AI NativeA scan tells you that your recommendation rate is 22% on a particular persona-stage cell. The WHY ledger tells you why: the specific mechanism, grounded in the actual answer text and the citations the engine drew on. Every entry is a path from observation to action.
What the WHY ledger is
The WHY ledger is accessible from the product's sub-navigation. It reads the most recent scan's answers and classifies each finding into one of five types. Every WHY is derived from answer text, cited sources, and fact-check results - no external data is added.
The ledger splits into two columns: "What's off" on the left (ranked by priority) and "What's working" on the right. Off findings are topics to create; working findings are topics to amplify.
The five WHY types
Wrong fact (priority 1): an answer contradicts a fact verified in the Brand Truth Studio. The entry shows what AI claimed and what the truth is. Channel: your own site with correct schema, plus an authoritative source.
Negative narrative (priority 2): an answer scores negative sentiment, shaped by a negative source in the citation set. Channel: reviews and PR surfaces the AI was drawing on.
Not known (priority 2): an unbranded answer does not mention you. AI drew on sources that omit you. Channel: the specific domain the engine was citing, because that is where the gap lives.
Out-cited (priority 2): a competitor is recommended over you. Channel: the comparison or user-generated-content surface the AI cites for that query.
Working (positive): an answer recommends you. Channel: amplify the story driving the win.
How the channel is assigned
For not-known and out-cited entries, the channel is the first domain from the answer's actual citation list. For wrong-fact and negative-narrative entries, it is a type-based hint, because those do not have a single citation driving them. In either case, the reasoning is visible in the entry.
Evidence snippet
Each entry includes a short snippet from the answer text that grounded the classification. The reason a type was assigned is visible in the answer's own words.
From WHY to content
Each entry has a "Draft this" link that carries the topic, the WHY, the channel, and the lever type into the Content Studio, pre-populating a brief for a page aimed at closing that specific gap. For how WHY entries connect to scored opportunities, see The action plan.
Questions
How is the WHY different from the attack queue?
The attack queue ranks where to act (which persona-stage cell has the highest opportunity score). The WHY ledger explains why the gap exists at that cell and what specifically to create or fix. They are complementary.
How often is the ledger updated?
The ledger builds from the most recently completed scan. It updates every time you run a new scan. There is no separate refresh step.
What if the ledger shows nothing in "What's off"?
It means the scan found no wrong facts, negative narratives, or gaps classifiable from the answers - or the prompt set is very small. Adding more unbranded discovery prompts gives the ledger more material.
What is the lever type on a WHY entry?
The lever type is schema, off-page, distribution, or amplify. It tells you which class of action to take and matches the lever vocabulary used in the attack queue.
Can I act on a WHY entry without using the Content Studio?
Yes. Each entry shows the topic, channel, and lever. You can act with any workflow you prefer; the "Draft this" link is a shortcut, not a requirement.
Is a WHY entry provable, or is it inferred?
Every WHY is derived from the answer's own text, its citation set, and the fact-check comparison. The evidence snippet in each entry shows the source.