GRF-012 · Internal Graph and Architecture

Measure paths, not link counts alone

• Baseline
• IF
• THEN
• ELSE
• AND

The decision

• IF
  • internal linking is evaluated
• THEN
  • measure discovery, depth, target visibility, task progression, and conversion paths
• ELSE
  • use raw link counts only as diagnostics

Primary metric

graph-assisted value

Guardrail

correlation mistaken for causation

Reason

Makes the decision explicit, measurable, and reversible where possible.

LAKA levels

• Baseline

Operators

• IF
• THEN
• ELSE
• AND

Governs gates

none directly

Source

04-IF-ELSE-AND-OR-RULEBOOK.md — GRF-012 — Measure paths, not link counts alone

The other eleven rules in Internal Graph and Architecture

• GRF-001 Link every priority page IF a page is intended to receive organic visibility Baseline
• GRF-002 Use descriptive anchors IF anchor text is generic and a natural descriptive label is available Minor
• GRF-003 Require user context for links IF a proposed link does not help the reader understand, compare, verify, or take the next step Minor
• GRF-004 Create hubs for navigation needs IF a coherent task family requires users to choose among multiple paths Structural
• GRF-005 Validate supporting assets IF an adjacent question has independent demand, a complete answer, and a useful relationship to a core asset Major
• GRF-006 Reduce excessive depth IF important pages are difficult to reach through internal navigation Structural
• GRF-007 Use strong internal sources deliberately IF an authoritative owned page can naturally support a high-value target Minor
• GRF-008 Keep topical communities coherent IF a link crosses unrelated topic communities without user need Structural
• GRF-009 Make links crawlable IF navigation or internal discovery relies on nonstandard scripted interactions Structural
• GRF-010 Concentrate, do not hoard IF many low-value pages dilute attention and internal graph flow Structural
• GRF-011 Update the graph after migrations IF a page is merged, redirected, renamed, or retired Structural