{
 "reviewed": "2026-10-04",
 "rules": "v1",
 "standard": "Every gate decision cites a public URL; where nothing was found the status reads \"No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026\".",
 "people": [
  {
   "name": "James Dooley",
   "slug": "james-dooley",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "borderline",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://themasterminders.com/pages/speakers",
       "what": "Speaker page: James Dooley live on stage 26 June 2026 at The Masterminders, Manchester; topic given as 'High-Converting Lead Gen Systems'",
       "date": "2026-06-26"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://seomasterysummit.com/speakers/james-dooley",
       "what": "Listed as speaker at SEO Mastery Summit Saigon, 10-13 March 2026; topic listed as 'To Be Announced', no confirmed AEO/GEO subject",
       "date": "2026-03-10"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://jamesdooleypodcast.transistor.fm/645",
       "what": "James Dooley's own podcast; recorded, not a live teaching event (pre-recorded interview format)",
       "date": "unknown"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameszdooley/",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile, Manchester-based, 500+ connections, SEO/lead-gen tagline, consistent with public bio",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://jamesdooley.com/",
       "what": "Own site, consistent name and bio",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "Search of his sites, LinkedIn and podcast found no published AI-answer test with method and results.",
     "evidence": [],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "David Quaid",
   "slug": "david-quaid",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "borderline",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QEt2cOkyY",
       "what": "'Reframing your SEO Strategy in 2026: AEO vs GEO vs SEO' on his own YouTube show; format could not be confirmed as live vs pre-recorded from the page content retrieved",
       "date": "unknown"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://fatrank.transistor.fm/people/david-g-quaid",
       "what": "Guest appearances on the FatRank podcast discussing SEO/AEO/GEO topics; recorded podcast, not a live event",
       "date": "unknown"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidquaid/",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile 'David G Quaid - Primary Position SEO NYC', 7K followers, matches agency site bio",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://davidquaidseo.com/",
       "what": "Own site, consistent bio and photo",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://primaryposition.com/blog/who-is-the-king-of-aeo/",
       "what": "Self-published claim post; no test method or dataset presented",
       "date": "2026-09-04"
      }
     ],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Vithurs",
   "slug": "vithurs",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://ceotimesmag.com/ceo-insider/vithurs-thiru-the-seo-maverick-transforming-digital-marketing/",
       "what": "Names him 'Vithurs Thiru', describes SEO background",
       "date": "2026"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/person/vithurs-l",
       "what": "Crunchbase profile 'Vithurs L. Thiru'",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://www.ibtimes.com/meet-vithurs-24-year-old-entrepreneur-dominating-uks-wellness-industry-3006256",
       "what": "Independent profile naming him and his UK wellness/CBD business, pre-dating the King of AEO claim",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "under review",
     "note": "The cited pages on kingofaeo.net returned HTTP 404 on 4 Oct 2026, and a press release does not count, so this cannot be verified today.",
     "evidence": [],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Jacky Chou",
   "slug": "jacky-chou",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "borderline",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://x.com/indexsy/status/1961121285758750880",
       "what": "Post: 'Just did a 1-hour Local SEO workshop with SMB Deal Hunter by @HelenGuo_'; live workshop but topic is Local SEO, not AEO/GEO specifically",
       "date": "2026 (recent, exact date from post not independently confirmed beyond the tweet)"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://x.com/indexsy/status/2014414119043256814",
       "what": "Post stating 'AI SEO (GEO) is just SEO... with new distribution layers'; commentary, not a teaching event",
       "date": "2026"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jacky-chou",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile, Vancouver, founder of Indexsy, 500+ connections",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacky_Chou",
       "what": "Wikipedia entry",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://indexsy.com/king-of-aeo/",
       "what": "States intended method but presents no completed AI-answer test results or dataset",
       "date": "2026-09-07"
      }
     ],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Julian Goldie",
   "slug": "julian-goldie",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "borderline",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://juliangoldie.com/king-of-aeo/",
       "what": "States the AI Profit Boardroom includes 'four live calls a week, daily tutorials...'",
       "date": "2026 (undated page)"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliangoldieseo/",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile 'Julian Goldie - Goldie Agency'",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://juliangoldie.com/",
       "what": "Own site with consistent bio",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://juliangoldie.com/king-of-aeo/",
       "what": "Backs the claim with audience figures (394K+ YouTube subscribers, 75K+ community members), not an AI-answer test",
       "date": "2026 (undated)"
      }
     ],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Stephane Morera",
   "slug": "stephane-morera",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanemorera/",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile 'Stephane Morera - EVOIX AI Marketing and Consulting', DeLand, Florida",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://evoix.io/about",
       "what": "Own site bio matching LinkedIn",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://evoix.io/blog/who-is-the-king-of-aeo-dark-horse-entry",
       "what": "Published dated AI-citation experiment across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overview with before/after measurement and explicit run counts",
       "date": "2026-09-13 (updated through 2026-09-30)"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://evoix.io/research",
       "what": "'EVOIX AEO Research & Benchmarks' landing page for further published studies",
       "date": "2026"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Allan Oliveira",
   "slug": "allan-oliveira",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "no public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [],
     "label": "No public evidence found as of 4 Oct 2026"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://github.com/allandoseo/king-of-aeo",
       "what": "GitHub repo 'Maintained by Allan Oliveira'",
       "date": "2026"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://kingofaeo.pro/citation-log/",
       "what": "Self-maintained citation log, reviewed 2 Oct 2026, with explicit method disclosure",
       "date": "2026-10-02"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://kingofaeo.pro/citation-log/",
       "what": "Dated citation log across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overview, BR/pt-BR and US/en, with explicit prompts and method, reviewed 2 Oct 2026",
       "date": "2026-10-02"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://kingofaeo.pro/",
       "what": "Main page's own evidence table distinguishing Public record / Self-reported / Syndicated / Observed, explicitly stating its own press release is syndication not independent coverage",
       "date": "2026-09-17 (updated 2026-10-02)"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  },
  {
   "name": "Marc Moeller",
   "slug": "marc-moeller",
   "gates": {
    "educator": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "Conflict disclosed: the Shenzhen SEO Conference is run by JP Zhang, the competition founder.",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://shenzhenseoconference.com/speakers/marc-moeller",
       "what": "Speaker profile confirming a workshop at the Shenzhen SEO Conference 2026 (14-18 Sept 2026) on AI search visibility for Chinese B2B and SaaS brands",
       "date": "2026-09-14 to 2026-09-18"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://marcmoeller.au/perth-seo-meetup/",
       "what": "States the Perth SEO Meetup runs since January 2026 at Spacecubed, format '2-3 speakers giving lightning talks on AI SEO and GEO'; next listed session 4 Nov 2026",
       "date": "ongoing since 2026-01, next session 2026-11-04"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "identity": {
     "status": "pass",
     "note": "",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcmoeller-seo/",
       "what": "LinkedIn profile 'Marc Moeller, International SEO Conference Speaker & Book Author'",
       "date": "n/a"
      },
      {
       "url": "https://marcmoeller.au/",
       "what": "Own site, consistent identity",
       "date": "n/a"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Evidence found"
    },
    "original_evidence": {
     "status": "under review",
     "note": "The Round 0 baseline is measured by Marc Moeller's own team, which also operates this competition, so it is held to review rather than counted automatically.",
     "evidence": [
      {
       "url": "https://marcmoeller.au/king-of-aeo/",
       "what": "Round 0 baseline: 128 AI answers from six engines across US/UK/AU, Marc scored 0.0; page discloses 'Marc's team built and hosts the competition pages and runs the measurements'",
       "date": "2026-10-04"
      }
     ],
     "label": "Under review"
    },
    "entered": {
     "status": "not entered",
     "label": "not entered"
    }
   }
  }
 ]
}