Proportionate optimisation, control 1 of 8
O-01 Require a reason to change; allow NO_CHANGE
P0Hard gateNeeds your evidence
Before editing, state an observed user, accuracy, accessibility, technical or business problem and why the proposed intervention is proportionate. A tool score or desire to complete a checklist is not sufficient. NO_CHANGE is a valid completed decision, not a failed run.
- Priority
- Gate. A FAIL stops publish or launch.
- Hard gate
- Yes. A FAIL stops publication, whatever the score.
- Change class
- READ_ONLY: Inspect authorised evidence.
- Quality bucket
- Not scored: hard gate only
Evidence to review
- Rationale, baseline and rejected alternatives are independently reviewed against the exact proposed diff.
How to implement
- Record the current problem, evidence, expected benefit and a do-nothing alternative.
- Select KEEP, NO_CHANGE, DEFER, INVESTIGATE or CHANGE before invoking a write tool.
- Do not create new research, page sections, schema types or keyword variants merely to satisfy an irrelevant control.
- Treat a bounded experiment as a hypothesis, not a proven improvement; register the observation plan.
How UltimateSEO checks this
Needs your evidence. No automated check covers this control, so it stays UNKNOWN until evidence is supplied.
States used: PASS, FAIL, UNKNOWN, NOT_APPLICABLE or BLOCKED. UNKNOWN is never shown as a pass. How states work.
Part of The UltimateSEO Framework v4.3, catalogue dated 2026-10-14. Evidence states, control states and the publish gate are explained on the hub.