The REAL Method — A Website Review Checklist

The REAL Method — Recognize, Evidence, Answer, Link.

The REAL Method is our editorial checklist for reviewing a local business website: Recognize, Evidence, Answer, and Link. A website check can identify issues to investigate. Its score is an internal estimate, not a measured AI recommendation rate, an official platform ranking, or a promise of mentions, traffic, or leads.

Start the Free Report Preview See The 4 REAL Layers

What the REAL Method is

A practical website review for local businesses. It asks whether your identity and service area are clear (Recognize), whether you show verifiable proof (Evidence), whether pages answer buyer questions (Answer), and whether important pages can be found and crawled (Link).

Important scope note

4 REAL layers, explained

Four ways to review what the website actually shows.

We group observations under Recognize, Evidence, Answer, and Link. These groups are an editorial aid, not an AI engine's disclosed weighting or ranking formula.

REAL Method layers
Layer R Recognize (Entity Readiness)

Does the site clearly say who the business is, what it does, and where it serves?

Layer E Evidence (Strength)

Can a visitor check the service details, process, reviews, and other claims?

Layer A Answer (Coverage)

Do public pages answer the questions a prospective customer actually asks?

Layer L Link (Crawlability)

Can a search crawler reach and discover the important public pages?

R · Recognize (Entity Readiness)

This layer reviews how clearly the website identifies the business and its service area. It cannot establish what a specific AI system recognizes.

  • LocalBusiness schema, AggregateRating, FAQ, and other JSON-LD signals
  • NAP consistency and service-area clarity on the page
  • About-page, transparency, and attribution signals

E · Evidence (Strength)

This layer reviews proof a customer can inspect. We distinguish visible evidence from claims that require outside verification.

  • Review signals and specificity in testimonials
  • Pricing, process, examples, and named evidence
  • Industry-relevant off-page and directory expectations

A · Answer (Coverage)

This layer reviews whether pages answer buyer questions in plain language. Clear answers help visitors, but do not guarantee quotation by an AI service.

  • Direct opening statements and service descriptions
  • FAQ coverage and actionability
  • Page structure that makes extraction easier

L · Link (Crawlability)

This layer checks whether important public pages can be crawled and found through links. Crawl access alone does not guarantee indexing or inclusion in an answer.

  • robots.txt status, sitemap discovery, and JS-rendered risk
  • HTML-first content instead of JS-only rendering
  • Fetch failures, challenge pages, and unsupported content types
What The Free Foundation Check Measures

We show the checks, but we do not publish the full weight table.

The exact weighting is part of the product. The important part is knowing which categories affect your score and why they matter.

On-page entity and answer signals

Structure, schema, and extractable answers

  • Title, meta description, H1, heading structure
  • Schema completeness and LocalBusiness markup
  • FAQ presence, direct answers, service clarity, and CTAs
  • Content depth, freshness, internal links, and image alt text
Access and trust signals

Crawl, transparency, and evidence

  • robots.txt access, sitemap discovery, and JS-rendered risk
  • Review presence and testimonial specificity
  • Pricing, process, NAP, attribution, and transparency cues
  • Industry-specific service details for a customer's decision
Interpreting results

A modelled profile is not an answer from that platform.

Most named engine rows in the free check are not measured. A Perplexity row may use an actual query when available; its numeric value describes that limited query, not a market-wide recommendation rate. No row reproduces a platform's private ranking formula.

Website estimate

Records which public-page checks succeeded, failed, were skipped, or could not be read. A score summarizes only the checks that ran.

inferred from site

Search Console data

After site ownership is verified, Google Search Console can show actual search impressions, clicks, and indexing status within its reporting scope.

observed search data

AI answer observation

The free checker may include a limited Perplexity query. Any measured mention requires the actual prompt, named service, answer, time, and result. Changes can be compared only within a documented test set.

separate evidence

A website score and an observed answer answer different questions. Review the evidence attached to each result before making a service decision. Our fictional report examples illustrate a layout; they are not customer results or the currently closed SEO action report preview.

Measurement boundary

What would make an AI recommendation rate measurable?

A rate needs a specified set of customer questions, a named service and location, the answer captured on each run, and a time window. Count mentions in that set and report the sample size. A website readiness checklist cannot supply those observations by itself.

Evidence to retain

  • Exact prompt set, service, geography, date, and repeat schedule.
  • Answer, mention decision, supporting link if present, and failures or unavailable results.
  • Sample size and the method used for comparisons over time.

Claims this checklist does not support

  • A measured seven-platform recommendation rate or a platform-endorsed ranking factor.
  • A promise that changes will cause citations or improve placement.
  • A current paid monitoring feature unless the service scope and records are shown separately.

For Google Search's AI features, Google says ordinary SEO requirements still apply; special AI text files or special schema are not required. See Google Search Central's guidance.

Interpretation

What the REAL Method score means — and what it does not mean.

Use the REAL Method to understand

  • Which public website details are clear and which need review
  • Which of the four REAL checklist groups contains observed issues
  • Which site fixes are within your control and which require outside evidence
  • Why a modeled profile differs under internal assumptions

Do not treat a checklist score as

  • An official ranking issued by any AI platform
  • A guarantee of mentions, leads, or recommendation share
  • A replacement for direct monitoring over time
  • A full picture of off-page authority by itself
FAQ

Common questions.

Is the REAL Method score an official AI ranking?

No. The REAL Method is RankingLocal's editorial checklist for reviewing a website. Its score is not an AI platform ranking or a measured recommendation rate.

Can a business score well on REAL and still not get recommended?

Yes. Website checks do not tell us what a specific service answered for a real question, and good SEO does not guarantee a mention.

What would a measured report add to a website check?

It would identify the tested questions, service, place, date, answers, mention decisions, and sample size. The free checker may run a limited Perplexity query; it does not provide a multi-service rate or a longitudinal comparison.

Why not publish the full REAL scoring weights?

We explain the four layers and the categories we test, but we keep the exact weighting internal so the score stays useful as a working product rather than a static checklist you can game.

Start with a website check.

This page explains the framework. The free AI Visibility Foundation Check gives a limited website estimate; the verified-email Free Report Preview checks additional website signals. Neither result is a live AI recommendation count.

Start the Free Report Preview Ask the RankingLocal Team

REAL Method FAQ

What is the REAL Method?
REAL is RankingLocal's editorial checklist: Recognize, Evidence, Answer, and Link. It organizes website observations; it is not an AI platform's ranking formula.

What is an AI recommendation rate?
For a defined set of prompts, engines, place, and time period, it would be the share of tested answers that mention the business. A website-readiness score alone cannot measure that share.

How does the REAL Method relate to SEO?
It groups familiar SEO work such as crawl access, clear service information, and useful answers with checks for visible business evidence. Good scores do not guarantee indexing, mentions, rankings, or leads.

Do I need to pay to use the REAL Method?
No. The framework is public. The AI Visibility Foundation Check provides a limited website estimate, and the separate Free Report Preview requires business-email verification. See current pricing for available services.