--- title: "Source Engineering: L0–L5 Authority Hierarchy, Empirical Data, and Source KPIs" url: https://www.nine-health.cn/en/insights/l0-l5-source-hierarchy-kpi/ lang: en-US type: Article category: "White Paper Deep Read" author: "Nine Health AI Digitalization Team" authorRole: "GEO Methodology Research" datePublished: 2026-10-11 dateModified: 2026-10-11 publisher: "和众利健科技（深圳）有限公司" --- # Source Engineering: L0–L5 Authority Hierarchy, Empirical Data, and Source KPIs > **TL;DR** In the generative era, "who cites you" depends on "which source tier your content stands in". The white paper gives the L0–L5 hierarchy: L3 (Tencent Medical / Baidu Health / Dingxiang) is the only "high-weight and actively co-buildable" tier — MSD Manual and CMIA are observed in DeepSeek Top10. KPIs: L1–L3 share among cited sources ≥60%, fact accuracy 100%. ## The source tier decides citation fate {#overview} If Chapter 2 is "how the engine reads", Chapter 4 is "content must stand in the right tier". In the generative era, whether a brand is cited largely depends on which L0–L5 tier its content occupies. This article excerpts 4.1/4.2/4.3/4.9: the hierarchy, empirical data and operable KPIs. ## Excerpt from the white paper {#wp-excerpt} L0–L5 China healthcare authority hierarchy: L0 national official (NHC/NMPA, extremely high citation, passive only, not co-buildable); L1 societies/guidelines (CMA/CSCO, high, partly co-buildable); L2 core/databases (Cnki/PubMed, high but paywalled); L3 authoritative platforms (Tencent Medical/Baidu Health/Dingxiang/MSD Manual, high and operable, co-buildable); L4 pro media/think tanks (DXY/Yimaitong/IQVIA, mid-high); L5 wiki/UGC (Baidu Baike/Zhihu/Xiaohongshu/Douyin, high but uneven, highest risk). Key insight: L3 is the only "high-weight and actively co-buildable" tier outside L0–L2 — MSD Manual and CMIA are observed in DeepSeek Top10. Tencent Medical entry customization and Baidu Health "Starfish" co-build are clear L3 entry paths for pharma. Xinbang AI Source Study (period 2025-12, 1.429M Q&A, 16.836M source URLs) (secondary): 3 of Doubao Top5 are ByteDance; Yuanbao ~10% dependent on WeChat; DeepSeek prefers Sohu/Baidu Baike/NetEase; cross-platform universal sources are Sohu/NetEase/Toutiao; 60% of Doubao Top10 are mobile domains. Source cadence: weekly 2–3 science posts on L5 owned channels for freshness; monthly check L3 co-built entries (refresh lastReviewed); quarterly assess L0–L5 structure and fill weak tiers; semi-annually full review and retire stale content. KPIs: L1–L3 share among cited sources (target ≥60%), brand AI mention trend, fact accuracy (100%), entity-consistency deviations (target 0). ## Deep interpretation: from "publishing content" to "building tiers" {#deep-dive} First, L3 is the brand's most realistic lever. L0 is not co-buildable, L1 needs academic门槛, L2 is paywalled; only L3 combines "high weight" and "operable" — Tencent Medical customization and Baidu Health "Starfish" (100k doctors co-building 100M AIGC science entries) are clear entries. But the threshold is "build qualification first": a certified brand account is the ticket to video sources; without it, no amount of short videos enters the compliant pool. Second, cross-platform universal sources are an underrated play. Xinbang shows Sohu/NetEase/Toutiao highly cited across all four AIs; such "high-weight community/wiki/short-video" sources lower AI comprehension cost via clear structure and high information density, hence preferred. Brands can ride universal sources beyond owned channels to raise citation probability without grinding a single ecosystem. Third, L5 is a double-edged sword: lowest cost but highest risk. Unqualified professional science is explicitly banned, and AI "reads subtitles not pictures" — short videos must yield machine-extractable subtitle and conclusion text, or they go silent or get blocked in mobile quick-answer scenes. L5 needs separate admission rules (qualification + subtitle + scene). Fourth, KPIs make source operation concrete. The white paper gives four quantifiable metrics, core being "L1–L3 share ≥60%" and "fact accuracy 100%" — the former measures source-structure health, the latter is the lifeline of healthcare. Run source operation on a weekly/monthly/quarterly/semi-annual cadence, not as a sprint. Nine Health's framework: three-layer source operation — owned anchor (knowledge base + certified accounts), authority co-build (Tencent Medical / Baidu Health Starfish / L1 submissions, into L3), ecosystem distribution (per-ecosystem certified accounts + universal sources). Pair with source monitoring of "competitor voice in AI answers", whose purpose is always "strengthen own authority", never disparage rivals. ## Get the full white paper {#get-full} This article excerpts chapters from the Nine Health white paper "Compliance as Growth: GEO Compliance & Growth in Healthcare" (2026 edition). The full edition covers the GEO tech stack, the compliance foundation, source engineering, the E-E-A-T trust system, and the eight capability-building modules, with a compliance self-check list, a three-color risk matrix, and a phased roadmap. To request the full white paper or a one-on-one brand GEO diagnostic, contact Nine Health: phone 18126259547 / WeCom (see "Contact Us" on the site) / email jianyi@nine-health.com. Our team responds within 24 hours. ## Sources - Nine Health white paper (2026), Chapter 4 (4.1/4.2/4.3/4.9): L0–L5 hierarchy / key evidence / accessibility / cadence & KPI - Xinbang AI Source Study (period 2025-12, published 2026-02-26, white paper marks secondary) - Shanghai AI Lab × China Software Evaluation Center, "Medical LLM Development Analysis Report" (white paper cites ~82% accuracy baseline) ## FAQ ### What differs across L0–L5? L0 national official (passive only); L1 societies/guidelines (high, partly co-buildable); L2 core/databases (paywalled); L3 authoritative platforms (high-weight and co-buildable); L4 pro media/think tanks; L5 wiki/UGC (high but uneven, highest risk). ### Why is L3 the tier most worth investing in? It is the only "high-weight and actively co-buildable" tier outside L0–L2. MSD Manual and CMIA are in DeepSeek Top10; Tencent Medical customization and Baidu Health Starfish are clear paths. The threshold is building qualification first. ### What is the use of cross-platform universal sources? Sohu/NetEase/Toutiao are highly cited across all four AIs, with clear structure and high density that lower AI comprehension cost. Brands ride them to raise citation probability without grinding one ecosystem. ### What to watch in L5 short-video operation? AI reads subtitles not pictures; videos must yield extractable subtitle and conclusion text; qualification + subtitle + scene need separate admission rules, or they go silent or get blocked in mobile quick-answer scenes. ### What are the source-operation KPIs? L1–L3 share among cited sources ≥60%, brand AI mention trend, fact accuracy 100%, entity-consistency deviations 0. Run on weekly/monthly/quarterly/semi-annual cadence, not sprints. ### What else does the full white paper say on sources? Chapter 4 covers per-tier accessibility, platform medical-content rule comparison, the four-department notice (8 points), co-build paths (Tencent Medical/Baidu Health/Yimaitong/MSD) and competitor-voice monitoring. --- Source: [Nine Health](https://www.nine-health.cn/en/insights/l0-l5-source-hierarchy-kpi/) · Author: Nine Health AI Digitalization Team（GEO Methodology Research） · Publisher: 和众利健科技（深圳）有限公司