Resources
Reference material
Sample reports, reference guides, and a glossary for the concepts behind claim verification.
What a provenance check looks like
Sample report
What a provenance check looks like
A worked example — eight claims from a health article, each with its verdict, the document we reached, and the chain that got us there.
The verdict system
Reference
The verdict system
All eight verdicts in plain language: what each one means, when it appears, and what to do with a claim that receives it.
Terms we use and what they mean
Glossary
Terms we use and what they mean
The concepts behind citation provenance — defined without jargon, so your whole team uses the same vocabulary.
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Glossary
Terms we use and what they mean.
ClaimA factual statement that can be checked against a source. "X percent of adults in the US have condition Y" is a claim. An opinion is not.
Citation chainThe sequence of sources that connects a claim to a primary document. A chain of four links is fine. A chain that circles back is not.
Primary sourceThe body that produced the number: a government agency, a peer-reviewed journal, a regulator, an official filing. Not a site that reported it.
Secondary sourceA source that reports a number from a primary. Acceptable in most contexts. A primary citation is stronger.
Orphaned claimA claim whose citation chain ends at a page that cites nothing further. The number may exist somewhere — we just couldn't reach it.
Circular citationSources that cite each other. Neither published the number originally. Common in evergreen content where the same statistics appear on hundreds of pages.
ProvenanceThe full record of where a claim came from: the chain, the verdict, and the document. Provenance persists even after the original page goes offline.
YMYL"Your Money or Your Life" — Google's original designation for content where inaccuracy causes real harm. Health, finance, legal, and safety content. The same category answer engines treat carefully.
GEOGenerative Engine Optimisation — structuring and sourcing content so it is quoted accurately in AI-generated answers. The citability half of our work.