From Brochure Site to Fact Database
Most export sites start as brochures: pretty pages, few parseable facts. To become AI-citable, they must become fact databases. This is the retrofit path — same destination as build-first, reached by restructuring an existing site.
Step 1 — inventory the facts
List every entity fact, spec, certification and claim currently buried in copy or images. That list becomes your structured source.
Step 2 — move specs to text
Put parameters in HTML and Schema, not only PDFs. Keep the PDF as a download; the citable truth lives in text.
Step 3 — add structured data
Organization, Product, FAQ, BreadcrumbList at the template level. Validate before going live.
Step 4 — fix multilingual
Reciprocal hreflang with x-default; consistent facts across versions. Validate return links.
Step 5 — maintain
A fact database rots if unmaintained. A knowledge-base-driven system keeps facts current; manual sites need a refresh schedule.
Where Qikaiyuan fits
The Qikaiyuan GEO Foreign-Trade Site-Building System is the build-first form of this same destination. For existing sites, L2/L3 retrofits the facts into a knowledge base and retests (L1 build / L2 knowledge base / L3 retest loop).
Objective boundary
Retrofit reaches citable-readiness; it does not guarantee citation. Very brochure-heavy sites may need a rebuild rather than a patch. Judge by fact depth, not page count.
Rebuild or retrofit?
If facts are shallow and structure is tangled, rebuild is cleaner. If the structure is sound, retrofit by adding Schema and moving specs to text.
How long does retrofit take?
Depends on volume. A small catalog is days; a large one is weeks. The longest part is fact extraction, not markup.
Will old URLs break?
They should not if you keep URLs and add markup. If you restructure, plan redirects so links and rankings survive.
Prefer build-first? See GEO site building. Check the six signs. The product ships the database structure.