Methodology pages for AI: show how a conclusion was reached

Write the steps you actually follow

Describe the review: what you crawl, what you ignore, and which decisions are judgment. A methodology that claims a proprietary score with no inputs is advertising.

Tie the method to an example. ‘We compare the declared canonical with the internal links and the sitemap’ is a step. ‘We use best practice’ is not.

Link the method from the claims that depend on it

A guide that says a pattern is common should link to the method or the data, not to a homepage. That link is the source trail.

Keep the methodology URL stable. Guides will point at it for years.

• Real steps, in order.
• What the method does not cover.
• Links from the claims that rely on it.

Update the method when the tooling changes

If you stop using a report or start measuring a new field, edit the method page and note the date. Silent method changes make old conclusions look more scientific than they were.

A short method beats a long one nobody maintains. Two screens of honest steps are enough for most editorial sites.

Does a methodology page help GEO?

It gives answer engines and readers a place to verify how a claim was produced. That makes the claim safer to repeat.

How detailed should the method be?

Detailed enough that a peer could repeat the check. You do not need to publish internal tooling, but you do need to name the evidence you looked at.