Principles · The Gnomon
Seven rules for reading search, and changing it.
Gnōmōn is Greek for the pointer of a sundial: the fixed edge that turns moving light into a reading you can trust.
Search results move every day. The Gnomon is the fixed edge we read them against: seven rules, in three movements, that every Sophrono SI SEO engagement is checked by.
Movement 1
Observe. See the market as buyers see it.
Visibility is a market, not a rank.
Agora is Greek for the marketplace.
Search visibility is shared among the companies your buyers compare. We measure your share of the questions they ask, across Google and AI answers, against a named set of competitors.
What you can check
Every report names its query set, its search surfaces and its competitor cohort.
Applied in AI Visibility Monitoring
Read the sign before the remedy.
Sēmeion is Greek for the sign.
We record what search shows before we explain why it happened. Each finding keeps the observation and its likely cause side by side, so you can weigh both.
What you can check
Findings are labeled as observed, likely cause or still to test.
Applied in Search Intelligence Reports
Movement 2
Act. Change the part that moves the result.
Fix the layer that fails.
Stratum is Latin for a layer.
Lost visibility starts in one layer: technical access, site architecture, content, authority or competition. We find that layer first and put the effort there.
What you can check
Each recommendation names its layer, the pages it affects and the change expected.
Applied in Sophrono Search
One page, one job.
Ergon is Greek for the work a thing is made for.
Every important page answers one buyer need and offers one clear next step. Clear roles give search systems one best answer and give buyers a direct path.
What you can check
A page map assigns one search intent and one next step to each commercial page.
Applied in Site architecture for commercial pages
Be the source, not the echo.
Pēgē is Greek for a spring, the source of a stream.
AI search cites pages that add something new. We help you publish the facts, data and explanations only your business can give.
What you can check
A source map shows which pages AI answers cite in your market, yours and others.
Applied in AI SEO
A place is a fact.
Topos is Greek for a place.
Local search rewards locations that exist and are described the same way everywhere. We keep every profile, page and listing matched to the real business.
What you can check
Location records reconciled across Business Profiles, location pages and listings.
Applied in Local SEO
Movement 3
Return. Check the change against the same measure.
Measure again, the same way.
Elenchos is Greek for the test by questioning.
A change counts when the same measurement, repeated, shows it. We retest with the queries, competitors and surfaces used before the work began.
What you can check
Before-and-after comparisons on an unchanged panel, with the dates of each run.
Applied in Quarterly Benchmarking
Put the rules to work
Read the market. Change what matters. Measure again.
The free Visibility Preview applies the first two rules to your market: a named set of questions and competitors, with each observation recorded before any recommendation.