# gangnambeauty.guide

Site grounding for agents without the gangnambeauty.guide repository: its seven charter files, unchanged except that headings sit two levels lower and every term id the pinned version defines, in the frontmatter blocks too, is followed by its label from the pinned version. The YAML blocks are therefore for reading, not parsing; the repo files are the source.

- Domain: gangnambeauty.guide
- Pins: editorial-charter@1.3.1, portfolio-icp@1.0.0
- Repo: 75c684dd86d761fb65d59e9818783324d906ec35 (committed 2026-10-03T14:23:49-07:00)
- Built 2026-10-05T03:25:29+00:00
- Pages: https://taxonomy.tfw.bz/sites/gangnambeauty.guide/

## BRAND.md

Version 1.1.1 · status draft · sha256 cfe32bfb6d57337af227b71eb13cd45a1cbd6723890f98e278b956e51275aaa2

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
archetype: charter:brand-archetype-sage (sage)
secondary_archetype: charter:brand-archetype-caregiver (caregiver)
claims:
  - id: c1
    text: Thomas Prommer founded The Gangnam Beauty Guide in 2026.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: about.manifest.json (entity.founder, foundingDate)
  - id: c2
    text: We do not accept payment from clinics for placement or higher ratings, take no referral commissions, and run no sponsored placements or affiliate commissions.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: about.manifest.json (copy.commercialStance)
  - id: c3
    text: We only recommend gold- and silver-tier clinics, rated on surgeon credentials and case volume, on-site infrastructure, revision policies and patient-reported outcomes.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: about.manifest.json (modules how-it-works); README.md (tier filter in the build)
  - id: c4
    text: The site shares its clinic data, tier ratings and editorial team with gangnambeautyguide.com.
    basis: charter:claim-basis-documented (documented)
    source: README.md; about.manifest.json (modules history)
```

### BRAND

#### Name and entity
The Gangnam Beauty Guide (gangnambeauty.guide), an independent medical-tourism guide to cosmetic surgery clinics in Gangnam, Seoul, for first-time foreign patients. It is the decision-oriented companion to gangnambeautyguide.com and is published by Thomas Prommer. Entity home: https://gangnambeauty.guide/en/about/ (`about.manifest.json`, organization id `https://gangnambeauty.guide/#organization`). Contact comms@flywheel.bz. It does not book consultations or act as an agent, translator or intermediary with any clinic.

#### Promise
For a first cosmetic procedure in Gangnam, we give you a short list of tier-vetted clinics and the questions that show whether a clinic deserves your deposit.

#### Personality
The sage, with a caregiver streak: an opinionated editor who has read the data and protects the reader from the clinic's sales layer. It names the operating surgeon as the thing to judge, puts numbers in writing and uses editorial framing ("many patients consider") rather than medical advice. Source: live pages /en/about/ and /en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/, ~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/strategy/positioning.md ("Data Curator & Patient Advocate").

#### Visual pointers
No `design/tokens.json` or `DESIGN.md` yet. Layout and type live in `tailwind.config.mjs`, `src/styles/global.css` and `src/layouts/`. Logo: `public/brand/logo.svg`.

#### Do / Don't
Do: name the operating surgeon as the unit of choice, not the clinic brand.
Do: tell readers to get quotes itemized and in writing before any deposit.
Do: recommend only gold- and silver-tier clinics.
Don't: accept payment for placement or ratings, or book on a reader's behalf.
Don't: make prescriptive medical claims.

## VOICE.md

Version 1.1.1 · status draft · sha256 019a147e3e72e5186cc1b2775e9be50edf1a685505ea97052285c7a5810273f8

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
register: charter:voice-register-consumer (consumer)
person: charter:voice-person-first-plural (first person plural)
languages: [en, ja, vi, th]
addresses: [first-time-foreign-patient]
essence: "An opinionated editor who gives first-time foreign patients a short list of vetted Gangnam clinics and the questions that expose a weak one."
```

<!-- AGENT DRAFT, 2026-10-03 (website grounding run): mined from the live pages and about.manifest.json. Sections marked TODO need the owner. Pending Tom's review. -->

### VOICE: The Gangnam Beauty Guide (gangnambeauty.guide)

> Loaded by /humanizer (Step 0) and the content publishing gate (drafting Step 1
> + humanizer Step 3). If absent, both fall back to generic mode.

#### 1. Identity & Register
- Voice owner / who speaks: The Gangnam Beauty Guide Editorial Desk (the byline in the article JSON-LD), first person plural, addressing the reader as you
- Register: brand (consumer)
- Language/locale: en (source); ja, vi, th via DeepL
- One-line essence: "An opinionated editor who gives first-time foreign patients a short list of vetted Gangnam clinics and the questions that expose a weak one."

#### 2. Audience
- Primary audience: beginner (foreigners who have never had cosmetic surgery and are considering a clinic in Gangnam)
- Reader's job-to-be-done: get from "I don't know which clinic or procedure" to a short list and a set of questions to send before paying a deposit
- Assume they know the procedure they are curious about by name; always explain tiers, layered pricing, the counselor-versus-surgeon consult and what to get in writing

#### 3. Tone Axes  (mark where this voice sits)
- Formal   ───●───  Casual
- Authority ●──────  Peer
- Serious  ─●─────  Playful
- Concise  ──●────  Expansive
- Default editorial_track: pov (opinionated, decision-oriented)

#### 4. Person, POV & Cadence
- Person: first-plural (we) for the editorial desk, second person (you) for the reader
- Sentence rhythm: medium and long sentences with concrete numbers, broken by a direct question in quotes the reader can reuse
- Paragraph length: 2 to 4 sentences
- Structural tics to keep: "What goes wrong / How to avoid" pairs; questions to email the clinic; editorial framing ("many patients consider") rather than advisory framing ("you should"), per /en/about/
- Avoid: prescriptive medical claims, booking language, clinic-brand hype

#### 5. Lexicon
- Preferred terms: operating surgeon, gold tier, silver tier, itemized quote, all-in price, revision policy, consultation, counselor, deposit
- Banned phrases (beyond humanizer's generic list): advisory framing such as "you should" (use editorial framing, per /en/about/); booking or "we arrange" language (the site books nothing, /en/contact/); diagnosis or treatment recommendations ("AI doctor" framing, sister-site decisions.md Decision 13)
- Capitalization & spelling rules: Gangnam, Seoul; clinic names as the clinic writes them (Banobagi, ID Hospital); "gold tier" and "silver tier" lowercase
- Domain-jargon level: low to moderate; define each procedure and tier term once

#### 6. E-E-A-T / Experience Claims  (anchors gate Step 7)
- Authentic experience this voice can claim: none first-hand. The voice speaks from the shared tier data (README.md), not from personal procedures or visits. Live pages that cite "reader reports" or "our editorial reviews" have no named source yet (follow-up in the grounding answers PR).
- Named author + bio source: The Gangnam Beauty Guide Editorial Desk (organization byline in the article JSON-LD). No named person or medical reviewer.
- Quantified credential for bios: none. No named person or medical reviewer is listed for this site, so no credential is stated.
- Citation posture: tier methodology published at gangnambeautyguide.com; clinic and tier data from the shared reviews_engine database (README.md)
- Original-data hooks this voice owns: gold and silver tier ratings and the curated clinic lists drawn from reviews_engine (README.md)
- "What I got wrong" angle: the on-page update log. Example from /en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/ (17 June 2026): "Removed unsupported audit and conversion-style claims that were stronger than the evidence on hand."

#### 7. Gold-Standard Examples  (few-shot anchor, highest leverage)
- Example A (from https://gangnambeauty.guide/en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/, read 2026-10-03): "The single most important question you can ask any clinic is: "Who specifically will operate on me, and can I see their last twenty cases?" Clinics that refuse, deflect, or insist you'll be "matched on the day" are clinics that don't want you to know who's holding the scalpel."
  - Why on-voice: one reusable question, a clear opinion, the surgeon as the unit of judgement.
- Example B (from https://gangnambeauty.guide/en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/, read 2026-10-03): "Clinics often quote a headline number that excludes things that still affect the final bill: overnight nursing, additional grafts, anesthesiologist fees, post-op medication, and follow-up visits. The all-in number can land materially above the first quote, so ask what is excluded before comparing clinics on price."
  - Why on-voice: concrete line items, no invented figure, ends on the action to take.

#### 8. Anti-References  (do NOT sound like)
- Clinic Instagram and before-and-after marketing
- Brokers and booking agents selling a package
- An encyclopedic directory (the shape of gangnambeautyguide.com)
- An "AI doctor" giving medical advice (~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/strategy/positioning.md)

## STRATEGY.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 d137e3705a0ae07dd90b464a20ee55bfa076eab973157645369135b4e523364f

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
mission_shape: charter:mission-shape-serve-x-to-achieve-y (serve X to achieve Y)
horizon: charter:horizon-90d (90 days)
positioning:
  primary: charter:positioning-axis-speed-of-answer (speed of answer)
  secondary: [charter:positioning-axis-authority-depth (authority depth), charter:positioning-axis-locality (locality)]
audiences:
  - kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    name: First-time foreign patients
    segment: first-time-foreign-patient
    job_to_be_done: Get from no idea to a short list of vetted Gangnam clinics and the questions to ask before paying a deposit.
profile_required: true
```

### STRATEGY

#### Mission
We give foreigners considering their first cosmetic procedure in Gangnam a short list of tier-vetted clinics and the questions to ask, so they choose a surgeon and not a brand.

#### Positioning
Speed of answer first: about 25 decision-oriented pages that end in a short list, where the sister site gangnambeautyguide.com is an encyclopedia of hundreds of clinics. Authority depth second, from the shared tier ratings. Locality third: everything is about Gangnam, for foreigners. We concede completeness to the .com by design. The two sites run as a 90-day organic search A/B test with no canonical between them, so the horizon is 90 days. Source: README.md, live page /en/about/.

#### Audiences
First-time foreign patients: people outside Korea who have never had cosmetic surgery, are considering a clinic in Gangnam, and want a short list rather than a long one. They read in English, Japanese, Vietnamese or Thai. Source: about.manifest.json (who-we-serve), live page /en/about/.

#### Competitors
The sister site gangnambeautyguide.com, which is the other arm of the A/B test. Korean-only platforms (GangnamUnni, BabiTalk, Naver Place), RealSelf, clinic websites, and travel aggregators such as Klook and KKDay. Source: README.md, ~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/strategy/positioning.md.

#### What we will not do
No payment from clinics for placement or ratings, no referral commissions, no sponsored placements or affiliate commissions. No booking, translating or acting as an agent for a clinic. No prescriptive medical claims. No Korean-language edition. No copying of the .com's procedure pages. Sources: about.manifest.json (commercialStance), README.md, ~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/decisions.md (Decision 3).

#### Bets for the horizon
1. Win "best X", comparison and decision queries against the .com in the 90-day test (moves gsc_clicks).
2. Make the top-clinics lists and the how-to-choose page the pages readers finish (moves content_engaged).
3. Grow the subscriber list from the subscribe page and forms (moves newsletter_subscribed).

## AUDIENCE.md

Version 1.1.1 · status draft · sha256 a871a700c1bab523d7ce075e94e293f8e50738da02303187d10d4fe98aea4854

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
segments:
  - slug: first-time-foreign-patient
    name: First-time foreign patients
    kind: charter:audience-kind-consumer (consumer)
    archetype: icp:self-pay-medical-planner (Self-pay medical planner)
    priority: charter:segment-priority-primary (primary)
    job_to_be_done: Get from no idea to a short list of vetted Gangnam clinics and the questions to ask before paying a deposit.
    funnel_stages: [charter:funnel-stage-consideration (consideration), charter:funnel-stage-decision (decision)]
    languages: [en, ja, vi, th]
    regions: [US, JP, VN, TH]
    pains:
      - Hundreds of clinics in a small area, hard to judge from abroad.
      - Prices quoted in layers rather than all-in.
      - The first consult is often with a sales counselor, not the surgeon.
    channels: [charter:channel-organic-search (organic search)]
    entry_paths: ["/en/top-clinics-*", "/en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/", "/en/*-vs-*"]
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "agent draft 2026-10-03 from about.manifest.json (who-we-serve) and live pages /en/about/, /en/how-to-choose-a-gangnam-clinic/", as_of: 2026-10-03}
      regions: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-researched (researched), source: "astro.config.mjs (locales en, ja, vi, th); ~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/decisions.md (Decision 4: en USA + global expats, ja Japan, th Thailand, vi Vietnam)", as_of: 2026-10-03}
```

### AUDIENCE

#### First-time foreign patients
Foreigners who have never had cosmetic surgery and are weighing a clinic in Gangnam, Seoul. They come to the site to narrow hundreds of clinics to a few, learn what a layered price leaves out, and find out who will actually operate. They read in English, Japanese, Vietnamese or Thai. No demographic or size figure is recorded: the research for the sister site describes a mostly female audience, but nobody read that from a named system for this domain. Source: about.manifest.json, live pages.

#### Excluded audiences
Not written for: Korean domestic patients (Korean is excluded on purpose), readers who want someone to book or translate for them, readers who already know their clinic and want an exhaustive directory (that is the .com), and minors. Source: STRATEGY.md section What we will not do, ~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/decisions.md.

## MONETIZATION.md

Version 1.1.1 · status draft · sha256 b61ba65f499e0a08bbc356ccedbdc6c7399f12e25d3fb2af3e2de8e026d5a67a

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.1.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
revenue_lines:
  - slug: data-licensing
    name: Licensing aggregated tier ratings
    type: charter:revenue-type-data-licensing (data licensing)
    commission_model: charter:commission-model-unknown (unknown)
    placements: [charter:placement-type-dedicated-page (dedicated page)]
    segments: [first-time-foreign-patient]
    kpi_key: null
    status: charter:revenue-status-idea (idea)
    share_band: charter:revenue-share-band-marginal (marginal)
    start_trigger: Owner decides whether the site earns at all after the 90-day test
    evidence:
      default: {basis: charter:evidence-basis-assumed (assumed), source: "~/opt/strategy-work/projects/gangnambeautyguide.com/decisions.md (Decision 10: data licensing listed as deferred Phase 2+ for the sister site); strategy/positioning.md (Phase 2 hypothesis 4); about.manifest.json (commercialStance); no source states a plan for this domain", as_of: 2026-10-03}
```

### MONETIZATION

#### Revenue model
The site earns nothing today, and its stated commercial stance rules out paid placement, referral commissions, sponsored placements and affiliate commissions. The single line below is an idea written by an agent so the file is not empty. It is the one item in the sister site's deferred monetization list (decisions.md, Decision 10) that does not conflict with that stance. It is not planned and carries no number.

#### Disclosure rules
Any commercial relationship that touches a page is disclosed on that page. Clinics cannot pay for placement or ratings. Source: about.manifest.json (commercialStance).

#### Not monetised
No paid or premium clinic listings, no lead sales or referral commissions, no sponsored guides, no affiliate links to brokers or clinics, no booking fees. Source: about.manifest.json (commercialStance), BRAND.md claim c2.

#### Licensing aggregated tier ratings
An idea only. Aggregated tier ratings licensed to medical tourism platforms, as listed in the sister site's research. The tier data is shared with gangnambeautyguide.com, so the owner decides which site, if either, would carry it.

## KPI.md

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 d5574c94958138093854c081346dea6d0e95da3a86c6cd365aed6a607a06f168

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
template: charter:kpi-template-editorial-traffic (editorial traffic)
template_override: ""
kpis:
  - {key: pageview_recorded, role: charter:kpi-role-primary (primary)}
  - {key: gsc_clicks, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: gsc_impressions, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: avg_position, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: content_engaged, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: newsletter_subscribed, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: affiliate_clicked, role: charter:kpi-role-secondary (secondary)}
  - {key: crawl_errors, role: charter:kpi-role-guardrail (guardrail)}
  - {key: pages_indexed, role: charter:kpi-role-guardrail (guardrail)}
catalog_sha: 4304fc97e9ac457725bdc25dcbb724c36257a707cbb3c237b69cd3e7ba04ac39
```

### KPI

#### Why these metrics
pageview_recorded is the primary, the same primary the sister site gangnambeautyguide.com runs on in kpi-mgmt, so the 90-day test compares like with like. gsc_clicks, gsc_impressions and avg_position are the test's main read, side by side with the .com. content_engaged shows whether readers finish the decision pages. newsletter_subscribed counts the subscribe form; the site currently fires a GA4 event named newsletter_signup, which needs mapping to this key. affiliate_clicked stays from the template and should read zero, since the site takes no affiliate commissions. crawl_errors and pages_indexed are the guardrails.

#### Reading guide
Read the primary weekly against the `(site)` value target in kpi-mgmt once the owner sets one; none exists yet. Read gsc_clicks against the .com on the side-by-side GSC report named in README.md. Fix a rise in crawl_errors or a drop in pages_indexed before reading anything else.

#### Review cadence
At the end of the 90-day test, then quarterly.

## taxonomy/binding.yaml

Version 1.0.1 · status draft · sha256 e0c549d72f211a6968351113cb245341c6bfb650631a048aa4af08488cffb367

```yaml
charter: 1
version: 1.0.1
profile: editorial-charter@1.3.1
domain: gangnambeauty.guide
status: draft
reviewed_by: ""
iab_content: ["iab:286", "iab:653"]
icp_profile: portfolio-icp@1.0.0
content_profile: null
languages: [en, ja, vi, th]
regions: [US, JP, VN, TH]
```