Foundational pillar / check medical-outcome-claims
Guaranteed health-outcome claims
Screens medical pages for absolute outcome promises such as "guaranteed cure" or "100% success" that need substantiation.
By Shimon Carroll, Founder, SEO for AI Agents · Last updated
What this check measures
Phrases such as "guaranteed cure", "guaranteed results", "100% success", "miracle cure", "permanent cure", or "risk-free treatment", quoted as evidence.
Why it matters
The FTC requires health claims to be truthful and backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, and treats unsupported claims as deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Absolute promises are also a trust problem for visitors and AI answers in a Your Money or Your Life category.
How we score it
A review prompt, not a legal verdict. Runs only on medical practice audits. When the cue is missing the finding is medium severity at medium confidence, which lowers the foundational pillar by about 2.4 points. A pass is informational and never scores. Each finding names who should review it, quotes what we saw on the page, and cites the primary source. Where the page shows a US address we name the inferred state; otherwise the wording is state-agnostic.
Confidence-flag rules
MEDIUM: the check reads the visible page text, links, and JSON-LD directly, so what it quotes is exact, but wording can carry the same meaning in phrasing we do not recognise, and one page does not show the whole site.
Common mistakes
- Testimonials presented as typical results.
- Marketing copy written without clinical review.
- Using "guaranteed" for satisfaction when the context reads as an outcome promise.
How to fix it
Replace guarantees with accurate, qualified descriptions that your clinical evidence supports, and have counsel review health claims before publishing.
Primary sources
- FTC, Health Products Compliance Guidance
Federal Trade Commission
- 15 U.S.C. 45, Unfair methods of competition; unfair or deceptive acts or practices
Legal Information Institute (U.S. Code)
Changelog
- · New. This rule used to live only in the vertical configuration and never ran. It is now a registered review check with a cited primary source, framed as a prompt to review with a professional rather than a pass or fail legal verdict.