Return on Past Investment Auditor — User Guide
NordicPulse AI tool for finding existing brand mentions and evaluating whether they corroborate your brand.
What is Return on Past Investment Auditor?
The term "Return on Past Investment" comes from Jason Barnard (Kalicube) and refers to the value already present in mentions, press articles, backlinks, and profiles you have built over time. Most businesses don't even know these sources exist — let alone whether they support or undermine their brand claims in the eyes of AI systems.
The tool systematically searches through four data sources and classifies each mention against the brand's claims.
How to use the tool
1. Fill in the form
| Field | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Brand name | The company or brand name | Yes |
| Domain | Main domain (e.g. nordicpulse.ai) | Yes |
| Industry | Industry for contextual analysis | No |
2. Start search
Click Find mentions. The analysis typically takes 30-60 seconds due to multiple parallel API calls.
3. Read the results
The results page shows:
- Overall Score — Overall corroboration score (0-100)
- Corroboration Rate — Percentage of mentions that support brand claims
- Summary — AI-generated summary of the corroboration landscape
- Classification — Distribution of mentions per category
Understanding the results
Classification categories
| Category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Corroborates | The mention actively supports one or more brand claims |
| Contradicts | The mention challenges or disputes brand claims |
| Neutral | The mention references the brand without taking a position |
| Outdated | The information was once accurate but is no longer current |
| Broken | The link is inaccessible, spam, or irrelevant |
Top Corroborating Sources
The 5 strongest mentions supporting your brand. These should be linked from your Entity Home (About page).
Action Plan
Prioritized actions with 5 action types:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Link from Entity Home | Add a link from your About page to this strong source |
| Request update | Contact the source to update outdated information |
| Reclaim/fix | Fix broken mentions or reclaim abandoned profiles |
| Create content | Create new content to fill corroboration gaps |
| Monitor | Keep an eye on this mention for changes |
Data Sources
| Source | What it finds |
|---|---|
| Google Web (Serper) | Web mentions excluding your own domain |
| Google News (Serper) | Press articles and news mentions |
| Perplexity Sonar | AI citations and research context |
| DataForSEO Backlinks | Referring domains with anchor text |
Cost
50 credits per analysis.
Data Integrity
| Source | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Serper API | Live data | Search results from Google Web and News |
| Perplexity Sonar | Live data | AI citations with source URLs |
| DataForSEO | Live data | Backlink data with domain rank and anchor text |
| Gemini AI | AI analysis | Classifies mentions and generates action plan |
Tips
- Run this before Claim-Frame-Prove Audit to have an overview of existing corroboration
- Start with the action plan's "Link from Entity Home" — this is low-hanging fruit
- Update outdated profiles on LinkedIn, directories, and industry sites
- Use strong corroborating sources as proof on your Entity Home
- Combine with Claim-Frame-Prove Audit for a complete Barnard analysis
Related Tools
- Claim-Frame-Prove Audit — Audit your About page's machine readability
- E-E-A-T Entity Scanner — Scan for trust signals and schema markup
- Trust Architect — Build an E-E-A-T strategy
- Circle of Trust — Map your AI trust circle
Last updated 2026-03-19