Public record
Websites, profiles, directories, reviews, media and official records publish evidence.
RBR · Recognized Before Recommended
The system must know which entity is yours.
Before a business, person, product or source can be considered in an answer, the system must identify the correct entity and connect the public information that belongs to it.
Recognition is the first gate.
Recognized Before Recommended (RBR)A practical framework for examining whether public information clearly identifies the correct entity before search or AI systems retrieve its facts, represent it in an answer or place it among visible options.
A business may have a website, maps listing, social profiles, directories, reviews, licences, media and partner pages. RBR asks whether those sources form one coherent and believable public entity.
From public evidence to customer action
Recognition
The system connects names, locations, ownership, services and official relationships to the correct entity.
Retrieval
The relevant service, location, qualification, policy or limitation must be available for the question.
Recommendation
The product or user may consider the entity among the available choices.
Action
The customer can call, book, visit, order or request a quote through a working route.
One believable entity across many sources
Identity
Official name, ownership, history, people, credentials and legitimate alternate names.
Place and service
Locations, operating areas, products, services, specialties, availability and boundaries.
Relationships
Official websites, profiles, images, records, partners, media and contact routes.
Recognition is not approval—and recommendation is not guaranteed.
RBR is not legal verification, a licence check, a quality certificate or a secret ranking formula. Search and AI answers vary by time, location, wording, personalization, available sources and product design.
The framework identifies a necessary condition: a system has fewer grounds to use or recommend a business when it cannot confidently determine which business the information describes.
Follow the framework to its primary sources
Official RBR Framework
Dean Jessop’s published explanation of Recognized Before Recommended.
Recognized Before Recommended
The book applying the framework to the changing business-discovery journey.
The Great Morph
The broader shift from being found in a list toward being understood and chosen through an answer.
IRefer Club
A separate company providing a practical business-visibility service built around clearer public information.