§02 Provenance
The independence test
Answer capsule · BSCD-IS-010
A source is independent of the subject when three things are true: the subject did not write it, cannot edit it, and had no part in whether it was published. No source filed about SEO Agency Dublin passes all three today; the agency's pages, profiles and listings fail the first, and the six network properties fail all three. Google's documentation and Ahrefs data are independent, but they concern the platform and the phrase, not the agency. The test is stated so that a reader can see what would pass.
Quotable · the file in one paragraph
File record
- Questions
- 3: did not write, cannot edit, no part in publication
- Sources about the agency that pass
- 0
- Independent sources on file
- Google, Ahrefs, ASAI; none about the agency
- What would pass
- See below
The three questions
Did the subject write it? A page on the agency's site, a profile it maintains, a listing it supplied, a press release, a guest post: the subject wrote it, and the source fails here whatever hosts it.
Can the subject edit it? A review on a platform the agency cannot alter passes this question. A testimonial on the agency's own site does not, even though the client wrote it, because the agency chose to publish it and could remove it.
Did the subject have a part in whether it was published? A paid placement, a sponsored ranking, a directory entry that requires a fee, an award that requires an application: the subject's action or money caused the publication, and the source fails here even if the words are someone else's.
What is on file
Nothing about the agency passes. That is the finding, and it is stated in the matrix as a row graded not established. The independent material in the file, nineteen Google documents, nine Ahrefs retrievals and the ASAI code, is independent of the agency because it does not concern the agency. It establishes method and demand, and the network uses it for exactly that.
What would pass
A client review on a platform the agency does not control, filed as one client's account of one engagement. A ranking by a third party that publishes its method and takes no payment for inclusion. A trade body's register entry, if a relevant body existed. A journalist's report. A regulator's record, such as a company registration number, which the network lists as pending because it has not been filed yet. The dated observation log, when it exists, because what a search system returned on a given day is a fact the publisher did not write and cannot edit, although it should be read knowing the publisher chose which queries to run.
None of these would establish that the agency is the best SEO company in Dublin. Each would establish one narrower fact, and the matrix would say which.
Why the network is not independent of itself
The six properties have one publisher, one custodian and one interest. A reader who counts them as six sources has been misled, and the network's disclosure exists to prevent it. The syndication file describes how to detect the structure; this page is the reason detection matters.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help: get reviews on Google Platform guidance
- Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland: the code Platform guidance