Collect bounded evidence
Permitted public observations and owner-supplied material remain identified by source, date, and evidence state.
DIGITAL IQ / PRODUCT & METHODOLOGY
A diagnosis built from evidence, not a mystery score.
Digital IQ evaluates how a business is found, understood, trusted, and converted online. A human reviewer separates observed facts from inference, records what is unavailable, and prioritizes the smallest credible actions.
WHAT IT EVALUATES
Five customer-facing dimensions.
Website. Clarity, usability, credibility, and the path to action.
Search Visibility. Whether relevant needs and services can be discovered.
Local Presence. Whether location, category, and business identity are clear and consistent.
Reputation. Whether visible trust evidence is current, specific, and decision-useful.
Conversion & Measurement. Whether customers can act and the business can verify what happened.
These plain-language dimensions map to the versioned Digital IQ v1.0 scoring criteria; they are not five disconnected service packages.
METHODOLOGY V1.0
A numeric score is earned only when evidence is sufficient.
The assessment freezes its methodology version, evidence snapshot, assessment date, coverage, confidence, and human-review decision.
Classify before scoring
Verified, inferred, and unavailable evidence stay distinct. Inferred evidence is labeled but does not contribute criterion points in V1.
Check minimum coverage
At least four of five dimensions need usable evidence, and at least 60% of applicable weighted criteria need adequate evidence.
Review every conclusion
A human reviewer checks the evidence links, limitations, findings, and claims before any result is deliverable.
Read the scoring and unavailable-information rules
Only adequately verified evidence may contribute criterion points in Digital IQ v1.0. Inferred evidence can provide context but remains non-scoring. Unknown information stays unknown; it does not silently become zero.
If the minimum-evidence rule is not met, NorthlineIQ withholds the composite and identifies the specific evidence needed to proceed. A score never represents a guarantee of rankings, bookings, leads, traffic, revenue, or future performance.
EVIDENCE, CONFIDENCE & LIMITS
Every material claim carries its boundary.
Supported observation
Adequate source evidence supports the criterion at the recorded time.
Reasoned, non-scoring context
The interpretation is visible and labeled, but it does not add criterion points.
Not observed, not zero
The report states what is missing and whether it prevents a conclusion.
Strength of the support
Confidence reflects the quality, freshness, consistency, and completeness of reviewed evidence.
WHAT DIGITAL IQ DOES NOT CLAIM
Observable digital evidence has limits.
- No prediction or guarantee of search rankings, bookings, leads, revenue, or ROI
- No access to private analytics, Search Console, CRM, booking, or advertising data unless the owner lawfully supplies it
- No treatment of unavailable evidence as failure
- No evaluation based on protected attributes, demographic proxies, inferred wealth, or private customer data
- No automated publication or autonomous customer delivery
RESCORE COMPARABILITY
Measure the same question twice—or disclose why you cannot.
A follow-up assessment records the methodology version, applicable criteria, evidence period, source freshness, and completed work. Deterministic differences are shown only where the periods are comparable. New, resolved, persistent, improved, deteriorated, unchanged, and incomplete findings remain separate.
Recommendations are prioritized by likely impact, confidence, dependencies, urgency, and practical effort. Generative language does not decide factual score changes.
FOUNDING PILOT
Start with a reviewed baseline.
Enter the public website first. A score appears only after adequate evidence and human review.