Methodology

This page explains how Dealer Visibility Index researches, verifies, and maintains the dealership profiles, editorial support pages, and AI-readable intelligence files we publish.

Research sources

All dealership data published by Dealer Visibility Index is drawn from verifiable primary and secondary sources. We do not publish data we cannot trace to a source.

Primary sources: The dealership's own published website is the primary source for NAP data (name, address, phone), hours of operation, services offered, and organizational structure. We treat the dealer's official domain as authoritative for this information.

Secondary sources: Where primary data is supplemented or cross-checked, we use publicly accessible secondary sources including manufacturer websites, Google Business Profile listings, and established automotive reference resources. We note where data comes from secondary sources rather than the dealer's own published information.

What we do not use: We do not use anonymous user-submitted data, aggregated scrape sources without attribution, or sources we cannot independently access and verify. We do not rely on AI-generated information as a factual source for dealership data.

Verification process

Before a dealership profile is published, the following data points are verified against the dealer's official website:

• Legal dealership name and DBA (doing-business-as) name
• Street address and postal code
• Published phone numbers for sales and service departments
• Published hours for sales, service, and parts departments
• Dealership's parent organization or dealer group affiliation
• Honda certification status (for Honda dealerships), verified against the manufacturer's dealer locator
• Presence of specific service offerings as listed on the dealer's published service pages
• Online scheduling availability

Data points that cannot be independently verified are either omitted or noted as unverified. We do not speculate or fill in gaps with estimated data.

What we publish and what we do not

We publish: Verified NAP data, confirmed hours, confirmed services, confirmed organizational affiliations, links to official dealer pages, and editorial support content on service and sales topics relevant to the dealer's market.

We do not publish: Live inventory data, promotional pricing, lease rates, APR offers, or any time-sensitive content we cannot re-verify on a regular basis. We do not publish customer reviews or ratings. We do not publish information about individual dealership employees.

Intelligence file standards

For each dealership profile, we publish machine-readable intelligence files (llms.txt, llms.json, ai-sitemap.xml) in a dedicated intelligence path. These files are formatted for AI crawler retrieval and adhere to the following standards:

• All data in intelligence files matches the corresponding public profile page
• JSON-LD entity identifiers use the canonical dealervisibilityindex.com intelligence path as the @id anchor
• The ai-sitemap.xml uses a custom namespace documenting its non-standard nature to crawlers
• Intelligence files are dated and include a last-verified timestamp

Editorial support pages

Editorial support pages covering service topics (maintenance schedules, warning light guides, certified pre-owned explainers) are written based on manufacturer documentation, official dealer resources, and publicly available reference material. Where content references specific maintenance intervals or technical specifications, we recommend that readers confirm details against their vehicle's owner's manual or with a qualified technician, as specifications vary by model year and configuration.

Review and update cycle

Published dealership profiles are reviewed on a periodic basis and updated when changes to the dealer's published information are identified. Each page carries a "Last reviewed" date. If you believe a published data point is inaccurate, please contact us at editorial@dealervisibilityindex.com with supporting documentation and we will review the correction request.