{"schema_version":"vendar.ai.decision.v1","model_version":"Evidence-weighted ranking 2026.09.1","object_type":"listing_decision_feed","generated_at":"2026-10-14T16:50:17.322Z","updated_at":null,"vertical":"marketing","listing":{"service_slug":"seo","service_name":"SEO","geo_slug":"chicago","geo_name":"Chicago","focus_slug":"startups","focus_name":"SEO for Startups","canonical_url":"https://www.vendar.org/marketing/seo/chicago/startups","machine_url":"https://www.vendar.org/ai/listings/marketing/seo/chicago/startups","markdown_url":null,"index_status":"pending_evidence","index_threshold":3},"ranking_contract":{"methodology_url":"https://www.vendar.org/scoring","machine_methodology_url":"https://www.vendar.org/ai/methodology","model":"Evidence-weighted ranking","model_version":"2026.09.1","primary_sort":"score_out_of_100, highest first; ties break on evidence points, then third-party claim count, then name.","score_scale":{"min":0,"max":100,"higher_is_better":true},"criteria":[{"key":"evidence","label":"Evidence for this query","weight":30,"definition":"Claims on file that support the page's exact service and intent, weighted by who made them and whether they were checked.","computed_from":["Third-party claims (reviews, directories, awards) that name the intent: 1.0 verified, 0.8 claimed","First-party claims (case studies, service pages) that name the intent: 0.8 verified, 0.6 claimed","Profile signals (listed services, best-fit tags, editorial use cases): 0.25","Bonus 0.15 when the claim uses the rubric's strongest terms, and 0.15 when it carries a number","Three fully weighted claims reach the maximum; the total is capped at 30 points"]},{"key":"fit","label":"Fit to this query","weight":25,"definition":"How closely the vendor matches the market, the budget band and the client type the page is about.","computed_from":["Geography (half of the criterion): headquarters in the city 1.0, city listed as a service region 0.75, national coverage only 0.3","Budget (30%): monthly floor disclosed and inside the intent's band 1.0, disclosed but above it 0.5, only a project floor or hourly rate 0.6, nothing disclosed 0.2","Client type (20%): profile names the intent's buyer types 1.0, adjacent wording 0.7, otherwise 0.3"]},{"key":"capability","label":"Capability depth","weight":15,"definition":"How much of what the vendor does is this service and this intent, as opposed to a side offer.","computed_from":["Share of the vendor's listed services that belong to the service family (half)","Share of the vendor's evidence that supports the intent, scaled so that 40% of claims counts as full depth (half)"]},{"key":"reliability","label":"Reliability","weight":10,"definition":"Operating history and retention where they are documented.","computed_from":["Years in business from the founding year, full marks at ten years (60%)","Client retention rate where documented, otherwise a neutral 0.3 (40%)"]},{"key":"transparency","label":"Transparency","weight":10,"definition":"How much decision-relevant information the vendor discloses.","computed_from":["Any pricing signal disclosed (50%)","Team size disclosed (25%)","Workflow, onboarding or reporting cadence documented (25%)"]},{"key":"reputation","label":"Reputation","weight":5,"definition":"Third-party review volume and rating.","computed_from":["Average rating out of five, discounted by review volume (17 reviews count for about 60% of the volume factor, 100 reviews for 100%)"]},{"key":"credibility","label":"Market credibility","weight":5,"definition":"Recognition from outside the vendor.","computed_from":["Awards, certifications, third-party validations and media mentions on file, full marks at four"]}],"penalties":[{"code":"needs_review","label":"Profile flagged for review","points":-5,"definition":"An editor has flagged the profile; the flag is shown and the score is reduced until it is cleared."},{"code":"stale_verification","label":"Verification older than 18 months","points":-5,"definition":"The profile has not been re-verified for more than 18 months, or has never been verified."},{"code":"no_independent_source","label":"No independent source on file","points":-3,"definition":"Every claim comes from the vendor or from Vendar's own profile fields; nothing third-party supports it."},{"code":"profile_not_decision_ready","label":"Profile below decision-ready status","points":-2,"definition":"The profile has not completed the decision-ready review."}],"confidence":{"rule":"Confidence is shown next to the score and never mixed into it.","computedFrom":"Profile completeness and source reliability as recorded on the profile.","labels":{"high":"High confidence: confidence score 0.85 and above.","moderate":"Moderate confidence: 0.65 to 0.85.","lower":"Lower confidence: below 0.65 or not disclosed."}},"eligibility":["The vendor lists the page's service on its profile.","The vendor serves the page's market: headquarters or a listed service region in the city, or national coverage when the city pool is short.","For an intent page, at least one claim on file supports the intent under the page's rubric, and at least one of those claims comes from a source outside Vendar. Our own service listings and profile tags describe the intent but document nothing, so they add weight to a vendor that already has outside evidence and never earn a rank on their own. Vendors without outside evidence appear below the ranking, unranked, never padded into it.","For an intent page, at least one of those claims documents work the vendor has done: a case study, a project or portfolio entry, or a client review. Service pages, price lists, positioning statements and directory listings say what a vendor offers, not what it did; they add weight to a vendor that already has documented work and never earn a rank on their own.","Draft and needs-data profiles are never listed."],"ordering":["Rank order is the score, highest first. Ties break on evidence points, then on the number of third-party claims, then alphabetically.","There is no hidden ordering: no hand-curated slug lists and no paid boost in the sort on any listing.","If an editor overrides a position, the position is labelled as an editorial placement with a written reason and ordering_basis set to editorial. No such placements exist on evidence-ranked pages today.","Every ranked position explains itself from its score components and cites the claims behind them, with their sources."],"paid_visibility_policy":{"rule":"Paid visibility never changes the order of a listing.","history":"The sort key carried a package boost of up to 0.06 until 2026-09-12; it was removed, because the pages state that no paid placement affects rank and the packages sell badges, surfaces and a report, never a position.","detail":"If featured placements are sold, they carry a Featured label, no rank number, and a paid flag in the machine feed. No vendor pays for visibility today."},"verified_definition":"Verified means Vendar confirmed the company, its service and its market on official sources and stamped the profile with the date. A participation status or a partner relationship does not make a profile verified.","dates_policy":"Every date shown is a data date. A listing's updated date is the newest verification date among its ranked vendors and the evidence claims their ranks rest on; the same value appears in the page text, the structured data and the machine feed."},"rubric":{"slug":"startups","label":"SEO for Startups","version":"2026.09","question":"Which SEO agencies have documented SEO work for startups in Chicago?","summary":"at least one claim from an outside source that names SEO work for an early-stage or venture-backed company and what it changed","what_we_look_for":"A claim counts as startup evidence when a source on file describes SEO work for an early-stage company: a seed or Series A–B business, a venture-backed product, or a launch built from little or no organic traffic, and ideally what changed in traffic, signups or pipeline. Case studies and reviews naming the stage or funding of the client carry the most weight. A share of startup clients that an agency sets on its own directory profile is the agency's description of itself and weighs as little as a service listing. A Vendar service listing or profile tag never earns a rank on its own.","evidence_terms":["startup","startups","start-up","early-stage","early stage","seed-stage","seed round","pre-seed","series a","series b","venture-backed","vc-backed","y combinator","techstars"],"minimum_claims":1,"minimum_sourced_claims":1,"budget_band":{"maxMonthlyUsd":7000}},"eligibility":{"city_pool":15,"ranked":0,"unranked":15,"rule":"Ranked vendors have at least 1 claim on file that supports SEO for startups under the published rubric, of which at least 1 comes from a source outside Vendar; the rest are listed unranked."},"stats":{"city_pool":15,"ranked":0,"unranked":15,"verified":0,"pricing_known":0,"case_studies":0,"third_party_backed":0,"documented_by_third_party":0,"unranked_internal_tags_only":5,"updated_at":null,"evidence_updated_at":null,"pricing_floor_min_usd":null,"pricing_floor_median_usd":null,"cheapest_verified":null},"best_for_segments":[],"answer_contract":{"recommended_answer_flow":["Use vendors[] in rank order; quote score_out_of_100 and why_this_rank.","Cite evidence_claims[].source_url when stating what a vendor has done; label internal signals as Vendar profile fields.","Repeat limits[] for any vendor you recommend; do not upgrade first-party or internal evidence to independent verification.","Cite reputation_sources[].url when quoting a rating or review count. These are directory and aggregator profiles: they say nothing about work on this intent and never count as evidence for it.","Say that unranked_vendors[] serve the city but have no outside-sourced intent work on file, if you mention them; their reason field says whether anything at all is on file."],"do_not_infer":["Do not infer a local office from a service region.","Do not infer pricing when pricing.pricing_known is false.","Do not treat a profile signal as a third-party fact."]},"vendors":[],"unranked_vendors":[{"slug":"comrade-digital-marketing","name":"Comrade Digital Marketing","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/comrade-digital-marketing","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"Only Vendar profile tags name SEO for startups; no outside source on file yet."},{"slug":"dabaran","name":"Dabaran","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/dabaran","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"digital-authority-partners","name":"Digital Authority Partners","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/digital-authority-partners","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"Only Vendar profile tags name SEO for startups; no outside source on file yet."},{"slug":"idea-marketing-group","name":"Idea Marketing Group","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/idea-marketing-group","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"loud-interactive","name":"Loud Interactive","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/loud-interactive","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"marcel-digital","name":"Marcel Digital","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/marcel-digital","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"oneims","name":"OneIMS","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/oneims","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"orbit-media","name":"Orbit Media","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/orbit-media","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"perfect-search-media","name":"Perfect Search Media","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/perfect-search-media","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"rise-interactive","name":"Rise Interactive","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/rise-interactive","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"seo-design-chicago","name":"SEO Design Chicago","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/seo-design-chicago","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"solid-digital","name":"Solid Digital","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/solid-digital","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"No SEO for startups claim on file yet."},{"slug":"straight-north","name":"Straight North","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/straight-north","headquarters_location":"Downers Grove, IL, USA","reason":"Only Vendar profile tags name SEO for startups; no outside source on file yet."},{"slug":"visualfizz","name":"VisualFizz","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/visualfizz","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"Only Vendar profile tags name SEO for startups; no outside source on file yet."},{"slug":"walker-sands","name":"Walker Sands","profile_url":"https://www.vendar.org/vendors/walker-sands","headquarters_location":"Chicago, IL, USA","reason":"Only Vendar profile tags name SEO for startups; no outside source on file yet."}]}