StreetProof Physical Brand Index™ (PBI)

Backlinks map online authority. Physical citations map observed presence.

Evidence-firstPrivacy-scrubbedMachine-readable

Search systems can crawl backlinks, listings, reviews, and websites. They cannot stand on a street and independently observe a storefront, wrapped vehicle, billboard, sponsored venue sign, or concession display. StreetProof converts those public appearances into evidence machines can read.

A physical citation is an accepted, ledger-backed record that a brand appeared in public at a specific time and place. Businesses cannot directly buy one from StreetProof. The backlink comparison is an analogy: a physical citation is not an HTML link and does not promise higher rankings. It adds an independent reference beyond what the business publishes about itself.

Three kinds of physical citation

Location presence

A storefront or nearby operating sign supported by location evidence. This can help establish that the entity operates from that area.

Mobile presence

A wrapped truck, van, or other branded mobile asset. It proves the brand was active in the observed area, not that it has an office there.

Brand mention

A billboard, venue sign, sponsorship, product display, or concession. It proves brand visibility, not ownership or operation of the host site.

What gets written into the record

Each accepted citation records the matched entity, citation type, observed time, privacy-reduced location cell, source, verification state, and ledger hash. The evidence image is privacy-scrubbed before publication. New citation classifications are included in the immutable ledger-hash payload.

Repeated citations from business-independent observations build history: first seen, last seen, geographic spread, asset diversity, and recency. Duplicate imagery is rejected, and repeated views from one scout are capped so one person cannot manufacture public rank.

How citations become a PBI rank

Physical citations are the evidence units behind the StreetProof Physical Brand Index™ (PBI). Accepted citations build a Presence Record. Only records that pass the independent-evidence gate receive a Physical Presence Score (PPS), and PPS determines PBI rank inside a defined city and industry cohort.

Physical citations → Presence Record → independent-evidence eligibility → PPS → PBI rank.

Why the distinction matters

Coca-Cola sign inside a theme park

Valid Coca-Cola brand mention at that venue. It is not evidence of a Coca-Cola office, storefront, or operating address there.

Coffee shop storefront

Valid location-presence citation when the visible identity and nearby business source agree. This can support a local operating record.

What a physical citation does not mean

It is not a review, endorsement, impression estimate, or proof of quality. A host venue displaying a brand does not necessarily own, recommend, or operate that brand. StreetProof publishes what was observed and keeps those larger inferences out of the record.

Use the citations

Presence Records expose citation counts and types on the public page, in evidence packets, and through the REST API. Start with the StreetProof PBI, read the full methodology, or use the API documentation.