--- title: "The owner's guide to building your Business DNA" slug: owners-guide cluster: owners-guide clusterTitle: "Owner's guide" type: pillar description: "A step-by-step guide for business owners: start from your website, add evidence links, prove domain control, connect Companies House facts and keep your record fresh." answer: "To build your Business DNA, start a private draft from your own website and review every finding before accepting it. Then fill the gaps, link each checkable fact to the body that issued it, prove you control your domain, and approve the wording. Once you subscribe, you publish the record yourself. After that, review it every quarter and whenever something changes." published: 2026-11-05 updated: 2026-11-05 author: "About This Business editorial team" takeaways: - "Start from your website: findings are suggestions you review one by one, not automatic facts." - "Link every checkable fact to the issuer's own page, such as the register, insurer or accrediting body." - "Prove domain control with Google Search Console or a DNS TXT record. It proves control, not ownership or truth." - "Your draft stays private until you publish it. After that, keep it fresh with a quarterly review." imagePrompt: "A tidy small-business owner's workbench in a sunlit workshop, an open notebook with blank pages, a laptop with a dark blank screen, a mug, a few labelled-but-blank folders and a set of keys, warm natural light, calm sense of getting organised, no people" imageAlt: "A sunlit workbench with an open notebook, a laptop, a mug and folders" faq: - q: "How long does it take to build a Business DNA record?" a: "Starting from your website, most of the draft comes from content you've already published. The time goes into reviewing findings, adding evidence links and filling gaps, and you can work on it in stages." - q: "Is my draft public while I work on it?" a: "No. Your draft is private to your account. Nothing reaches the public profile until you subscribe, confirm you control your domain and publish it." - q: "Do I have to use AI writing?" a: "No. AI can suggest wording from your own website content, but every suggestion is marked as an AI proposal and needs your approval. You can write everything yourself." - q: "What does it cost?" a: "Business DNA is one annual subscription per business. See the Pricing page for current details." sources: - title: "Pricing — About This Business" url: "/pricing" - title: "Our Standards — About This Business" url: "/our-standards" - title: "GOV.UK — Verify your identity for Companies House" url: "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/verify-your-identity-for-companies-house" --- ## What is a Business DNA record, and why build one? **A Business DNA record is one sourced, owner-approved record of the facts about your business, where each fact shows its own source, status and date.** It gives customers, partners and AI assistants one version of your facts that they can quote accurately, instead of piecing your business together from old directory listings. For the full background, see [What is Business DNA?](/knowledge/business-dna) ## What are the steps to build one? **There are seven steps, and you can do them in stages. Your draft stays private throughout.** 1. **Start from your website.** Scan your own site and review each finding. 2. **Fill the gaps** your website doesn't cover. 3. **Add evidence links** for checkable facts. 4. **Prove domain control** with Google Search Console or DNS. 5. **Check your Companies House facts.** 6. **Approve the wording** and submit for review. 7. **Keep it fresh** after publication. ## Step 1: How do you start from your website? **Enter your website address, and a bounded scan of your own site proposes findings that you review one at a time.** The scan stays on your own site and reads a limited number of pages. Each finding shows the page it came from and the excerpt it's based on. Nothing goes into your draft until you tick it. Some details are never pre-ticked, such as legal identity, founding date, registered region, people and customer protections, because website wording alone doesn't establish them. A mission or vision only counts as "found on your website" when your site actually labels it as one, so a slogan won't be mistaken for a mission statement. → Read more: [Start with your website: turning what you already publish into a draft](/knowledge/owners-guide/gathering-your-facts-from-your-website) ## Step 2: What should you add that your website doesn't say? **Add the facts customers ask about that your site leaves out:** where you operate from, the areas you serve, your milestones, your people and your official links. Anything you write yourself is recorded as a company statement. If you'd like help with wording, AI can propose text based only on your own content, and every proposal is labelled and needs your approval. ## Step 3: How do you add evidence? **Link each checkable fact straight to the body that issued it**: the Companies House entry, the insurer's document, the accreditation body's directory listing. Strong evidence is what lets KwikChex staff authenticate a fact. → Read more: [How to add evidence links that stand up](/knowledge/owners-guide/adding-evidence-links) ## Step 4: How do you prove you control your domain? **Use Google Search Console if you're already a verified owner of your site there. Otherwise, add a DNS TXT record.** Either way, it proves you control the domain. It doesn't prove ownership of the business, authority to act for it, or that your website's claims are true. → Read more: [Proving you control your domain: Google Search Console and DNS TXT](/knowledge/owners-guide/proving-domain-control) ## Step 5: What about Companies House? **Facts from the public register, such as your legal identity, incorporation date, registered region and officers, can be checked against Companies House and appear on your profile after staff review.** Personal details such as officers' dates of birth, nationality and home addresses are never published. → Read more: [Companies House, identity verification and your Business DNA](/knowledge/owners-guide/companies-house-and-your-record) ## Step 6: What happens when you submit? **Once you subscribe and have confirmed domain control, you publish your profile straight away and can keep editing.** Your approval confirms you stand behind what's written. It doesn't authenticate anything. Claims that need evidence show "Pending check" until staff check them, KwikChex staff authenticate individual facts where independent evidence allows, and AI outputs include your profile only after staff checks are complete. ## Step 7: How do you keep the record current? **Review it every quarter, and update it the week something changes.** Changes go live when you update your live profile, and are dated. → Read more: [Keeping your record fresh: a quarterly review routine](/knowledge/owners-guide/keeping-your-record-fresh) ## How does this help with AI search? **A clear, dated, consistent record is the kind of source AI assistants can quote accurately.** We don't claim publishing guarantees any assistant will cite you, but it gives them a better source than an old directory listing. See [How AI assistants decide what to say about your business](/knowledge/ai-search). ## Articles in this guide - [Start with your website: turning what you already publish into a draft](/knowledge/owners-guide/gathering-your-facts-from-your-website) - [How to add evidence links that stand up](/knowledge/owners-guide/adding-evidence-links) - [Proving you control your domain: Google Search Console and DNS TXT](/knowledge/owners-guide/proving-domain-control) - [Companies House, identity verification and your Business DNA](/knowledge/owners-guide/companies-house-and-your-record) - [Keeping your record fresh: a quarterly review routine](/knowledge/owners-guide/keeping-your-record-fresh)