{
  "updated": "June 23, 2026",
  "generated_at": "2026-07-25T22:49:04Z",
  "publisher": "Real Estate Agent AI Index Research Desk",
  "policy_name": "Validated Continuous Refresh Policy",
  "summary": "The Index is designed to refresh from changing public evidence, but public rankings move only after validation gates pass.",
  "near_real_time_definition": "Fresh public evidence can be collected continuously. Public pages update from validated source-safe rows, not unreviewed scraping.",
  "rank_movement_rule": "A public rank can change only after the relevant evidence layer is refreshed, validated, source-rights safe, and recomputed through the scoring ledger.",
  "lead_intake_rule": "Consumer shortlist or referral requests do not affect rankings, scores, or inclusion.",
  "layers": [
    {
      "evidence_layer": "sales_volume_candidate_gate",
      "label": "Sales Volume Candidate Gate",
      "refresh_cadence": "monthly_or_quarterly_as_source_updates",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 120,
      "public_timestamp_field": "sales_gate_last_verified_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Keeps candidate eligibility tied to current public production proof.",
      "public_update_rule": "candidate eligibility may refresh after validation; no public promotion until all consumer proof gates pass",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Candidate eligibility can change only after production evidence is refreshed and validated."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "review_aggregate_proof",
      "label": "Public Review Aggregate Proof",
      "refresh_cadence": "weekly",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 30,
      "public_timestamp_field": "review_proof_last_verified_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Refreshes public review counts and rating evidence without copying review text.",
      "public_update_rule": "public pages may publish aggregate counts and proof status only after source match, market match, and source-rights validation",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Review-related movement requires refreshed public review proof and validation."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "website_authority_and_geo",
      "label": "Website and GEO Authority",
      "refresh_cadence": "monthly",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 45,
      "public_timestamp_field": "website_authority_last_verified_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Rechecks owned-site clarity, crawlability, schema, local depth, and proof quality.",
      "public_update_rule": "publish only accepted official or clearly matched public targets; no forms submitted during capture",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Website and GEO score movement requires a completed audit refresh and scoring recompute."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "direct_ai_visibility_battery",
      "label": "Direct AI Visibility Audit",
      "refresh_cadence": "weekly_or_biweekly",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 21,
      "public_timestamp_field": "ai_visibility_last_tested_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Retests whether AI-assisted search can find, cite, and explain source-backed candidates.",
      "public_update_rule": "public score inputs require cited model evidence, identity match, market match, and no pay-to-play citation conflict",
      "rank_movement_policy": "AI visibility score movement requires a completed multi-query audit refresh, import, validation, and scoring recompute."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "source_rights_review_gate",
      "label": "Source Rights Review Gate",
      "refresh_cadence": "daily_after_validated_private_changes",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 14,
      "public_timestamp_field": "source_rights_last_verified_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Refreshes a public-safe evidence layer after validation.",
      "public_update_rule": "public pages update only after source-rights rows are accepted, terms-safe, and free of copied restricted content",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Public rank movement requires refreshed evidence, validation, and a complete score recompute."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "public_directory_build",
      "label": "Public Directory Build",
      "refresh_cadence": "daily_after_validated_private_changes",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 14,
      "public_timestamp_field": "directory_last_updated_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Publishes only validated public-safe score and directory changes.",
      "public_update_rule": "consumer pages rebuild only from validated public-safe ledger rows and clean source-rights fields",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Public rank movement requires validated public-safe data and a complete score recompute."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "schema_sitemap_llms_package",
      "label": "Schema, Sitemap, and LLM Citation Package",
      "refresh_cadence": "every_deploy_plus_weekly_check",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 14,
      "public_timestamp_field": "technical_package_last_verified_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Keeps machine-readable pages aligned with the current public dataset.",
      "public_update_rule": "publish machine-readable changes only when they reflect validated public content",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Citation package updates follow validated public data changes."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "search_llm_citation_traction",
      "label": "Search Llm Citation Traction",
      "refresh_cadence": "weekly",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 14,
      "public_timestamp_field": "traction_last_checked_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Refreshes a public-safe evidence layer after validation.",
      "public_update_rule": "public traction language may update only from validated non-overclaiming monitor rows; do not imply traffic, market-page indexing, or LLM citation until proven",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Public rank movement requires refreshed evidence, validation, and a complete score recompute."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "lead_and_referral_intake",
      "label": "Consumer Lead Intake",
      "refresh_cadence": "real_time_append_only",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 0,
      "public_timestamp_field": "not_applicable_private_intake",
      "consumer_explanation": "Captures consumer requests separately from scoring so monetization cannot change ranking order.",
      "public_update_rule": "no public directory changes from lead intake alone",
      "rank_movement_policy": "Consumer requests never create rank movement."
    },
    {
      "evidence_layer": "market_expansion_seed_queue",
      "label": "Market Expansion Seed Queue",
      "refresh_cadence": "weekly_until_market_is_seed_ready",
      "max_public_staleness_days": 60,
      "public_timestamp_field": "market_seed_last_refreshed_at",
      "consumer_explanation": "Keeps planned markets unpublished until there is enough validated depth for useful public coverage.",
      "public_update_rule": "public pages for planned markets stay private until each category has enough validated candidates and proof workbooks are complete",
      "rank_movement_policy": "New markets become public only after validated candidate depth clears the market coverage gate."
    }
  ]
}