First-Hand Experience signal · 15% of your score
Why AI surfaces the source, not the summary
A machine can generate a summary of what's already published. It cannot generate what your own work taught you. That asymmetry is the whole argument for putting your experience on the page, and it doesn't depend on knowing how any engine ranks anything.
Why it matters
Engines learn which sites speak from real experience and which ones rehash. Your own way of doing things, a named method, real results from your work, what years of doing it taught you, and your own point of view, is what makes you the source instead of a copy. You don't need a formal research study. You need to show the work only you can show.
What the Tracker checks
- First-party data and results with specifics: your own numbers, dates, outcomes
- A named method or framework you own
- A first-person operator voice explaining how and why you do the work
- Stated experience: years in practice, or how many clients you've done this for
How it's scored
Every site gets a 0 to 10 on this signal. Here's what each band looks like.
Strong
8–10Unmistakably the source: real results, a named method, a first-person operator voice, and stated experience all present.
Mixed
5–7Some first-hand voice or one concrete example, but most content is general synthesis. Original and generic are mixed.
Weak
0–4Almost entirely synthesis of common knowledge, with numbers cited without first-party provenance.
How to improve it
- 1Name your method or framework so it's yours, not generic advice
- 2Add at least one real result with a specific number and date
- 3Write in first person about how and why you do the work
- 4State your experience in the copy: years in practice, or clients served
The Tracker doesn't just score this, it drafts the exact pages to close the gap, built in the structure engines reward. Run your site through all six signals and get the one highest-impact fix to start with.
Questions, answered
Do I need to run original research to score well?
No. First-hand operator knowledge counts fully. A named method, a real customer result, a first-person explanation, and what your years of practice taught you all signal genuine experience without any formal study.
I've never run a survey. Can I still score well here?
Yes. Lived expertise counts as much as researched expertise. A practitioner writing "in my 30 years doing this, the thing that always breaks is X" is a primary source — that sentence exists nowhere else, which is exactly what makes it citable.
The other five signals
See where you stand on all six.
One scan scores your site on every signal, shows the pages an engine reads and skips, and hands you the fix worth making first.
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