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Methodology

Every finding has to survive someone trying to refute it.

The framework, the 100-point scale, and the two steps most audits leave out: hostile verification, and controlling the instrument before quoting a number.

01

The ATLAS visibility framework

Five channels · 44 systems

Five letters, and every one of them is a list of things that can be measured. The framework exists so that a diagnosis has an address: a finding belongs to a channel, and a channel has a defined scope.

01

Technical SEO

crawlabilityindexationcanonical architecturerobotsXML sitemapsJavaScript SEOrendering

The question it answersCan these systems read the site at all — and does the site say the same thing twice?

02

Ecommerce SEO

product architecturecategory architecturecollection architectureproduct taxonomyfaceted navigationvariant architectureproduct schema

The question it answersDoes the catalogue structure match how people shop it — and does the feed agree with the site?

03

International SEO

multilingual architecturehreflanglocalised keyword researchmarket-specific intentcountry targetinglocalised entitiesinternational authority

The question it answersDoes each market get a page written for its own demand, or a translation of another market’s?

04

AEO

answer-first contententity understandingknowledge architecturestructured informationquestion intentfactual clarityAI discoverability

The question it answersWhen a system answers instead of linking, is the answer yours?

05

GEO

entity relevanceauthorityexternal corroborationbrand mentionsdigital PRevidencecitation visibility

The question it answersCan a generative system state a fact about this brand and defend it?

02

The 100-point scale

Weights, not scores
Technical foundation20
Search architecture15
Content & intent15
Ecommerce10
International10
Entity10
Authority10
AI visibility10
Visibility riskbelow 60
Growth opportunity60–74
Strong75–89
Elite90–100

The weights are fixed and published so that a score means the same thing between engagements. Technical foundation carries the largest single weight because it is the only layer whose failure is total.

03

How the work runs

Two-week loops
  1. DiagnoseUnderstand the system as it is, not as it was specified.
  2. MapIdentify the visibility architecture, and where it breaks.
  3. PrioritiseFind the highest-leverage constraint — the smallest change that moves the number.
  4. BuildImplement it. Shipping in two-week loops, not quarterly plans.
  5. MeasureTrack what actually moved, and say so when nothing did.
  6. CompoundThen the next one.
04

The two steps most audits leave out

Where the cost is
Hostile verificationEvery finding is re-examined by a verifier instructed to refute it. On one engagement that removed 44 findings outright and corrected the severity of 56 more, before the client saw any of themStanding
Instrument controlCache state, consent, third parties, run count and confidence interval are fixed and stated before any performance figure is quoted. Uncontrolled, the honest output is no numberStanding
Traceable figuresEvery number in an Atlas document names the instrument it came from. Anything that cannot be traced is removed rather than softenedStanding

These are the expensive parts and the invisible ones. They are also the reason the figures in an Atlas report can be quoted back to us — read five ways to measure Core Web Vitals wrong for what happens without them.

05

Build visibility

Seven questions

Atlas reads the site before the first conversation.

Methodology Build visibility