# Keep discovery content truthful

Date rule: [establish ASK DATE and revalidate claims](research-and-memory.md#ask-date-rule).
Source status: external facts and example commands are UNVERIFIED until checked for the chosen version and engagement.
Record opened URLs, source dates or unknown, actual access dates, and supporting evidence.

Question: can people and machines read the same useful facts from every public route?

## Model identity and route intent

Start from owner-approved facts, not schema examples copied from another site.
Name a canonical HTTPS URL, stable entity IDs, route purpose, and intended indexing state.
Use Person, Organization, or ProfilePage only when the actual visible identity fits.
Do not invent affiliations, reviews, prices, availability, or contact information.
Connect page and entity records with stable @id references and explicit relationships.

## Keep answers visible

Write the direct answer near its question, then support it with useful detail and sources.
Make a section understandable outside surrounding navigation without losing its conditions.
Do not repeat keywords at the expense of task completion.
Use FAQPage only for genuine visible questions and answers where appropriate.
Current consumer eligibility requires a same-day source check; valid vocabulary does not
prove a consumer offers a rich result or that the site qualifies for it.

## Validate structured data

Derive structured data from the same validated record that supplies the visible page.
Serialize with the script-safe helper described in data-and-templates.md.
Run syntax/vocabulary validation separately from the relevant consumer's eligibility test.
Inspect actual generated HTML, not only a JSON source file.
Compare each marked-up claim to visible content, owner facts, and the route state.
Unknown support stays UNVERIFIED and cannot become a ranking or citation promise.

## Generate discovery files

```text
validated route registry
  -> initial HTML, title, description, canonical, social metadata
  -> truthful structured data
  -> sitemap of intended canonical public URLs
  -> llms.txt navigation map with useful summaries and source links
```

Use one inclusion rule for drafts, private routes, duplicates, redirects, and removed pages.
Generate rather than maintain a second manual list of public content.
Treat llms.txt as navigation assistance; do not claim that it is required for AI ranking.
Differentiate search crawling, model training, and user-triggered retrieval where current
consumer documentation makes those distinctions. Preserve the owner's explicit policy.
Use IndexNow only when the selected endpoint and current support are verified and
submission is already authorized. File generation does not authorize network submission.

## Work a small example

An invented studio's workshop page states what is taught, who it suits, and how to inquire.
Its schema contains only those approved visible facts.
A cancelled workshop changes shared state, visible actions, and discovery output together.
No sold-out badge or signup link remains because a second metadata list was forgotten.

## Verify and hand off

Optimizer owns route-map.json, metadata.json, structured-data.json, answers.md,
llms.txt, and sitemap.xml under site-work/optimization/.
Builder integrates an immutable revision and regenerates the release candidate.
Optimizer then checks intended-public routes, initial HTML, response status, robots,
canonical parity, inbound links, sitemap membership, and actual social-image dimensions.
Check origin responses with relevant bot agents separately from third-party cached cards.
Verify analytics at the intended receiving property before claiming an event arrived.
Record missing indexing or field data as UNVERIFIED with a follow-up owner.
Apply checklists/performance-seo.md PS05 through PS10.

## Failure modes and source starting points

- Schema theater: a validator result is offered as proof that all facts are true.
- Stale metadata: content changes but canonical, card, or description does not.
- False AI promise: a crawler request or llms.txt file is presented as a citation.
- Silent policy change: robots directives change without the owner's instruction.

Open https://schema.org/docs/schemas.html for vocabulary.
Open https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data
for consumer guidance and https://developers.google.com/search/updates for changes.
Open https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features and
https://llmstxt.org/ to distinguish consumer requirements from proposal semantics.
These links are research starting points, not receipts of an opening in this engagement.