Capture provenance
Permitted public observations and owner-supplied material remain identified by source, date, and evidence state.
DIGITAL IQ / METHODOLOGY V1.0
A score you can trace to its evidence.
Digital IQ combines versioned criteria, deterministic scoring, source-linked findings, and human review.
METHODOLOGY V1.0
A score you can trace to its evidence.
The assessment freezes its methodology version, evidence snapshot, assessment date, coverage, confidence, and human-review decision.
Classify support
Verified, inferred, and unavailable evidence stay distinct. Inferred evidence is labeled but does not contribute criterion points in V1.
Validate coverage
At least four of five dimensions need usable evidence, and at least 60% of applicable weighted criteria need adequate evidence.
Approve conclusions
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
Evidence states stay explicit.
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
Defined evidence. Defined conclusions.
- 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
Compare like with like.
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.
START WITH THE REVIEW
Start with a clearer digital baseline.
Start with the public website. A score appears only when adequate evidence and human review support one.