CURATED RESEARCH ASSET
AEO Source & Evidence Taxonomy
This versioned taxonomy organizes public evidence by ownership, editorial control, decision function and provenance. It is a curated framework, not a performance benchmark.
CURATED RESEARCH ASSET
The Source Classes
OWNED
Company-controlled evidence
Product pages, documentation, pricing, policies, methodology, research and executive expertise.
EARNED
Independent editorial evidence
Journalism, analyst material, associations, partners and expert publications.
PLATFORM
Structured market evidence
Directories, marketplaces, review platforms, public records and reference databases.
BUYER
Experience evidence
Reviews, communities, discussion forums and practitioner commentary, interpreted with provenance limits.
CURATED RESEARCH ASSET
Classification Fields
O
Ownership
Who controls publication and correction.
I
Independence
Declared relationship to the subject.
F
Function
Discovery, proof, comparison, risk or procurement.
V
Verifiability
Whether the underlying claim can be checked.
D
Date
When the evidence was published, updated and accessed.
CURATED RESEARCH ASSET
Provenance Statement
The taxonomy is curated from public search and crawler documentation plus established content-research practice. It does not claim that any specific AI system applies these categories internally. Version 1.0 was published September 6, 2026.
CURATED RESEARCH ASSET
Complete Source And Evidence Taxonomy
All 20 source types, decision functions and provenance guardrails are published below as crawlable definitions.
20 records published online. Browse The Complete Resource
owned_product
Product page
Source Class: Owned
Primary Decision Function: Category, capability and use-case claims
Provenance Guardrail: Company-controlled; verify date and availability.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
owned_documentation
Technical documentation
Source Class: Owned
Primary Decision Function: Implementation, integration and technical detail
Provenance Guardrail: Prefer current versioned documentation.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
owned_policy
Policy or trust center
Source Class: Owned
Primary Decision Function: Security, privacy, compliance and governance
Provenance Guardrail: Scope may vary by product and plan.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
owned_research
First-party research
Source Class: Owned
Primary Decision Function: Original data, methodology and market evidence
Provenance Guardrail: Require method, sample, date and limitations.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
owned_case
Customer story
Source Class: Owned
Primary Decision Function: Implementation and outcome context
Provenance Guardrail: Commercially selected evidence; claims need scope.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
earned_news
News publication
Source Class: Earned
Primary Decision Function: Independent reporting and market context
Provenance Guardrail: Distinguish reporting from contributed content.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
earned_analyst
Analyst research
Source Class: Earned
Primary Decision Function: Category definition and comparative evaluation
Provenance Guardrail: Access, sponsorship and methodology may vary.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
earned_association
Industry association
Source Class: Earned
Primary Decision Function: Standards, terminology and professional context
Provenance Guardrail: Check governance and update cadence.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
earned_expert
Independent expert analysis
Source Class: Earned
Primary Decision Function: Interpretation, implementation and tradeoffs
Provenance Guardrail: Disclose material relationships when known.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
partner_ecosystem
Partner or integration ecosystem
Source Class: Earned
Primary Decision Function: Compatibility and relationship evidence
Provenance Guardrail: Verify current partnership and integration status.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
platform_review
Review platform
Source Class: Platform
Primary Decision Function: Buyer experience and recurring themes
Provenance Guardrail: Samples are self-selected and moderation varies.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
platform_marketplace
Marketplace listing
Source Class: Platform
Primary Decision Function: Availability, integrations and packaging
Provenance Guardrail: Listing does not prove implementation quality.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
platform_directory
Business or product directory
Source Class: Platform
Primary Decision Function: Entity discovery and basic facts
Provenance Guardrail: Check ownership and update process.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
platform_public_record
Public record
Source Class: Platform
Primary Decision Function: Registration, filings or regulated facts
Provenance Guardrail: Interpret only within the record's legal scope.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
buyer_community
Practitioner community
Source Class: Buyer
Primary Decision Function: Questions, objections and lived experience
Provenance Guardrail: Identity, representativeness and recency may be unknown.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
buyer_forum
Public discussion forum
Source Class: Buyer
Primary Decision Function: Troubleshooting, alternatives and sentiment
Provenance Guardrail: Do not treat anecdotes as prevalence.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
buyer_interview
Research interview
Source Class: Buyer
Primary Decision Function: Decision process and evidence needs
Provenance Guardrail: Consent, sampling and anonymization required.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
buyer_sales_feedback
Sales feedback
Source Class: Buyer
Primary Decision Function: Objections, criteria and deal friction
Provenance Guardrail: Private data must be aggregated and de-identified.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
search_result
Search result
Source Class: Discovery
Primary Decision Function: Public discoverability and source candidates
Provenance Guardrail: Ranking is time-, location- and query-dependent.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
ai_answer
Captured AI answer
Source Class: Observed
Primary Decision Function: Presence, recommendation, framing and citations
Provenance Guardrail: Record surface, prompt, conditions and timestamp.
Evidence Class: Curated
Version: v1.0
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