Sources & References Policy
Where our information comes from — and how we evaluate it.
Our Source Hierarchy
Not all sources carry equal weight. SEOAcademys uses the following hierarchy when evaluating and citing information:
Tier 1 — Official Platform Documentation
Examples: Google Search Central (developers.google.com/search), Google's Search Central Blog, OpenAI's documentation, Anthropic's documentation, Microsoft's Bing Webmaster documentation
These are statements made directly by the platforms themselves. When something is documented here, we treat it as the highest-confidence available information.
Limitation: Official documentation is sometimes incomplete, sometimes slow to reflect recent changes, and occasionally internally inconsistent.
Tier 2 — SEOAcademys Original Experiments
Source: Tests conducted by SEOAcademys on real websites with documented methodology
First-hand tested data carries significant weight — but individual experiments have limitations: small sample sizes, confounding variables, and context-specific results.
Every experiment published on SEOAcademys includes its methodology, limitations, and conclusion.
Tier 3 — Primary Research
Examples: Academic studies on information retrieval and search systems, published research with documented methodology and sample sizes
We assess research quality before treating it as evidence — methodology, sample size, independence, and potential conflicts of interest.
Tier 4 — Established Industry Evidence
Examples: Documented case studies from credible practitioners, multiple independently observed consistent patterns
Used to identify patterns worth investigating or to support existing evidence — not to make standalone definitive claims.
Tier 5 — Community Signals
Examples: Reddit discussions, X/Twitter practitioner observations, SEO community forums
Useful for identifying real problems people are experiencing and generating hypotheses for investigation.
Citation Practice
- When citing official documentation: We link directly to the specific page, not the homepage of the source.
- When citing research: We identify the research, note the sample size and methodology where relevant, and link to the original where accessible.
- When citing community sources: We note that the source is community observation and distinguish it from confirmed information.
- When information is our own: We identify it as SEOAcademys analysis or experiment — and document the methodology.
What We Don't Cite
- ✕ Anonymous claims without verifiable attribution
- ✕ Sources with clear conflicts of interest that are not disclosed
- ✕ Old documentation without checking if it remains current
- ✕ AI-generated summaries of sources without verifying the original
Requesting Source Clarification
If an article does not clearly cite its sources and you want to know where a claim comes from, contact us at:
ketanchandore114@gmail.comWe'll either add the citation or clarify the basis for the claim.