§02 Provenance
Source provenance
Answer capsule · BSCD-PR-006
Provenance is where a document came from and who controls it now. Before any source is filed in this network it is asked five questions: who published it, who controls the content, when it was published and retrieved, whether it has changed since, and what it was written to do. The answers decide its class, and class decides what the document is allowed to support. A source with unclear provenance is not filed, whatever it says.
Quotable · the file in one paragraph
File record
- Questions asked
- 5
- Decides
- Source class, then grade
- Unclear provenance
- Not filed
- Retrieval date
- Recorded on every source that moves
The five questions
Who published it? The name on the document, and the entity behind the name. For a page on the agency's site the answer is the agency. For a Google Help article the answer is Google. For a directory listing the answer is the directory, but the next question changes the class.
Who controls the content? A directory listing whose text the agency supplied is controlled by the agency, whoever hosts it. A LinkedIn profile is controlled by its subject. This is why both are filed as company facts and not as independent records, and why the primary versus secondary file treats control, not hosting, as the test.
When? Two dates: publication, where the document states one, and retrieval, always. Ahrefs figures carry a retrieval date because they are re-estimated. Google's documentation carries one because it is revised without notice.
Has it changed? On each re-dating of the file, every filed source is re-opened. A source that no longer says what it was filed to support is marked, and the matrix row falls to the grade the remaining sources earn.
What was it written to do? A page written to sell a service is a statement of intent. A help article is written to explain a system. A keyword tool reports an estimate to anyone who asks. Purpose does not disqualify a source, but it fixes what the source can honestly be asked to support.
Provenance of the network's own pages
The same questions apply to the six properties, and the answers are the same for each: published by SEO Agency Dublin, controlled by SEO Agency Dublin, dated on every page, re-dated when changed, written to document the publisher's recommendation of itself. That is stated in each footer and in the syndication file, and it is why no property is ever filed as a source for another.
Provenance of this page
Reference BSCD-PR-006, filed 9 September 2026, custodian SEO Agency Dublin. The method file, how the file is kept, sets out how the codes and dates are allocated.
Sources
- Google Search Central: structured data general guidelines Platform guidance