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G/T/D Dimensions — Governance, Transparency, and Data Quality

4.1 G Dimension: Governance

The G dimension answers one question: Do you have legitimate business credentials?

G Dimension Signal Catalog

OTR evaluates 10 governance signals:

Weight Allocation

The G dimension carries a weight of 20% in the OTR total score (under COLD mode).

Characteristics of the G Dimension

The G dimension differs from other dimensions in an important way: not every merchant can achieve a high G score. An LEI number requires formal corporate registration. Public company verification applies only to listed companies. SEC filings apply only to companies listed in the United States. For small merchants, many G-dimension signals simply do not apply — and that is normal. OTR’s scoring system adjusts expectations based on entity type. A small independent online store will not be heavily penalized for lacking an LEI number. However, a domain that claims to be a large enterprise while lacking any governance signals will raise suspicion.

Tips for Improving G Dimension

4.2 T Dimension: Transparency

The T dimension answers one question: Are your policies and information clear and transparent?

T Dimension Signal Catalog

OTR evaluates 18 transparency signals:

Weight Allocation

The T dimension carries a weight of 10% in the OTR total score (under COLD mode).

Tips for Improving T Dimension

The T dimension is the most “democratic” dimension — it requires no corporate credentials and no technical expertise. It simply requires well-written policy pages. Priority order:
  1. Privacy Policy — Must exist, and the content must be specific (do not use a generic template verbatim)
  2. Return Policy — Clearly state return conditions, timeframes, and procedures
  3. Complete Contact Information — Email, phone, and address (at least two of three)
  4. Schema.org Organization Markup — Make your company information machine-readable
  5. About Page — Introduce your company, team, and history
Policy pages are not about piling up legal boilerplate. AI agents analyze policy content quality — a clear, specific, consumer-friendly privacy policy scores higher than a template filled with impenetrable legal jargon.

4.3 D Dimension: Data Quality

The D dimension answers one question: Is your product information complete, structured, and machine-readable?

D Dimension Signal Catalog

OTR evaluates 21 data quality signals (including 4 penalty signals):

Weight Allocation

The D dimension carries a weight of 15% in the OTR total score (under COLD mode).

Why D Dimension Offers the Greatest Scoring Leverage

Based on analysis of global e-commerce domains:
  • Fewer than 5% of domains have an llms.txt file
  • Fewer than 30% of e-commerce sites have complete Schema.org Product markup
  • Fewer than 3% have both
This means the vast majority of D-dimension signals remain unimplemented by most websites. Doing them puts you ahead. And every single D-dimension signal is free, zero-risk, and has no impact on existing site functionality.

Penalty Signals

The D dimension includes 4 penalty signals. These are not “deductions for absence” — they are “deductions for doing it wrong”:
  1. Data Inconsistency — Markup says “in stock” but the page displays “out of stock”
  2. Missing Critical Fields — Product markup exists but lacks price or name
  3. Stale Data — Sitemap claims “updated today” but content has not changed in months
  4. Crawler Blocking — robots.txt actively blocks AI crawlers
These penalties are designed to prevent low-quality structured data from misleading AI agents.

D Dimension Differences by Site Type

OTR adjusts D-dimension signal weights based on website type:

Practical Tips for Improving D Dimension

Refer to Book 6, Chapters 3-8, for detailed implementation guides.
Next Chapter: Scoring Engine — COLD Mode — Weight algorithm, badge calculation, and score lifecycle