rhetorical template;
826
- - repeated or generated `Not only... but also...` structures;
827
- - headings followed by a sentence that restates the heading;
828
- - repeated `**Bold label:** sentence` bullets;
829
- - balanced both-sides framing that refuses to make a supported claim;
830
- - conclusions or summary sections in formats that do not need them;
831
- - generic positive framing that replaces a fact;
832
- - `Some argue... others contend...` without named sources;
833
- - definitions repeated across sections;
834
- - smooth transitions that conceal unrelated facts;
835
- - topic sentences that restate headings;
836
- - title case for generic concepts;
837
- - mid-paragraph bold outside technical, accessibility, or explicit house needs.
838
-
839
- Use zero generated em dashes and zero curly or smart quotes. Use straight
840
- quotes. Use an en dash only when formal publication style requires it;
841
- otherwise use a hyphen.
842
-
843
- Reject prompt leakage immediately, including `Here is your article`, `As an AI
844
- language model`, `Up to my last training update`, `I hope this helps`, `Let me
845
- know if you would like`, `Certainly! Here's a`, `Sure, I can help with that`,
846
- any task meta-commentary, or any reference to the commissioning user inside the
847
- deliverable. Return the deliverable itself.
848
-
849
- ### Author voice, genre, and meaning
850
-
851
- When authentic author samples are available, profile recurring sentence length,
852
- paragraph rhythm, formality, contractions, function words, punctuation,
853
- qualification, directness, humor, openings, turns, and endings. Use stable habits
854
- without copying phrases, subject matter, or one-off quirks. When samples are
855
- missing, preserve credible individual choices and request author review rather
856
- than inventing an idiolect.
857
-
858
- Fit the genre. A professional email should surface context and request quickly.
859
- An executive memo should lead with the decision or finding. Academic and legal
860
- work must preserve required terminology and citations. Spoken work must sound
861
- natural when read aloud. Written GEO/AEO work must remain specific without
862
- forcing identical headings, paragraph lengths, or miniature conclusions.
863
-
864
- Never humanize by changing facts, names, figures, dates, quotations, citations,
865
- causality, uncertainty, legal meaning, or product terminology. Never upload
866
- confidential, privileged, unpublished, regulated, or personally sensitive text
867
- to an external detector or rewriting service without authorization and a review
868
- of its retention and training terms.
869
-
870
- ### Detector limits and research basis
871
-
872
- Never promise that copy is "undetectable", claim that a detector score proves
873
- authorship, or optimize toward one changing classifier at the expense of truth,
874
- voice, or clarity. If detector testing is authorized, calibrate against several
875
- known-human samples from the same author and genre, use multiple methods when
876
- feasible, record tool and version, and stop detector-driven editing after two
877
- rounds unless another pass independently improves the prose.
878
-
879
- The earlier source gave `3-5x` em-dash usage and about `90%` experienced-reader
880
- detection as numerical claims without a supporting source. Do not repeat those
881
- numbers as scientific facts. This does not weaken any output ban. The bans are
882
- mandatory because the source patterns are used operationally in Wikipedia-style
883
- AI cleanup and related editorial screening, not because a percentage guarantees
884
- detection or non-detection.
885
-
886
- The human-voice reference grounds these limits in:
887
-
888
- - [RAID benchmark](https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.07940);
889
- - [Krishna et al. on paraphrasing attacks](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.13408);
890
- - [DAMAGE shared task overview](https://aclanthology.org/2025.genaidetect-1.9/);
891
- - [Practical examination of AI-generated text detectors](https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-naacl.271/);
892
- - [Detector bias against non-native English writers](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02819);
893
- - [GPTZero detector methodology](https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13042);
894
- - [Can AI-Generated Text be Reliably Detected?](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.11156);
895
- - [Almost AI, Almost Human](https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15666);
896
- - [Human heuristics for AI-generated language are flawed](https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.07271);
897
- - [Function Word Adjacency Networks](https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.4469).
898
-
899
- ### CiteSurge-only scanner controls
900
-
901
- For gated CiteSurge public pages, the repository scanner enforces the global
902
- prompt-leakage and quote bans and adds CiteSurge-only machine thresholds:
903
-
904
- - prompt leakage or acknowledgement openers fail immediately;
905
- - curly quote characters or entities in prose fail under the global rule;
906
- - three or more watchlist indicators in one prose block fail;
907
- - the same template or significance-tail fingerprint repeated twice fails;
908
- - a single watchlist occurrence is informational, not an automatic failure.
909
-
910
- Use `content/ai-writing-tells.md` for CiteSurge rationale and
911
- `content/ai-writing-tells.ts` for its current scanner rules. Do not apply those
912
- CiteSurge-specific thresholds, files, or release gates to another brand.
913
-
914
- ## Written GEO/AEO and citability gate
915
-
916
- Apply the semantic and evidence rules below to every written asset. Apply the
917
- technical rules only when the asset has an indexable public URL. Public
918
- non-indexable work still needs public-safe claims; private writing still needs
919
- clear entities and source fidelity. Spoken-only assets skip this section unless
920
- a written derivative is published.
921
-
922
- "Fully GEO/AEO optimized" means maximum practical extractability,
923
- verifiability, information value, and technical eligibility for the asset. It
924
- does not mean guaranteed retrieval, selection, quotation, citation, ranking,
925
- recommendation, referral, or sale. 2026 preprints provide descriptive,
926
- observational, and experimental evidence for testing modular, self-contained,
927
- evidence-bearing passages in some AI-search systems; they do not establish a
928
- universal ranking formula.
929
-
930
- ### Content requirements
931
-
932
- 1. **Resolve the real question early when the format calls for it.** Utility,
933
- product, comparison, and question-led content should put the answer, offer,
934
- or decision aid in the first sentence or paragraph. A narrative or editorial
935
- opening may begin with a relevant scene, but should reveal the subject and
936
- value before the setup becomes a detour.
937
- 2. **Name the entity and scope.** Use the full brand, product, category, market,
938
- date, and population where ambiguity would weaken an extracted passage.
939
- 3. **Build self-contained evidence blocks.** A useful paragraph should preserve
940
- its subject, claim, support, and material limit when quoted alone. Replace
941
- vague dependencies such as "this," "it," and "as above" when context would
942
- be lost.
943
- 4. **Keep evidence next to the claim.** Name and link the exact source, date
944
- material facts, distinguish fact from inference, and state relevant limits.
945
- Prefer current primary or first-party sources.
946
- 5. **Add information gain.** Contribute original data, first-hand experience,
947
- a useful comparison, a reproducible demonstration, a disclosure-safe method,
948
- or a defensible point of view. Do not paraphrase category consensus and call
949
- it insight.
950
- 6. **Structure around reader intent.** Use descriptive headings, definitions,
951
- lists, steps, tables, or FAQs only when they make the answer easier to use.
952
- Q&A formatting by itself is not a citability strategy.
953
- 7. **Make provenance visible.** For public editorial work, show a verified
954
- author or publisher, publication or review date, sources, and relevant
955
- disclosures. Treat these as trust and verification practices, not universal
956
- ranking factors.
957
- 8. **Link contextually.** Connect the page to the most relevant evidence,
958
- capability, comparison, trust, or next-step page. Do not chase arbitrary
959
- internal-link counts.
960
- 9. **Keep surfaces consistent.** Visible copy, metadata, structured data,
961
- feeds, sales material, and machine-readable surfaces must describe the same
962
- facts and scope.
963
- 10. **Measure distinct events.** Record the engine or surface, prompt or topic,
964
- market, date, and observed output. Keep brand mention, source selection,
965
- answer absorption, visible citation, referral, recommendation, conversion,
966
- and revenue separate.
967
-
968
- ### Emotional marketing plus extractability
969
-
970
- Emotion can earn attention; a self-contained evidence block can support
971
- understanding and verification. A useful page-level sequence is:
972
-
973
- 1. a concise hook that names a real tension or desired change;
974
- 2. an early plain-language answer or value claim;
975
- 3. self-contained blocks for mechanism, evidence, comparison, and limits;
976
- 4. one primary CTA intent that follows from the supported conclusion.
977
-
978
- The hero may carry more emotion. Proof sections should carry more diagnostic
979
- facts. Both must use the same destination belief and claim scope. Do not repeat
980
- this four-part shape mechanically across every section.
981
-
982
- ### Engine-specific boundaries
983
-
984
- These controls were verified against official documentation on 2026-07-17.
985
- Recheck them before an engine-specific recommendation; crawler names and product
986
- behavior can change.
987
-
988
- | System | Safe rule |
989
- |---|---|
990
- | ChatGPT Search | `OAI-SearchBot` is the Search crawler; `GPTBot` concerns potential model training; `ChatGPT-User` performs user-initiated fetches. Permission can affect eligibility, not inclusion. ChatGPT referrals can be identified with `utm_source=chatgpt.com`. |
991
- | Claude web search | `Claude-SearchBot`, `ClaudeBot`, and `Claude-User` have different purposes. Blocking Search or User access may reduce visibility. Do not claim a first-party citation or referral analytics method unless Anthropic documents one. |
992
- | Perplexity | Treat `PerplexityBot` and `Perplexity-User` separately. Current official descriptions of robots behavior are not fully consistent, so name the agent, action, source, and date rather than saying Perplexity simply respects or ignores `robots.txt`. |
993
- | Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google Search controls and Googlebot govern Search eligibility. `Google-Extended` is separate and does not control inclusion or ranking in Google Search. Google requires no special AI schema, AI text file, or special page structure; `llms.txt` is ignored by Google Search. |
994
- | Bing and Copilot | Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance and Microsoft Clarity can distinguish some citations, queries, and referrals. Citation count is not proof of prominence, answer contribution, accuracy, or conversion. IndexNow is a Bing-supported freshness mechanism, not a cross-engine ranking tactic. |
995
- | Grok | xAI documents web-search results and citations for its API. Its `citations` field can include every URL encountered during tool search, while inline citations are answer-linked and not guaranteed; do not count every encountered URL as visible support. Public site-owner controls for Grok crawling, indexing, and training are not established in the reviewed official material. Mark them unknown rather than inferring them. |
996
-
997
- Never import one engine's crawler, metadata, structured-data, or measurement
998
- rule into another engine without first-party support.
999
-
1000
- ### Indexable-public technical handoff
1001
-
1002
- Copy alone cannot complete GEO/AEO. Confirm or hand off checks for:
1003
-
1004
- - one stable, accessible canonical URL and intentional indexability;
1005
- - important claims and evidence available in robust, accessible page content;
1006
- - intentional, engine-specific crawler policy;
1007
- - HTTPS, stable delivery, useful status behavior, and crawlable links;
1008
- - sitemap discovery and truthful freshness dates where applicable;
1009
- - descriptive metadata aligned with visible copy;
1010
- - contextual internal links and useful image alternatives;
1011
- - valid structured data that matches visible facts and a supported use case;
1012
- - consistent author, publisher, organization, and product identities.
1013
-
1014
- Prefer important evidence in normal accessible HTML for retrieval robustness,
1015
- but do not claim that every engine ignores client-rendered content, PDFs,
1016
- images, or other formats. Structured data can clarify meaning or qualify a page
1017
- for documented features; it does not guarantee AI selection or citation.
1018
- Google documents no special AI schema. OpenAI's documented structured metadata
1019
- use is currently specific to Shopping, not a general ChatGPT ranking rule.
1020
- Never invent questions, authors, dates, ratings, products, or organization
1021
- facts for markup. Do not require `llms.txt`; Google ignores it and a citation
1022
- effect is unproved elsewhere.
1023
-
1024
- ### GEO/AEO anti-patterns
1025
-
1026
- Reject:
1027
-
1028
- - keyword or entity stuffing;
1029
- - long copy written only to satisfy a word count;
1030
- - thin definition pages and minor-query variants;
1031
- - hidden answer text or machine-only claims;
1032
- - fake statistics, false precision, or source laundering;
1033
- - FAQ or Q&A blocks added only as a citability tactic;
1034
- - duplicated passages with swapped keywords;
1035
- - crawler permission presented as retrieval, selection, or citation;
1036
- - structured data, authorship, dates, direct answers, or HTML rendering
1037
- presented as universal ranking factors;
1038
- - citation count treated as answer contribution, accuracy, endorsement,
1039
- prominence, referral, or conversion;
1040
- - `llms.txt`, IndexNow, or an engine-specific crawler rule presented as a
1041
- universal requirement;
1042
- - observational movement presented as causal lift;
1043
- - generic AI phrasing that lowers specificity and information value.
1044
-
1045
- ## Operational workflow
1046
-
1047
- 1. **Commercial job.** Choose the explicit or inferred mode, audience,
1048
- decision, and action or investment relevance. Route the surface separately.
1049
- 2. **Destination belief.** Write one supportable conclusion before drafting.
1050
- 3. **Argument.** Build the full commercial spine for `SELL`, `INVEST`, and
1051
- `POSITION`. Use only needed moves for `INFORM` and `TRANSACT`.
1052
- 4. **Proof gate.** Attach evidence to each premise, preserve limits, and remove
1053
- facts that do not prove a premise, resolve an objection, or enable action.
1054
- 5. **Channel formatting.** Fit the channel without deleting the argument. Honor
1055
- explicit length and format constraints when they do not require factual
1056
- distortion.
1057
- 6. **Written GEO/AEO when applicable.** Apply semantic and evidence rules to
1058
- written work. Add technical checks only for indexable public work.
1059
- 7. **AI-writing-tell edit.** Apply the global human-voice bans and tests without
1060
- changing factual meaning.
1061
- 8. **Compression.** Cut repetition and decoration last. Preserve proof,
1062
- qualifications, the destination belief, action relevance, and any explicit
1063
- usable length range.
1064
-
1065
- Use the sequence exactly: `Commercial job -> destination belief -> argument ->
1066
- proof gate -> channel formatting -> written GEO/AEO when applicable ->
1067
- AI-writing-tell edit -> compression.`
1068
-
1069
- For CiteSurge public changes, pass every changed marketing file or directory
1070
- explicitly to `npm run dev:ai-writing-tells:scan --`, then run:
1071
-
1072
- ```powershell
1073
- npm run dev:public:claim-safety:smoke
1074
- ```
1075
-
1076
- No-argument AI scan covers only its default gated page set. Pass every changed
1077
- marketing path explicitly. Inspect rendered copy and all changed metadata,
1078
- schema, feed, sitemap, or AI-readable surfaces.
1079
-
1080
- Published Insights also require a reviewer independent from the draft owner.
1081
- That reviewer checks rendered article, sources, claim scope, methodology
1082
- boundary, metadata, schema, feed, and AI-readable summary. Automated checks do
1083
- not replace this review; publication stays blocked when it is unavailable.
1084
-
1085
- ## Applied weak and strong pairs
1086
-
1087
- These fictional pairs use the same stated facts on both sides. They teach
1088
- construction, not standing claims. Replace every fact and CTA with verified
1089
- product truth before use.
1090
-
1091
- ### Company positioning
1092
-
1093
- Verified facts:
1094
-
1095
- > Rivet reconciles purchase orders against invoices and receipts. It flags
1096
- > discrepancies before routing exceptions to finance teams. No performance or
1097
- > savings claims are supplied. No traction or market claims are supplied.
1098
-
1099
- Weak:
1100
-
1101
- > Rivet is B2B finance software for reconciliation and exception routing.
1102
-
1103
- Strong:
1104
-
1105
- > Finance teams have to investigate when purchase orders do not agree with
1106
- > invoices or receipts. A useful system must identify the mismatch and put it
1107
- > into an actionable queue. Rivet reconciles those records and flags
1108
- > discrepancies before routing exceptions to finance. It turns document
1109
- > matching into exception work the team can act on.
1110
-
1111
- The weak version defines a category and inventories features. The strong
1112
- version makes the operational stake clear and establishes the criterion. It
1113
- then shows the transformation that supports the company position without
1114
- adding a performance claim.
1115
-
1116
- ### Investor description
1117
-
1118
- Verified facts:
1119
-
1120
- > Northstar measures how major AI answer systems represent brands and whether
1121
- > they cite them. It records each answer with its prompt and market context.
1122
- > The record also preserves evidence limits. Human-reviewed findings become
1123
- > prioritized content or technical work. The product includes dashboards and
1124
- > reports. It also provides
1125
- > multi-brand workspaces plus programmatic access through an API and MCP.
1126
- > Webhooks are also available. No traction or leadership claims are supplied.
1127
- > No pricing or market-size claims are supplied. No performance claims are
1128
- > supplied.
1129
-
1130
- Weak:
1131
-
1132
- > Northstar is enterprise GEO software with dashboards and human-reviewed
1133
- > reports.
1134
-
1135
- Strong:
1136
-
1137
- > Brand teams cannot choose precise work from an AI answer they cannot trace to
1138
- > the original prompt and market context or to the sources it cited. Northstar
1139
- > records that evidence with its limits. It then turns supported findings into
1140
- > prioritized content or technical work under human review. Multi-brand
1141
- > workspaces and programmatic access make the evidence usable across an
1142
- > enterprise. For investors, Northstar is workflow software for turning
1143
- > observed AI brand representation into governed action.
1144
-
1145
- The strong version states the decision problem and mechanism. It keeps the
1146
- boundary visible, shows the company transformation and lands the investment
1147
- relevance. It does not invent traction or outcomes.
1148
-
1149
- ### Hero
1150
-
1151
- Verified facts:
1152
-
1153
- > Northstar records observed AI answers with their citation URLs. Each record
1154
- > keeps its prompt and market context attached. It also preserves evidence
1155
- > limits. Supported findings become prioritized work. An evidence-review route
1156
- > exists.
1157
-
1158
- Weak:
1159
-
1160
- > Better AI visibility for every brand.
1161
-
1162
- Strong:
1163
-
1164
- > An AI answer without its prompt and market context or its citation record
1165
- > cannot support a precise content decision. Northstar keeps that evidence
1166
- > attached before turning supported findings into prioritized work. Review the
1167
- > evidence.
1168
-
1169
- The CTA follows from the mechanism and points to a verified route. The copy
1170
- does not promise visibility or citation. It makes no performance claim.
1171
-
1172
- ### Paywall
1173
-
1174
- Verified facts:
1175
-
1176
- > Briefcase Free permits three active client reports. All three slots are in
1177
- > use. Briefcase Pro removes the active-report limit and includes PDF export.
1178
- > An upgrade route exists. No savings or urgency claim is supplied.
1179
-
1180
- Weak:
1181
-
1182
- > Get more from Briefcase. Upgrade now.
1183
-
1184
- Strong:
1185
-
1186
- > All three Free plan report slots are in use. To create another active client
1187
- > report, choose a plan with a higher limit. Pro removes the active-report
1188
- > limit and includes PDF export. Upgrade to Pro.
1189
-
1190
- The strong version ties the current state to the decision criterion and plan
1191
- mechanism. It lands the destination belief and action without fake urgency.
1192
-
1193
- ### Cold email
1194
-
1195
- Verified facts:
1196
-
1197
- > In a saved audit, Acme appeared in two buyer-question answers. Neither answer
1198
- > visibly cited an Acme page. The audit preserves each answer with its prompt
1199
- > and citation record. It contains three supported proposed fixes. The sender
1200
- > can share it.
1201
-
1202
- Weak:
1203
-
1204
- > Hi Sam, we offer a data-led answer-engine audit with actionable insights for
1205
- > brands. Are you free for a call?
1206
-
1207
- Strong:
1208
-
1209
- > Hi Sam,
1210
- >
1211
- > Acme appeared in two buyer-question answers I checked, but neither answer
1212
- > visibly cited an Acme page. That leaves no Acme source in the visible citation
1213
- > record for your team to inspect. I saved each answer with its prompt and
1214
- > citation record. The short audit also contains three supported proposed
1215
- > fixes. Want me to send it?
1216
-
1217
- The strong version uses a verified observation as the stake and explains the
1218
- evidence boundary. It asks for the smallest logical next action.
1219
-
1220
- ### Spoken pitch
1221
-
1222
- Verified facts:
1223
-
1224
- > Rivet reconciles purchase orders against invoices and receipts. It flags
1225
- > discrepancies before routing exceptions to finance teams. The audience is
1226
- > investors. No traction or market-size evidence is supplied. No savings or
1227
- > performance evidence is supplied.
1228
-
1229
- Weak:
1230
-
1231
- > Rivet is a B2B software platform for finance teams with reconciliation and
1232
- > exception-management capabilities.
1233
-
1234
- Strong:
1235
-
1236
- > Finance teams do not need a longer list of mismatched documents. They need
1237
- > each exception identified and sent to the people who can resolve it. Rivet
1238
- > reconciles the purchase order against the invoice and receipt. It flags the
1239
- > discrepancy before routing the exception to finance. For investors, Rivet is
1240
- > workflow software at the point where mismatched records become work.
1241
-
1242
- The strong version is written for breath. It makes the stake and criterion
1243
- audible before explaining the mechanism. It lands the destination belief with
1244
- investment relevance. It claims neither speed nor savings. It makes no
1245
- market-leadership claim.
1246
-
1247
- ## Release checklist
1248
-
1249
- - [ ] Explicit or inferred commercial mode, separately routed surface,
1250
- audience, destination belief, and action relevance are clear.
1251
- - [ ] `SELL`, `INVEST`, and `POSITION` include every commercial-spine move in
1252
- the required order, even when moves share sentences.
1253
- - [ ] Stakes come from a real situation and leave the reader with agency.
1254
- - [ ] Narrative, fear, loss, guilt, scarcity, curiosity, and social proof obey
1255
- their conditional and ethical controls.
1256
- - [ ] Each premise is verified, qualified, or removed.
1257
- - [ ] The proof gate ran before channel, GEO/AEO, voice, and compression work.
1258
- - [ ] Every fact proves a premise, resolves an objection, or enables action.
1259
- - [ ] Mechanism is concrete, disclosure-safe, and passes the education-leakage
1260
- test.
1261
- - [ ] The primary brand verb states a supported transformation rather than
1262
- defaulting to `shows`, `helps`, `supports`, or `built for`.
1263
- - [ ] Every block advances, proves, resolves, or directs; setup and recaps are
1264
- cut.
1265
- - [ ] Length and structure fit the format; no `HOUSE` or `TEST` range is treated
1266
- as a universal performance law.
1267
- - [ ] Objective channel rules cap tone without deleting the argument; any
1268
- material channel conflict appears after the ready copy.
1269
- - [ ] CTA names a real next action and adds no new claim.
1270
- - [ ] Competitor-swap, read-aloud, defense, and density tests pass.
1271
- - [ ] Zero banned vocabulary, connectives, templates, significance tails,
1272
- generated em dashes, curly or smart quotes, and generated tripartite rhetoric
1273
- without a narrow documented exception.
1274
- - [ ] No fabricated detail, fake urgency, prompt leakage, artificial human
1275
- texture, or detector promise.
1276
- - [ ] Written utility, product, comparison, and question-led copy answers early;
1277
- all written copy names entities and keeps key evidence blocks self-contained.
1278
- - [ ] Material written claims have exact, current, preferably primary sources.
1279
- - [ ] Material inconsistencies across sources are reconciled or disclosed.
1280
- - [ ] Structure, authorship, freshness, disclosures, and links serve reader
1281
- intent.
1282
- - [ ] Public visible and machine-readable surfaces agree; indexable work has a
1283
- technical handoff.
1284
- - [ ] No stuffing, thin variants, machine-only text, or citation guarantee.
1285
- - [ ] Engine-specific crawler and measurement rules were reverified and were not
1286
- generalized across engines.
1287
- - [ ] CiteSurge public claims map to non-expired `LIVE` rows.
1288
- - [ ] CiteSurge methodology and customer-safety boundaries hold.
1289
- - [ ] Brand mention, source selection, answer absorption, visible citation,
1290
- referral, recommendation, conversion, and revenue stay distinct.
1291
- - [ ] GEO/AEO remains CiteSurge's sales frame; every SEO occurrence is reviewed.
1292
- - [ ] Required smokes and independent editorial review pass where applicable.
1293
- - [ ] Author can defend every sentence.
1294
- - [ ] Ready-to-use copy appears first, with no exposed mode, scaffold, or
1295
- private reasoning.
1296
-
1297
- ## Experiment and learning standard
1298
-
1299
- Use local testing to adapt a `HOUSE`, `C`, `EVIDENCE-INFORMED`, or `TEST` rule.
1300
- Do not convert a weak experiment into doctrine.
1301
-
1302
- 1. Change one variable family and pre-register the audience, decision stage,
1303
- primary outcome, minimum useful effect, and guardrails. If several elements
1304
- change, label the test a full-page or full-message variant.
1305
- 2. Randomize the correct unit and control repeat exposure, sales-rep effects,
1306
- account overlap, and channel contamination where relevant.
1307
- 3. Calculate sample size from the current baseline, minimum useful effect,
1308
- power target, clustering, and multiple comparisons. Never copy a source
1309
- study's sample size as the new requirement.
1310
- 4. Run through the relevant business cycle. Do not stop when a result first
1311
- becomes favorable unless a sequential design and stopping rule were declared.
1312
- 5. Keep click-through, conversion, reply, meeting, qualified lead, close,
1313
- citation, referral, and revenue metrics separate.
1314
- 6. Track quality and harm guardrails: accessibility, comprehension, negative
1315
- replies, spam reports, unsubscribes, cost, downstream fit, and trust signals.
1316
- 7. Segment only when pre-declared and sufficiently powered.
1317
- 8. Record positive, null, mixed, harmful, and inconclusive outcomes.
1318
- 9. With low traffic, prefer comprehension tests, usability sessions, message
1319
- interviews, or sequential learning batches over underpowered causal claims.
1320
- 10. Promote a rule only when the observed effect matches the intended outcome
1321
- and survives the declared guardrails.
1322
-
1323
- ## Evidence register
1324
-
1325
- This register records the durable sources used to turn the supplied research
1326
- into operating rules. It deliberately excludes the reports' non-portable
1327
- session citation tokens.
1328
-
1329
- ### Persuasion, emotion, mechanism, and proof
1330
-
1331
- | Evidence | Grade | Operational use and limit |
1332
- |---|---:|---|
1333
- | [Verbal persuasion in marketing meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-025-01095-4) | `B` | Across 308 studies, argument quality, mental imagery, and positivity were positively associated with persuasion while information load was negative. Outcomes and moderators vary; this is not a conversion formula. |
1334
- | [Delayed narrative-persuasion meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa005) and [registered narrative-correction report](https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-020-00266-x) | `B` | Narrative effects are small and conditional; equating information and comprehension can remove the advantage. Use narrative to illustrate, not replace, proof. |
1335
- | [Anecdotal versus statistical evidence meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.01.006) | `B` | Statistics generally persuade more; anecdotes can help under high emotion or self-relevance. Match evidence to context without treating one story as representative. |
1336
- | [Mechanism-based claim experiments](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucae066) | `B` | A coherent causal chain can increase fluency and perceived efficacy. The experiments do not establish actual product efficacy. |
1337
- | [Online review meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dim.2023.100058), [eWOM predictor meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09924-y), and [source-credibility meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.01.005) | `B` | Valence, argument quality, usefulness, message trust, expertise, and relevance matter. Purchase intention is not always observed purchase behavior. |
1338
- | [Multi-source inconsistency research](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2021.01.003) | `B` | In an automobile experiment and sales analysis, conflicting sources reduced intent and early sales. Generalize cautiously beyond high-consideration durable goods. |
1339
- | [Fear-appeal meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039729) and [efficacy follow-up](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab049) | `B` | Average effects were positive, mainly outside commercial marketing; credible response efficacy is important. This does not license exaggeration or coercion. |
1340
- | [Guilt meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1201631), [scarcity-backfire experiments](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1225011), and recent [loss-framing attention](https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf006) and [reactance](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115684) studies | `B` | Guilt effects are small, scarcity can backfire, and loss framing can trade attention for reactance or lower intent. Use only truthfully and test the target outcome. |
1341
-
1342
- ### Copy length, structure, and CTA design
1343
-
1344
- | Evidence | Grade | Operational use and limit |
1345
- |---|---:|---|
1346
- | [Sentence-length study with screen-reader users](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_18) | `B` | A small study of 21 users favored 16-20-word sentences for comprehension. It supports an accessibility editing trigger, not a universal marketing optimum. |
1347
- | [WCAG 2.2 guidance on headings and labels](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/headings-and-labels) | `A` | Headings and labels should describe topic or purpose and need not be long. Descriptiveness outranks minimal word count. |
1348
- | Gong analyses of [executive cold email length](https://www.gong.io/blog/do-execs-really-reply-to-cold-email-here-s-what-the-data-says), [cold-email structure](https://www.gong.io/files/gong-guide-how-to-master-cold-email-get-the-data-backed-guide-based-on-85-million-emails.pdf), [cold CTA type](https://www.gong.io/blog/this-surprising-cold-email-cta-will-help-you-book-a-lot-more-meetings), and [later-stage sales email](https://www.gong.io/blog/how-to-write-a-sales-email) | `C` | Large observational sales datasets support short first-touch messages, interest CTAs when cold, and more specific asks later. Vendor population, selection, and outcome limits remain. |
1349
- | LinkedIn guidance for [recruiter InMail](https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/tips-for-writing-inmails-from-linkedin-recruiters), [Sponsored Messaging](https://business.linkedin.com/advertise/ads/sponsored-messaging/tips), and [LinkedIn ad formats](https://www.linkedin.com/business/marketing/blog/linkedin-ads/a-b2b-marketers-guide-to-every-linkedin-ad-type) | `C` | Shorter message bodies performed better in the named LinkedIn products and datasets. Do not generalize their character ranges to all direct messages. |
1350
- | [Computational-advertising text-style field study](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2021.11.004) | `B` | Subjective, personalized text produced higher click-through while objective, brand-consistent text produced higher conversion in the studied system. Treat this as a channel-specific test hypothesis, not a universal funnel rule. |
1351
-
1352
- ### AI-search visibility and citability
1353
-
1354
- | Evidence | Grade | Operational use and limit |
1355
- |---|---:|---|
1356
- | [OpenAI crawler documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots) and [publisher FAQ](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12627856-publishers-and-developers-faq) | `A` | Distinguishes Search, training, and user-fetch agents and documents ChatGPT referral tagging. Permission affects access or eligibility, not guaranteed inclusion. |
1357
- | [OpenAI Shopping with ChatGPT Search](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11128490-shopping-with-chatgpt-search) | `A` | Documents structured product metadata in the Shopping context only. It is not evidence for a general ChatGPT ranking or citation factor. |
1358
- | [Anthropic crawler guidance](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler) | `A` | Distinguishes Claude's crawler purposes. Do not infer analytics, ranking factors, or cross-engine rules. |
1359
- | [Perplexity crawler documentation](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers) and [robots.txt help](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10354969-how-does-perplexity-follow-robots-txt) | `A` | Official pages verify the named agents and published controls. Their descriptions of robots behavior are not fully consistent, so the unresolved behavioral inference remains `D`; state the agent, action, source, and date. |
1360
- | [Google AI-features guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) and [AI optimization guidance](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide) | `A` | Normal Google Search eligibility and controls apply; no special AI schema, text file, or page structure is required. `Google-Extended` is separate from Search inclusion and ranking. |
1361
- | [Bing AI Performance](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview), [Microsoft Clarity AI citations](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/ai-visibility/ai-citations), and [IndexNow documentation](https://www.indexnow.org/documentation) | `A` | Supports engine-specific observation of citations, queries, referrals, and freshness submission. None alone proves answer contribution, prominence, accuracy, or business effect. |
1362
- | [xAI web-search documentation](https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/web-search) and [xAI citation documentation](https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/citations) | `A` | Documents API search, encountered URLs, and inline citations. Site-owner crawl, index, and training controls remain `D` because they are unknown in the reviewed official material. |
1363
- | [Selection and answer-absorption preprint](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.25707) | `B` | Descriptive analysis with controlled prompts supports measuring source selection separately from answer absorption; it does not establish a structural intervention effect. |
1364
- | [Multi-engine content-structure preprint](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29979) | `B` | Reports experimental structural effects and supports testing self-contained, evidence-bearing passages. It remains a preprint and not a universal ranking rule. |
1365
- | [Google AI Overview sourcing preprint](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14021) | `B` | Longitudinal observational evidence supports separating visible citation from claim fidelity. It is Google-specific and non-causal. |
1366
-
1367
- ## Evidence maintenance
1368
-
1369
- - Recheck official engine documentation every 30 days when this file is used
1370
- for engine-specific technical advice, and immediately after a crawler,
1371
- product, analytics, or policy change.
1372
- - Check cited preprints quarterly for revisions, peer review, or retraction.
1373
- - Recheck product claims, prices, routes, offers, and legal constraints at the
1374
- time of use; do not rely on this file as their source of truth.
1375
- - When adding a rule, record the channel, audience, population, measured
1376
- outcome, date, evidence grade, and material limit.
1377
- - Preserve contradictory and null evidence. Do not silently promote a vendor
1378
- association or local test into a universal rule.
1379
- - Use durable direct URLs or DOIs. Do not copy temporary research-session
1380
- citation markers into this file.
1381
-
1382
- ## Change log
1383
-
1384
- | Date | Change |
1385
- |---|---|
1386
- | 2026-07-18 | Rebuilt the persuasion contract for v1.1.0 with explicit commercial modes, a mandatory commercial spine, proof-before-compliance construction, objective-channel limits, rejection gates, progressive loading, and factual weak/strong pairs. |
1387
- | 2026-07-17 | Integrated three commissioned research reports; replaced session-bound research artifacts with durable sources; added portable LLM activation, evidence grades, conditional persuasion controls, format-specific length and CTA guidance, engine-specific GEO/AEO boundaries, and a testing standard. |
1
+ # Agora marketing authority
2
+
3
+ This reference combines the original Agora argument-first doctrine with research on persuasion psychology, investor communication, channel behavior, proof salience, human voice, and written discoverability. Use it as an authority library, not as a visible template.
4
+
5
+ ## Contents
6
+
7
+ - [Core doctrine](#core-doctrine)
8
+ - [Conflict hierarchy](#conflict-hierarchy)
9
+ - [Commercial routing](#commercial-routing)
10
+ - [Surface routing](#surface-routing)
11
+ - [Argument engine](#argument-engine)
12
+ - [Emotion as consequential meaning](#emotion-as-consequential-meaning)
13
+ - [Proof salience](#proof-salience)
14
+ - [Truth and ethical limits](#truth-and-ethical-limits)
15
+ - [Short, medium, and long forms](#short-medium-and-long-forms)
16
+ - [Channel architecture](#channel-architecture)
17
+ - [Mechanism and differentiation](#mechanism-and-differentiation)
18
+ - [CTA standard](#cta-standard)
19
+ - [Spoken delivery](#spoken-delivery)
20
+ - [Human voice and AI-writing-tell gate](#human-voice-and-ai-writing-tell-gate)
21
+ - [Written GEO/AEO and citability](#written-geoaeo-and-citability)
22
+ - [Technical publication boundaries](#technical-publication-boundaries)
23
+ - [Applied weak and strong pairs](#applied-weak-and-strong-pairs)
24
+ - [Evaluation contract](#evaluation-contract)
25
+ - [Evidence register](#evidence-register)
26
+ - [Evidence maintenance](#evidence-maintenance)
27
+
28
+ ## Core doctrine
29
+
30
+ Build the supportable argument first. Then make it feel consequential through channel-fit emotion, mechanism clarity, and the smallest proof set that reduces the next real uncertainty. Never let wording outrun proof.
31
+
32
+ Agora does not mean "logic instead of emotion." It means deciding what the audience should conclude and why that conclusion is supportable before spending rhetorical energy. Emotion gives supported facts personal importance. Narrative can carry an argument. Neither can replace the argument.
33
+
34
+ The working sequence is:
35
+
36
+ 1. Identify the real decision and the audience's role in it.
37
+ 2. Find the true situation, shift, or blocked job that makes the decision matter.
38
+ 3. Explain the causal mechanism that changes the situation.
39
+ 4. Select the proof that resolves the most expensive live uncertainty.
40
+ 5. Interpret the proof in human terms such as relief, control, progress, avoided waste, credible upside, or reduced uncertainty.
41
+ 6. Preserve agency and make the next step proportionate to the evidence.
42
+
43
+ Verified facts are raw material for premises, not ready-made copy. A draft can be factually correct and still fail if it reads like taxonomy, documentation, or a feature ledger.
44
+
45
+ Persuasion outcomes are not interchangeable. Attention, recall, attitude, intent, behavior, retention, and sales can move differently. Never describe one as if it proves another. Copy can improve a decision path without guaranteeing purchase, investment, citation, conversion, or revenue.
46
+
47
+ ## Conflict hierarchy
48
+
49
+ Apply this hierarchy when instructions compete:
50
+
51
+ 1. Truth, safety, law, and immutable requirements.
52
+ 2. Supplied facts, approved sources, and material qualifiers.
53
+ 3. The audience's actual decision and requested surface.
54
+ 4. Decision relevance and proof salience.
55
+ 5. Emotional relevance and channel fit.
56
+ 6. Compression and human voice.
57
+ 7. Silent publication hygiene, only when it does not reduce clarity.
58
+
59
+ Higher levels always win. A style cleanup may not delete a material fact. Compression may not turn a bounded claim into certainty. GEO/AEO may not displace the argument. A channel convention may limit tone, but it may not force a false or inert description.
60
+
61
+ Use only source material supplied or approved in the current context. Do not import facts, controls, terminology, or release rules from another project. Examples in this reference are fictional and teach structure only.
62
+
63
+ ## Commercial routing
64
+
65
+ Choose the requested commercial job separately from the publication surface.
66
+
67
+ ### POSITION
68
+
69
+ Use `POSITION` by default for company profiles, directory entries, About copy, website summaries, category descriptions, metadata, partner profiles, and objective company descriptions.
70
+
71
+ The job is to make the subject:
72
+
73
+ - legible inside a category;
74
+ - consequential because of a real shift or stake;
75
+ - distinct because of a concrete mechanism or wedge;
76
+ - credible because the strongest available evidence is visible.
77
+
78
+ Let commercial or investor relevance emerge from those facts. Do not announce it with phrases such as "for investors," "investors should consider," or "merits evaluation." Placement in an investor-adjacent directory does not change a descriptive field into an investment pitch.
79
+
80
+ ### SELL
81
+
82
+ Use `SELL` for marketing, sales, landing pages, ads, product pages, comparisons, email, outreach, upgrades, onboarding, and paywalls.
83
+
84
+ The job is to connect a live buyer situation to a supported mechanism, make the outcome consequential, reduce the next uncertainty, and offer the correct next action. Do not assume that the strongest action is always a purchase or meeting. A demo, evidence review, reply, trial, comparison, or saved item may be the natural next step.
85
+
86
+ ### INVEST
87
+
88
+ Use `INVEST` only for an actual capital decision: a fundraising deck, investor pitch, investment memo, diligence summary, capital-allocation analysis, or fundraising email.
89
+
90
+ The job is to earn investment relevance through:
91
+
92
+ - a consequential change or market timing;
93
+ - a mechanism or wedge that is not generic;
94
+ - evidence proportionate to the claim;
95
+ - a plausible route from present capability to larger value;
96
+ - what capital would change, when that fact is supplied.
97
+
98
+ Do not replace evidence with passion, confidence, prestige, market adjectives, or founder mythology. Keep early-stage and public-market claims distinct.
99
+
100
+ ### INFORM
101
+
102
+ Use `INFORM` for editorial, educational, research, explanatory, or thought-leadership work. Lead with the reader's question. Build understanding before conversion pressure. Preserve sources, uncertainty, counterevidence, and genuine disagreement.
103
+
104
+ ### TRANSACT
105
+
106
+ Use `TRANSACT` for buttons, confirmations, warnings, errors, permissions, settings, and utility microcopy. State the current condition, the action, and the consequence. Do not manufacture emotional stakes for routine interface work.
107
+
108
+ ## Surface routing
109
+
110
+ Classify each deliverable by access and medium:
111
+
112
+ | Surface | Required treatment |
113
+ |---|---|
114
+ | `INDEXABLE_PUBLIC` | Public claim review, written argument, human-voice pass, GEO/AEO pass, then relevant crawl and publication checks |
115
+ | `PUBLIC_NON_INDEXABLE_WRITTEN` | Public claim review, written argument, evidence structure, and human-voice pass; skip crawl and index checks |
116
+ | `WRITTEN_PRIVATE` | Proof fidelity, channel fit, concrete meaning, and human-voice pass |
117
+ | `SPOKEN_ONLY` | Proof fidelity, cadence, breath, timing, listener orientation, and no GEO/AEO formatting |
118
+ | `HYBRID` | Separate the spoken source from every written derivative and route each independently |
119
+
120
+ A private PDF and a public web page can use the same commercial mode but need different publication handling. A video script is spoken. Its title, description, captions, transcript, show notes, and companion page are written derivatives.
121
+
122
+ ## Argument engine
123
+
124
+ Use this as an internal variable-depth engine:
125
+
126
+ `situation -> stake -> criterion or broken assumption when useful -> mechanism -> proof -> destination belief -> next step`
127
+
128
+ The moves are tools, not a mandatory visible sequence.
129
+
130
+ ### Situation
131
+
132
+ Name the reality the audience recognizes. Use a current task, behavior, shift, constraint, trigger condition, or opportunity. Do not invent pain, motive, market motion, or urgency.
133
+
134
+ When no market trend or outcome evidence is supplied, derive the opening from the mechanism's verified trigger. A mismatch between records supports "When the records disagree." A full plan limit supports "When every slot is in use." A request routed by location supports "When service requests arrive from different sites." These openings restate supplied operating conditions. They do not invent financial, legal, or performance consequences.
135
+
136
+ ### Stake
137
+
138
+ Show what the situation changes for the audience. Prefer a concrete consequence or available gain over abstract importance. Examples include rework before close, uncertainty during review, missed time with family, a blocked creative act, delayed cash, wasted spend, or a clearer path to approval. Use only stakes the facts support. The verified trigger or blocked task can carry the stake when no downstream outcome is established.
139
+
140
+ ### Criterion or broken assumption
141
+
142
+ Introduce a new decision criterion only when it sharpens the argument. A comparison page often needs one. A one-line description often does not. The criterion should follow from the situation and supplied facts, not from a generic template.
143
+
144
+ ### Mechanism
145
+
146
+ Explain what the product or company changes, how it changes it, and where the boundary lies. Prefer causal verbs that name an action: reconciles, routes, records, compares, detects, schedules, restores, or calculates. Do not strengthen the verb beyond the evidence.
147
+
148
+ ### Proof
149
+
150
+ Attach the best evidence to the premise it supports. Proof can be a direct outcome, diagnostic comparison, measured behavior, named scope, verified mechanism, constrained case, or credible external source. A list of minor features is not proof of a major claim.
151
+
152
+ ### Destination belief
153
+
154
+ Define the narrow conclusion that makes the requested decision sensible. Keep it internal unless it reads naturally in the channel. The destination belief is not a slogan, recap, or claim of leadership.
155
+
156
+ ### Next step
157
+
158
+ Make the action feasible and proportionate. Clarify what happens next. Preserve choice. For positioning work, the next step can remain implicit.
159
+
160
+ ### Continuity test
161
+
162
+ Each sentence should make the next one feel earned. If paragraphs can be rearranged without changing the force of the argument, the draft may be a fact pile rather than a case. If the company name can be swapped for a competitor without factual damage, the mechanism or wedge is missing.
163
+
164
+ ## Emotion as consequential meaning
165
+
166
+ Choose one dominant emotional job. Do not spray emotional language across the draft.
167
+
168
+ | Emotional job | Use when the supportable meaning is |
169
+ |---|---|
170
+ | Tension | A real cost, risk, contradiction, or blocked task is already present |
171
+ | Relief | The offer removes a credible burden, uncertainty, or recurring failure |
172
+ | Control | The audience gains visibility, reversibility, time, or command over a decision |
173
+ | Ambition | A supportable new capability or market opening creates attainable upside |
174
+ | Belonging | Real identity, community, or shared standards matter to the decision |
175
+ | Curiosity | A surprising but defensible mechanism or result invites further attention |
176
+
177
+ Express emotion through `situation + consequence + available agency`.
178
+
179
+ Turn features into outcomes, then outcomes into stakes:
180
+
181
+ - Encryption can mean lower exposure during a client audit.
182
+ - Speed can mean control over waiting, queues, or deadlines.
183
+ - Accuracy can mean less rework, waste, or embarrassment.
184
+ - Ease can mean lower activation energy and a more feasible next step.
185
+ - A novel capability needs a working mechanism and proof, not novelty adjectives.
186
+
187
+ Match the frame to the audience's role or goal only when that fit is supplied or safely inferable. Never fabricate intimacy, aspiration, identity, or private knowledge.
188
+
189
+ Emotion does not always beat logic. Narrative is not always better than analysis. Fear, loss framing, scarcity, personalization, authority, and vividness all depend on context. Treat them as bounded tools, never universal rules.
190
+
191
+ ## Proof salience
192
+
193
+ Rank each candidate fact against six signals:
194
+
195
+ | Signal | Question |
196
+ |---|---|
197
+ | Decision relevance | Will this fact change the reader's next decision? |
198
+ | Differentiation | Does it make the subject less swappable? |
199
+ | Verifiability | Can the claim be defended from supplied or approved evidence? |
200
+ | Specificity | Does it contain a useful number, entity, scope, boundary, or concrete behavior? |
201
+ | Compression value | Can it do two jobs, such as mechanism plus proof? |
202
+ | Omission risk | Would removing it make the copy misleading, generic, or incomplete? |
203
+
204
+ Use the proof that most reduces the next expensive uncertainty:
205
+
206
+ - Belief uncertainty: direct outcome evidence or a constrained demonstration.
207
+ - Mechanism uncertainty: a clear causal explanation or technical comparison.
208
+ - Fit uncertainty: specifications, compatibility, use-case evidence, or fair comparison.
209
+ - Trust uncertainty: credible third-party validation, reviews, provenance, or bounded transparency.
210
+ - Effort uncertainty: setup requirements, progress, defaults, reversibility, or time to first value.
211
+ - Price uncertainty: explicit terms, total cost, supported ROI, or a safe exit path.
212
+
213
+ Prefer proof in this order when available:
214
+
215
+ 1. Direct evidence on the promised outcome.
216
+ 2. Mechanism evidence explaining why the outcome should occur.
217
+ 3. Diagnostic comparison, such as before and after or with and without.
218
+ 4. Credible external validation.
219
+ 5. A concrete case with real constraints.
220
+
221
+ The order is a default, not a license to use unavailable evidence.
222
+
223
+ Keep factual enumeration when the list itself is diagnostic. Engines, integrations, plan components, legal terms, supported markets, technical requirements, named coverage, chapters, or timestamps may be necessary proof. Remove ornamental lists, not decision-bearing lists.
224
+
225
+ ## Truth and ethical limits
226
+
227
+ Never invent or imply:
228
+
229
+ - product behavior, features, routes, pricing, deadlines, or availability;
230
+ - quantified or unquantified outcomes;
231
+ - market size, growth, trend, category maturity, or leadership;
232
+ - traction, adoption, customers, revenue, funding, or investor interest;
233
+ - comparisons, savings, performance, causality, or guarantees;
234
+ - urgency, scarcity, exclusivity, testimonials, reviews, or social proof;
235
+ - audience motives, pain, identity, beliefs, or private context.
236
+
237
+ Keep fact, inference, interpretation, aspiration, and promise distinct. Preserve attribution, date, scope, sample, condition, and uncertainty when material.
238
+
239
+ Treat words such as `growing`, `rising`, `emerging`, `established`, `leading`, `fastest`, `best`, `crowded`, `large`, `accelerating`, or `surging` as claims. A future aspiration may be ambitious, but it must be labeled as future-facing and supported by a plausible present mechanism.
240
+
241
+ Do not convert an observed task issue into financial loss, legal exposure, compliance failure, reputational damage, or market risk without evidence. Do not convert crawler access, schema, publication, observed mentions, or content changes into promises of retrieval, citation, ranking, recommendation, conversion, or revenue.
242
+
243
+ ### Ethical persuasion
244
+
245
+ - Preserve agency and meaningful alternatives.
246
+ - Use threat only when the risk is real, material, and paired with an effective response.
247
+ - Use scarcity only when the constraint is true, current, relevant, and verifiable.
248
+ - Never use shame, moral coercion, false belonging, or identity pressure.
249
+ - Never hide recurring charges, renewal terms, material exclusions, or reversibility.
250
+ - Do not repeat unsupported claims until fluency makes them feel true.
251
+ - Honest uncertainty is better than confident vagueness.
252
+
253
+ If proof is missing, narrow or omit the premise. Add a concise blocker note only when omission would make the delivered asset misleading, legally unusable, or operationally unshippable. Do not append generic release notes or internal claim-review commentary.
254
+
255
+ ## Short, medium, and long forms
256
+
257
+ Length is a channel constraint, not a persuasion doctrine.
258
+
259
+ ### Very short: one line to about 35 words
260
+
261
+ Use a compelling market shift, felt stake, live consequence, or verified trigger condition plus the strongest verified mechanism or differentiator. When no outcome evidence exists, use the exact condition the product acts on. Do not retreat to a feature list. Compress the mechanism into the differentiator when syntax permits. Do not force objection handling, a full proof stack, a decision criterion, or visible investor relevance.
262
+
263
+ For a hard character limit, count characters exactly. Preserve the strongest fact, not the greatest number of facts.
264
+
265
+ ### Medium: about 36 to 120 words
266
+
267
+ Lead with the stake or shift. Add the mechanism and strongest proof clue. Include a material qualifier when its omission would overstate the claim. Land a natural destination belief without announcing the reasoning framework.
268
+
269
+ ### Long: more than about 120 words
270
+
271
+ Expand only when each addition resolves a live uncertainty or objection. Long-form buyer and investment work may use situation, consequence, criterion, mechanism, proof, alternatives, timing, and next step. Do not stretch a small fact set into an essay.
272
+
273
+ Short forms are compressed decisions, not miniature essays. Long forms are not permission for feature volume.
274
+
275
+ ## Channel architecture
276
+
277
+ ### Landing-page heroes and ads
278
+
279
+ Assume low context and fragile attention. Name one recognizable situation or stake. Show one meaningful difference. Offer one dominant next step unless the surface is explicitly a branching flow. Do not open with a product taxonomy or an all-in-one claim.
280
+
281
+ ### Product pages
282
+
283
+ Reduce fit and trust uncertainty. State compatibility, specifications, price, availability, logistics, terms, and returns when supplied and relevant. Put proof beside the claim it supports. Diagnostic enumeration often belongs here.
284
+
285
+ ### Comparison pages
286
+
287
+ Organize around buyer criteria, not brand praise. State the basis of comparison and important limits. Use side-by-side facts where they reduce regret. A fair "choose this when" structure can be more persuasive than declaring a universal winner.
288
+
289
+ ### Company and category descriptions
290
+
291
+ Default to `POSITION`. Start with a shift, stake, or changed behavior. Explain the mechanism or wedge. Add the most salient evidence the length permits. Keep the tone objective without flattening the consequence.
292
+
293
+ ### B2B cold email
294
+
295
+ Earn relevance quickly. Use one specific observation or live problem, one explanatory turn, and one low-friction ask. Do not restate the same evidence to make the email feel fuller. Do not invent familiarity or write the full sales case into the first touch.
296
+
297
+ ### Direct messages
298
+
299
+ Answer one live question. Add one useful next step. Use lists only when availability, pricing, steps, or options are the answer.
300
+
301
+ ### Consumer email and organic social
302
+
303
+ Make the point useful before applying pressure. Match proof and CTA to audience warmth. Avoid over-personalization, fake urgency, and corporate repurposing language.
304
+
305
+ ### Mobile onboarding
306
+
307
+ Restore control and justify effort. Ask only for what the current step needs. Explain permissions at the point of decision. Use progressive disclosure rather than a feature tour before activation.
308
+
309
+ ### Upgrades and paywalls
310
+
311
+ Name the blocked action or desired capability. State what changes with the paid option. Make price, billing cadence, included value, renewal behavior, cancellation, restore, or downgrade paths explicit when supplied and required. Do not manufacture urgency.
312
+
313
+ ### CTAs and microcopy
314
+
315
+ Describe the next concrete action. Make consequences and reversibility clear. One CTA fits a focused decision. Multiple CTAs fit genuine branching. There is no universal CTA-count rule.
316
+
317
+ ### Editorial content
318
+
319
+ Lead with the answer or useful tension. Add original evidence, examples, sources, and objections. Let conversion follow value delivery. Do not write commodity search filler.
320
+
321
+ ## Mechanism and differentiation
322
+
323
+ Mechanism answers three questions:
324
+
325
+ 1. What changes?
326
+ 2. What causes the change?
327
+ 3. What boundary or condition limits the claim?
328
+
329
+ Prefer concrete verbs. `Reconciles purchase orders with invoices` carries more meaning than `helps finance teams`. `Routes exceptions to reviewers` carries more meaning than `supports workflows`.
330
+
331
+ Do not mechanically ban common verbs. Reject them when they are the primary carrier of a claim and a more precise supported verb exists. `Helps` can be correct when causality is partial or indirect.
332
+
333
+ Use category ambition by naming the scale of consequence, not by making an unsupported rank claim. "An operating layer for distributed battery fleets" expresses scope. "The leading battery platform" requires leadership evidence.
334
+
335
+ Run these tests:
336
+
337
+ - **Competitor-swap:** could another company use the same copy unchanged?
338
+ - **Causal:** does the mechanism actually support the stated outcome?
339
+ - **Continuity:** does each sentence earn the next?
340
+ - **Defense:** would the author defend every claim to a skeptical reader?
341
+ - **Fidelity:** did compression preserve all material facts and limits?
342
+ - **Read-aloud:** does the channel-native voice sound natural?
343
+
344
+ ## CTA standard
345
+
346
+ A CTA should complete the argument rather than compensate for a missing one.
347
+
348
+ Match the action to readiness:
349
+
350
+ - Early attention: learn, compare, see, review, or save.
351
+ - Active evaluation: inspect evidence, try a workflow, calculate fit, or ask a focused question.
352
+ - Ready action: start, buy, subscribe, book, submit, or upgrade.
353
+ - Utility: continue, return, restore, confirm, cancel, or retry.
354
+
355
+ Use a verb that tells the reader what happens. Do not use a high-commitment CTA when the copy only supports a low-commitment test. Do not add urgency without a real clock or constraint.
356
+
357
+ ## Spoken delivery
358
+
359
+ Spoken copy is heard once in sequence. Optimize for breath, rhythm, memory, and listener orientation.
360
+
361
+ - Open with a concrete situation, contrast, question, or result the evidence supports.
362
+ - Use shorter clauses and audible transitions.
363
+ - Repeat only a load-bearing anchor, not the whole argument.
364
+ - Prefer words that are easy to say and understand at natural speed.
365
+ - Turn objections into beats rather than footnotes.
366
+ - Keep dense lists out of speech unless each item matters and can be heard distinctly.
367
+ - Do not speak headings, keywords, metadata, citations, or GEO/AEO scaffolding aloud.
368
+ - Omit implementation-status facts such as route availability unless the listener is asked to act on that route.
369
+ - End on one supported consequence, decision, or form of agency rather than a product-status sentence or a stack of adjacent action verbs.
370
+
371
+ For hybrid work, write the script for listening. Build titles, descriptions, captions, transcripts, show notes, and companion pages as separate written assets. Rank facts separately for each asset. Do not force every supplied fact into both. Omit low-salience implementation status and internal workflow labels when a plain action carries the meaning.
372
+
373
+ Treat an existence-only route, screen, page, preview, or report as action availability when the brief supplies no differentiated function for it. Express that availability through the CTA or final invitation. Do not turn it into a body-copy claim.
374
+
375
+ ## Human voice and AI-writing-tell gate
376
+
377
+ Apply this gate after the argument and proof pass. Its purpose is specific, accurate, author-owned prose. It does not prove human authorship or guarantee detector outcomes.
378
+
379
+ ### Global output bans
380
+
381
+ Unless immutable quoted, legal, technical, or user-required text must be preserved, generate:
382
+
383
+ - no em dashes;
384
+ - no curly or smart quotation marks;
385
+ - no prompt acknowledgements or task meta-commentary;
386
+ - no fabricated citations, quotations, anecdotes, memories, motives, credentials, or human texture;
387
+ - no stock openings, canned contrast templates, or generic significance tails;
388
+ - no unneeded conclusion or recap;
389
+ - no deliberate errors, fake informality, or detector-evasion promises.
390
+
391
+ Use straight quotes. Replace an em dash with a period, comma, colon, or parentheses. Never change facts, names, figures, dates, citations, causality, uncertainty, legal meaning, or required technical terminology to satisfy a style preference.
392
+
393
+ ### AI-heavy vocabulary
394
+
395
+ Replace vague or inflated wording with concrete language when possible. Watch clusters of:
396
+
397
+ - `delve`, `showcase`, `foster`, metaphorical `navigate`, `harness`, `leverage`, `unlock`, `unleash`, `empower`, `streamline`, `elevate`, `facilitate`, vague `optimize`;
398
+ - `pivotal`, `crucial`, `robust`, `seamless`, `holistic`, `comprehensive`, `multifaceted`, `transformative`, `groundbreaking`, `cutting-edge`, `world-class`, `best-in-class`, `unparalleled`;
399
+ - metaphorical `tapestry`, `landscape`, `realm`, `ecosystem`, `journey`, `testament`, `frontier`, `cornerstone`, `backbone`, `powerhouse`, `game-changer`;
400
+ - `moreover`, `furthermore`, `additionally`, `notably`, `importantly`, `in essence`, `in summary`, `in conclusion`, `ultimately`, `that said`.
401
+
402
+ These words are not scientific proof of machine authorship. Retain one when it is exact, technically required, part of a proper name, immutable source text, or more accurate than a forced synonym. Judge density, repetition, and vagueness rather than one ordinary word.
403
+
404
+ ### Stock templates and significance tails
405
+
406
+ Delete or rewrite generated phrases such as:
407
+
408
+ - `It is important to note that`;
409
+ - `It is worth noting`;
410
+ - `In today's fast-paced world`;
411
+ - `In the ever-evolving landscape of`;
412
+ - `At its core`;
413
+ - `When it comes to`;
414
+ - `A testament to`;
415
+ - `Stands as a`;
416
+ - `Plays a crucial role`;
417
+ - `Not only X but also Y`;
418
+ - `Not just X but Y`;
419
+ - `Whether you are X or Y`;
420
+ - `Unlocking the potential of`;
421
+ - `Paving the way for`;
422
+ - `Let me know if you would like`.
423
+
424
+ Delete generic tails such as `underscoring the importance of`, `highlighting its role in`, `demonstrating its impact on`, `cementing its place as`, or `showcasing its commitment to`. End with information, action, or a supportable inference.
425
+
426
+ ### Structural tells
427
+
428
+ Remove repeated `bold label: sentence` bullets, headings that restate themselves, identical paragraph shapes, conclusion sections that add nothing, balanced both-sides framing without named evidence, and smooth transitions that hide unrelated facts.
429
+
430
+ Avoid decorative tripartite rhetoric used as a stock flourish. Do not ban factual three-item series. Preserve necessary enumerations when they state scope, compare options, qualify a claim, meet a legal or platform requirement, or prevent misleading omission.
431
+
432
+ Never add fake typos, fragments, slang, personal memories, jokes, or emotional confessions to simulate humanity. If author samples are supplied, follow stable habits without copying phrases or inventing an identity.
433
+
434
+ ### Detector limits
435
+
436
+ Detector outputs are noisy, version-dependent, and vulnerable to domain shift. Never promise that writing is undetectable. Never treat a score as proof of authorship. If testing is authorized, compare against known-human samples from the same author and genre, use more than one method when feasible, record tool versions, and stop detector-driven editing when another pass no longer improves the prose independently.
437
+
438
+ Research on detector limits includes the [RAID benchmark](https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.07940), [paraphrasing attacks](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.13408), the [DAMAGE shared task](https://aclanthology.org/2025.genaidetect-1.9/), a [practical detector examination](https://aclanthology.org/2025.findings-naacl.271/), [bias against non-native English writers](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02819), [GPTZero methodology](https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13042), [reliable detection limits](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.11156), [human and AI boundary research](https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15666), [flawed human heuristics](https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.07271), and [function-word adjacency networks](https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.4469).
439
+
440
+ ## Written GEO/AEO and citability
441
+
442
+ Apply these rules only to written assets. They improve clarity, extractability, and verification. They do not guarantee retrieval or citation.
443
+
444
+ - Answer the central question early when the format calls for it.
445
+ - Name the subject, entity, category, scope, and time frame clearly.
446
+ - Keep proof and qualifications beside the claims they govern.
447
+ - Write self-contained passages that remain accurate when quoted alone.
448
+ - Expose genuine provenance, sources, authorship, dates, and methods.
449
+ - Add information value rather than paraphrasing a common consensus.
450
+ - Use descriptive headings and labels that match the content beneath them.
451
+ - Keep visible and machine-readable facts consistent.
452
+ - Preserve necessary enumerations when they define a product, comparison, or scope.
453
+
454
+ Do not stuff keywords, write miniature conclusions under every heading, fragment prose for imagined answer engines, or add unsupported statistics for apparent authority.
455
+
456
+ ## Technical publication boundaries
457
+
458
+ Apply technical checks only to `INDEXABLE_PUBLIC` work and only when the task includes publication readiness.
459
+
460
+ Check, as relevant:
461
+
462
+ - crawl access and robots directives;
463
+ - canonical consistency;
464
+ - sitemap inclusion and update signals;
465
+ - unique, accurate titles and descriptions;
466
+ - visible content parity with structured data;
467
+ - eligible structured data and required properties;
468
+ - accessible headings and labels;
469
+ - server-rendered or otherwise reliably delivered primary content;
470
+ - current official crawler and platform documentation.
471
+
472
+ Crawler access affects eligibility, not selection. Structured data affects eligibility for supported features, not guaranteed display. Indexing does not guarantee retrieval, quotation, citation, ranking, recommendation, referral, conversion, or revenue.
473
+
474
+ Engine behavior changes. Recheck current official guidance before giving engine-specific technical advice.
475
+
476
+ ## Applied weak and strong pairs
477
+
478
+ All companies, facts, and results below are fictional fixtures. They teach decision structure, not claims to reuse.
479
+
480
+ ### Company positioning
481
+
482
+ Verified facts:
483
+
484
+ > ParcelCheck reconciles shipping manifests, scan records, and delivery confirmations. It flags mismatches and routes exceptions to logistics reviewers. No speed, savings, or error-reduction result is available.
485
+
486
+ Weak:
487
+
488
+ > ParcelCheck reconciles shipping manifests, reviews scan records, checks delivery confirmations, flags mismatches, and routes exceptions.
489
+
490
+ Strong:
491
+
492
+ > When shipping records disagree, ParcelCheck flags the mismatch and routes it to the logistics reviewer responsible for the decision.
493
+
494
+ Why: the strong version turns the verified trigger into tension, then explains the mechanism. It avoids an operational inventory without inventing a downstream result.
495
+
496
+ ### Investor description
497
+
498
+ Verified facts:
499
+
500
+ > ClaimWeave flags avoidable specialty-drug spend before adjudication. It inserts decisions into two existing reviewer systems. Pilots covered 410,000 lives and reported a 9% reduction in avoidable specialty spend over nine months. A seed round would fund additional integrations.
501
+
502
+ > Specialty-drug volatility is increasing faster than ordinary review queues can absorb.
503
+
504
+ Weak:
505
+
506
+ > ClaimWeave is a groundbreaking healthcare platform positioned to transform claims and represents an attractive opportunity for investors.
507
+
508
+ Strong:
509
+
510
+ > Specialty-drug volatility is growing faster than ordinary review queues can absorb. ClaimWeave flags avoidable spend before adjudication and inserts the decision into systems reviewers already use. Pilots covering 410,000 lives reported a 9% reduction over nine months. The seed round would expand the integration wedge that makes the workflow usable without replacing the customer's operating system.
511
+
512
+ Why: the investment relevance follows from timing, wedge, proof, and capital use. It is not announced as a ritual conclusion.
513
+
514
+ ### Hero
515
+
516
+ Verified facts:
517
+
518
+ > LedgerFlow reconciles purchase orders with invoices and receipts. It routes discrepancies to finance reviewers. No time-saved or error-reduction result is available.
519
+
520
+ Weak:
521
+
522
+ > Transform your finance operations with one seamless platform.
523
+
524
+ Strong:
525
+
526
+ > Find invoice mismatches before close.
527
+ >
528
+ > LedgerFlow reconciles purchase orders, invoices, and receipts, then routes the exceptions that need a finance decision.
529
+ >
530
+ > See the reconciliation flow
531
+
532
+ Why: the hero names a credible stake and mechanism without inventing a result. The factual three-item list is necessary scope.
533
+
534
+ ### Paywall
535
+
536
+ Verified facts:
537
+
538
+ > The free plan permits three active reports. All three slots are in use. The paid plan removes the active-report limit and adds PDF export. A working upgrade route exists.
539
+
540
+ Weak:
541
+
542
+ > Unlock unlimited potential today.
543
+ >
544
+ > Upgrade now
545
+
546
+ Strong:
547
+
548
+ > Keep every client report active
549
+ >
550
+ > Your three free report slots are in use. Upgrade to remove the active-report limit and add PDF export.
551
+ >
552
+ > View upgrade options
553
+
554
+ Why: the copy makes the blocked action, plan difference, and next step explicit without fake urgency.
555
+
556
+ ### Cold email
557
+
558
+ Verified facts:
559
+
560
+ > The sender found two inconsistent tax-code entries in a public catalog and saved the affected records. The sender can share a two-page review. No financial loss or error rate is known.
561
+
562
+ Weak:
563
+
564
+ > We help companies optimize catalog accuracy. Are you free for a quick call?
565
+
566
+ Strong:
567
+
568
+ > Subject: Two tax-code conflicts in the catalog
569
+ >
570
+ > Hi Sam,
571
+ >
572
+ > I found two products assigned different tax codes across the public catalog and saved the affected records. I can send the two-page review if it would help your team check the source data. Worth sending it over?
573
+
574
+ Why: the email uses one verified observation, avoids invented impact, and asks for a low-friction next step.
575
+
576
+ ### Spoken pitch
577
+
578
+ Verified facts:
579
+
580
+ > RivetWorks reconciles purchase orders, invoices, and receipts. It flags discrepancies and routes exceptions to finance teams. No traction, savings, or market-size evidence is available.
581
+
582
+ Weak:
583
+
584
+ > RivetWorks is revolutionizing finance through an innovative, comprehensive, and seamless AI platform.
585
+
586
+ Strong:
587
+
588
+ > Invoice problems rarely start in one file. RivetWorks reconciles the purchase order, invoice, and receipt, then sends the mismatch to the finance team that can resolve it. That gives companies one place to find exceptions before close.
589
+
590
+ Why: the spoken version uses short clauses, a clear mechanism, and a supported destination without search formatting or invented traction.
591
+
592
+ ### Necessary enumeration
593
+
594
+ Verified facts:
595
+
596
+ > A developer tool runs tests on Chrome, Firefox, and WebKit. It does not support mobile-device farms.
597
+
598
+ Weak:
599
+
600
+ > Run tests across leading browser engines.
601
+
602
+ Strong:
603
+
604
+ > Run the same test on Chrome, Firefox, and WebKit. Mobile-device farms are not supported.
605
+
606
+ Why: the factual series defines scope and prevents a misleading generalization. Deleting it to avoid a three-item pattern would make the copy worse.
607
+
608
+ ## Evaluation contract
609
+
610
+ Separate hard invariants from subjective quality.
611
+
612
+ ### Deterministic invariants
613
+
614
+ Test only what must not fail:
615
+
616
+ - `POSITION` defaults for descriptive company and directory surfaces.
617
+ - `INVEST` requires an actual capital or diligence decision.
618
+ - Very short copy uses a stake or shift plus the strongest verified differentiator.
619
+ - Truth and proof checks occur before optional style cleanup.
620
+ - Unsupported facts and causal links never appear.
621
+ - Diagnostic enumeration survives.
622
+ - Compliance and internal process remain silent unless a material blocker exists.
623
+ - Spoken and written derivatives route separately.
624
+ - Spoken-only copy contains no GEO/AEO scaffolding.
625
+ - Ready-to-use copy appears before any necessary note.
626
+ - No project-specific facts or controls leak from another context.
627
+
628
+ Do not use deterministic tests for a mandatory visible spine, exact investor phrases, rhetorical triads, visible conflict notes, or subjective persuasion quality.
629
+
630
+ ### Blind quality evaluation
631
+
632
+ Generate in fresh contexts. Pass only the case prompt to the writer. Never pass expected outputs, case metadata, rubrics, diagnoses, or incumbent labels.
633
+
634
+ Compare candidates pairwise with randomized order, then swap order. Escalate an order flip or low-separability result to a third blind adjudicator or human review.
635
+
636
+ Use these quality dimensions on a five-point scale:
637
+
638
+ | Dimension | Strong behavior |
639
+ |---|---|
640
+ | Argument inevitability | Each claim earns the next and the conclusion feels specific to this decision |
641
+ | Sustained emotional relevance | The stake remains felt without hype or coercion |
642
+ | Proof salience | The few strongest facts do the most decision work |
643
+ | Mechanism differentiation | The subject is difficult to swap with a competitor |
644
+ | Natural channel fit | The output sounds native to the requested surface |
645
+ | Truth discipline | Persuasive force reaches the evidence boundary without crossing it |
646
+
647
+ Automatic failure: fabricated fact, unsupported causality, context leakage, visible compliance leakage, or a material omission that makes the result misleading.
648
+
649
+ ## Evidence register
650
+
651
+ Evidence grades:
652
+
653
+ - **A:** meta-analysis, systematic review, high-value primary research, or authoritative platform documentation directly relevant to the rule.
654
+ - **B:** useful primary or applied evidence with narrower generalizability.
655
+ - **C:** practitioner or vendor evidence that supplies a testable prior, not a universal rule.
656
+ - **HOUSE:** editorial or operational standard chosen for consistency, not a causal research claim.
657
+
658
+ ### Persuasion, emotion, and mechanism
659
+
660
+ | Grade | Source | Durable implication |
661
+ |---|---|---|
662
+ | A | [Johnson and Eagly, involvement meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.106.2.290) | High-involvement decisions place more weight on reasons that survive scrutiny. |
663
+ | A | [Carpenter, argument quality and processing](https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12054) | Argument strength matters more under higher elaboration. |
664
+ | A | [Orazi et al., analytical and narrative persuasion](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-025-01095-4) | Narrative and analytical routes are carriers whose effects depend on medium, category, and outcome. |
665
+ | A | Joyal-Desmarais et al., motivational message matching meta-analysis (2022) | Relevance improves when the frame fits a real motive, value, or identity. |
666
+ | A | [Affective and cognitive appeals across cultures](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae042) | Emotion is not universally superior; culture and context moderate effects. |
667
+ | A | [Narrative persuasion meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2015.1128555) | Stories can change beliefs and behavior, but do not replace proof. |
668
+ | A | [Vividness meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2016.1157096) | Concrete, imaginable consequences can improve attitudes and intent. |
669
+ | A | [Source-effects meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894421) | Credibility can reduce uncertainty, but borrowed authority is not proof. |
670
+ | A | [Online-review meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dim.2023.100058) | Diagnostic reviews can strongly affect purchase intent. |
671
+ | A | [Source credibility in electronic word of mouth](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.01.005) | Expertise and trustworthiness shape evidence adoption. |
672
+ | A | [Fear appeal meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039729) | Threat is bounded and needs efficacy; it is not a default commercial tactic. |
673
+ | A | Shi et al., message effects on psychological reactance meta-analysis (2025) | Freedom-threatening language can increase anger and counterarguing. |
674
+ | A | [Sponsored-content disclosure meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1765909) | Persuasion intent can activate scrutiny, so public claims need support. |
675
+ | A | [Persuasive message pretesting](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab017) | Attitude and intent can rank variants without proving conversion magnitude. |
676
+ | A | [Intention and behavior meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.2.249) | Intent changes translate only partly into behavior. |
677
+ | A | [Advertising effectiveness meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.04.001) | Aggregate sales effects can be modest even when persuasion metrics improve. |
678
+
679
+ ### Investor and company positioning
680
+
681
+ | Grade | Source | Durable implication |
682
+ |---|---|---|
683
+ | A- | [Navis and Glynn, legitimate distinctiveness](https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.0361) | Company writing must be legible inside a category and distinct enough to deserve attention. |
684
+ | A- | [Van Werven et al., entrepreneurial pitching](https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242618818249) | Plausibility grows through mechanism, present-state claims, and factual support. |
685
+ | A | [Maxwell et al., angel screening](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.09.002) | Early screening is compressed, so short profiles should surface the most decision-relevant facts. |
686
+ | A- | [Cardon et al., motivational cues and angel investing](https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12255) | Preparedness and evidence are distinct from generic enthusiasm. |
687
+ | A- | [Hu et al., investor video persuasion](https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13471) | Positive delivery can increase funding while worsening selection when proof is weak. |
688
+ | B+ | [Tsay, visual dominance in pitches](https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2019.0234) | Spoken, visual, and static profile surfaces need different architectures. |
689
+ | A- | [Colombo, signals in new-venture financing](https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320911090) | Investors interpret bundles of costly and costless signals under uncertainty. |
690
+
691
+ ### Channel, CTA, and publication evidence
692
+
693
+ | Grade | Source | Durable implication |
694
+ |---|---|---|
695
+ | A | Scheibehenne et al., choice-overload meta-analysis | There is no universal rule that fewer choices always persuade better. |
696
+ | A | [Google Search guidance for AI features](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) | No special AI-only optimization replaces foundational people-first search practice. |
697
+ | A | [Google AI optimization guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide) | Argument and usefulness come before publication formatting. |
698
+ | A | [W3C headings and labels](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/headings-and-labels) | Descriptive structure supports comprehension and accessibility. |
699
+ | B | [LinkedIn sponsored messaging guidance](https://business.linkedin.com/advertise/ads/sponsored-messaging/tips) | CTA count depends on whether the surface is focused or branching. |
700
+ | C | [Gong cold-email analysis](https://www.gong.io/blog/how-to-write-a-sales-email) | Use outreach benchmarks as testable priors, not universal laws. |
701
+
702
+ ### Human voice and detector evidence
703
+
704
+ Use the detector sources in `Human voice and AI-writing-tell gate`. They support caution about detection claims, dataset shift, paraphrasing, and human bias. The editorial bans on em dashes, curly quotes, prompt leakage, canned templates, and generic significance tails are `HOUSE` rules. They are not proof of authorship.
705
+
706
+ ### Preserved technical and research authorities
707
+
708
+ The canonical source set also retains these authorities for engine boundaries, citability, retrieval, AI detection, copy design, and publication review:
709
+
710
+ - [OpenAI bots documentation](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)
711
+ - [OpenAI shopping with ChatGPT Search](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11128490-shopping-with-chatgpt-search)
712
+ - [OpenAI publisher and developer FAQ](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12627856-publishers-and-developers-faq)
713
+ - [Perplexity crawler documentation](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers)
714
+ - [Perplexity robots guidance](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10354969-how-does-perplexity-follow-robots-txt)
715
+ - [Anthropic crawler guidance](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler)
716
+ - [xAI citations documentation](https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/citations)
717
+ - [xAI web-search documentation](https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/web-search)
718
+ - [Bing AI Performance announcement](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview)
719
+ - [Microsoft Clarity AI citations](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/ai-visibility/ai-citations)
720
+ - [IndexNow documentation](https://www.indexnow.org/documentation)
721
+ - [LinkedIn ad types](https://www.linkedin.com/business/marketing/blog/linkedin-ads/a-b2b-marketers-guide-to-every-linkedin-ad-type)
722
+ - [LinkedIn InMail guidance](https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/tips-for-writing-inmails-from-linkedin-recruiters)
723
+ - [Gong executive cold-email analysis](https://www.gong.io/blog/do-execs-really-reply-to-cold-email-here-s-what-the-data-says)
724
+ - [Gong cold-email CTA analysis](https://www.gong.io/blog/this-surprising-cold-email-cta-will-help-you-book-a-lot-more-meetings)
725
+ - [Gong cold-email guide](https://www.gong.io/files/gong-guide-how-to-master-cold-email-get-the-data-backed-guide-based-on-85-million-emails.pdf)
726
+ - [GEO research](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.29979)
727
+ - [Citability research](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.25707)
728
+ - [AI visibility research](https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14021)
729
+ - [Persuasion and narrative research](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_18)
730
+ - [Digital persuasion research](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09924-y)
731
+ - [Marketing response research](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2021.11.004)
732
+ - [Interactive marketing research](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2021.01.003)
733
+ - [Business research on persuasive communication](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115684)
734
+ - [Organizational decision research](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.01.006)
735
+ - [Cognitive neuroscience research](https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf006)
736
+ - [Consumer research on message response](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucae066)
737
+ - [Communication research on persuasion](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa005)
738
+ - [Communication research on narrative effects](https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab049)
739
+ - [Cognitive research on processing](https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-020-00266-x)
740
+ - [Guilt appeal meta-analysis](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1201631)
741
+ - [Persuasion psychology research](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1225011)
742
+
743
+ ## Evidence maintenance
744
+
745
+ Keep research claims separate from house preferences. For every meaningful update:
746
+
747
+ 1. Record the source, date, research design, measured outcome, population, moderators, and limits.
748
+ 2. Prefer meta-analyses, systematic reviews, higher-value primary studies, and current official platform documentation.
749
+ 3. Grade evidence by directness and design, not by how useful the conclusion sounds.
750
+ 4. Treat vendor benchmarks and practitioner data as testable priors.
751
+ 5. Distinguish attention, recall, attitude, intent, behavior, retention, and sales.
752
+ 6. Do not encode a mixed or context-dependent finding as a universal rule.
753
+ 7. Recheck time-sensitive platform and engine guidance before technical advice.
754
+ 8. Remove temporary research citation tokens before publication and replace them with durable links.
755
+
756
+ Change record:
757
+
758
+ | Date | Change |
759
+ |---|---|
760
+ | 2026-07-19 | Rebuilt the authority for variable-depth persuasion, POSITION-first company profiles, proof salience, diagnostic enumeration, silent compliance, and project-agnostic operation. Added research on persuasion psychology, investor communication, channel architecture, and evaluation design. |