veripath/docs/operations/visibility-stack-roadmap.md

Visibility Stack Roadmap — SEO / AEO / GEO Integration

Status: Frame LOCKED · 2026-08-16 · Signal source: Mohart framework post (x.com/natan_mohart/status/2088994329272652168) + concurrent llms.txt / agent-readable-data discourse Rule of this doc: every phase has a hard trigger. No phase starts on vibes.

Positioning (the sell)

VeriPath keeps a business's verified facts consistent across every surface — so both search engines and AI systems (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity) represent the business accurately.

• SEO — found by search engines (GBP, Bing, listings) — built and in production.
• AEO — chosen as the direct answer (structured data, JSON-LD, NAP) — partially built; website scope is client-negotiated per DR-001.
• GEO — recommended/cited by AI systems (consistent, machine-digestible verified truth) — the canonical record IS the foundation; no GEO product exists yet, by design.

Owner-facing one-liner (Ashley call and first 2–3 clients):

"We keep your facts consistent so the systems that recommend you have the right information."

Acronym framing (SEO/AEO/GEO) is for partners, chambers, and later-stage sales — never the first thing an owner hears.

Phase 0 — NOW (in progress, zero code)

Trigger: none — active.

• Three-layer language in calls and sales conversations (above).
• Trust receipt carries one paragraph: surfaces kept consistent for both search engines and AI recommendation. (Prose artifact — does not touch the locked beta report format.)
• Canonical record remains the single source of truth; all surfaces measured against it. Exit: first trust receipt sent.

Phase 1 — After first loop closed

Trigger: Phoenix loop complete (onboarding → Lovable fix → re-run → trust receipt sent → monitoring day 0).

• P1a. Report format bump v1.1: tag high-severity consistency findings (hours / schema / NAP) as affecting both search and AI recommendation. First change to the locked beta format — deliberate, post-proof.
• P1b. Decision: lightweight GEO check enters the standard receipt or not. Test = fixed local prompt set (e.g., "best salon in Cameron Park"), manual or scripted verification, against the canonical record. Decide from real owner feedback + whether the check produced anything the owner cared about. Exit: format v1.1 committed; P1b decision recorded (DR).

Phase 2 — After 2–3 clients onboarded, monitoring running

Trigger: ≥3 clients with active monitoring clocks.

• llms.txt / website structured data as a client-negotiated website scope (never silent website access — DR-001 holds).
• If P1b check proved signal: standardize it in the receipt and monitoring cadence (DR-002 mechanism absorbs it).
• Entity-clarity pass in intake: name/brand variants, disambiguation fields, only if real clients showed the problem. Exit: one client with a website-scope deliverable shipped (or explicit evidence it's not wanted → document, move on).

Phase 3 — After unit economics proven

Trigger: 8–12 clients, monitoring at minimal daily attention, proven per-client margin.

• Productize the visibility layer as its own tier (the "recommendable by AI" offering) with its own pricing and the GEO check as the measurable artifact.
• Partner/chamber channel uses full SEO/AEO/GEO framing.

Standing rules (binding, all phases)

1. Verified truth before visibility. No visibility artifact ships before the client's canonical record exists and is owner-verified.
2. Canonical record is the single source of truth. Anything agent-readable (llms.txt, schema, GEO check output) is a rendering of it — never a new source. Any proposed artifact answers yes/no: does it render verified truth, or create a second truth?
3. No second source, no new surface without a client who asked for it.
4. No GEO score, no GEO promise. We sell the outcome — facts accurate and consistent everywhere the systems that recommend a business read them. We never promise an "AI visibility score", a ranking movement, or a recommendation share; a score we cannot compute or control is a liability, not a feature.
5. No GEO measurement build. No AI-answer scraping, prompt-test harnesses, or visibility dashboards until a phase gate fires — and then only against a real, sent trust receipt.
6. DR-001 (website scope) and DR-002 (cadence) stand unchanged unless explicitly superseded.

Non-goals (until Phase 1 trigger fires)

• No llms.txt or website deliverable beyond the DR-001 one-time Lovable fix.
• No scraping/monitoring of AI answers; no "AI visibility score."
• No changes to the locked beta report format (tags/labels/sections).
• No new schema, tiers, or entity graphs beyond the canonical record.
• No monitoring implementation before a trust receipt exists.