Observation
What GoGuides independently measured from a public web source at a particular scope and time.
In GoGuides, “trust” means inspectable evidence and context — not blind approval
The word trust is easy to overuse. GoGuides treats it as a question that must be decomposed into evidence: what was observed, what was verified, what changed, what GoGuides derived from those signals, and what decision a downstream consumer chooses to make.
Trust is not one field
Verification
Whether an accepted method demonstrated control or authorization for the represented domain or account relationship.
History
How supported observations, identity signals, and technical state developed across time.
Derived assessment
GoGuides-computed values such as AI Rank, grade, trust state, and other versioned interpretation fields.
Bounded analysis
Constrained deterministic or model-assisted analysis whose inputs and limits remain identifiable.
Downstream decision
What a consumer decides to rank, retrieve, cite, recommend, transact with, or reject under its own policy.
The evidence classes answer different questions
| Question | Relevant evidence |
|---|---|
| What did GoGuides observe? | Provenance records, Web State, HTTP/redirect state, fingerprints, structured-data observations, link state, timestamps, and related stored evidence. |
| Who demonstrated control? | Verification state and its associated method/status evidence. |
| What changed? | Concrete historical observations and deterministic Change Intelligence. |
| How does GoGuides currently evaluate this scope? | Evaluate, AI Rank, grade, trust state, policy/eligibility context, and related documented derived fields. |
| Does this stored source address a claim? | Claim Support, bounded to its fixed stored source observation and analysis contract. |
| Are these two exact pages related under available evidence? | Content Relationships, with conservative states and explicit insufficient-evidence outcomes. |
| Should an outside system use the source? | The outside system's own policy, informed by whichever GoGuides evidence it considers relevant. |
Observed is not verified
GoGuides can independently observe a public site without the site's owner participating. Verification is a separate state that records an accepted proof-of-control or authorization event. Neither one should be silently substituted for the other.
Verified is not universally true
A verified domain can still publish an incorrect statement. An unverified domain can still publish an accurate one. Verification strengthens identity and authorization context; it is not a blanket factual certification.
AI Rank is a GoGuides assessment
AI Rank and related grades summarize supported GoGuides evaluation signals under the current methodology. They are useful as one interpretation layer because the underlying scope and evidence remain inspectable. They are not government ratings, standards-body certificates, or universal scores that outside AI systems must adopt.
History adds context, not automatic truth
Repeated consistent observations can make a source easier to evaluate because continuity, changes, and gaps become visible. Long history does not make every proposition published by the source correct. It makes the evidence record deeper.
The consumer keeps control
GoGuides publishes evidence and GoGuides-derived interpretation. A search engine, AI system,
research tool, agent, developer, or human remains responsible for deciding what evidence is
sufficient for its own use case.