diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index a2500d5..e912129 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 # EchoGO NEWS
 
+## EchoGO development
+
+### Changed
+- RRvGO outputs are now split into three semantically honest buckets:
+  - `rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg` for strict cross-method consensus
+  - `rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported` for GOseq or with-background-supported fallback terms
+  - `rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant` for all significant GO terms
+
+### Documentation
+- Clarified that `with_bg` network outputs are the conservative background-supported layer, not strict cross-method consensus.
+- Added report interpretation notes explaining that legacy evaluation filenames still use the older `true_consensus` wording.
+
 ## EchoGO 0.1.2 (2026-01-14)
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/R/network.R b/R/network.R
index 7b5b7e3..bfa82ee 100644
--- a/R/network.R
+++ b/R/network.R
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #' @description
 #' Builds two network modes from the consensus table:
 #' \itemize{
-#'   \item \strong{with_bg (True Consensus)} = GOseq (with BG) + g:Profiler (with BG) + Consensus (with BG)
+#'   \item \strong{with_bg (Conservative background-supported)} = GOseq (with BG) + g:Profiler (with BG) + Consensus (with BG)
 #'   \item \strong{with_bg_and_nobg (Exploratory)} = all of the above \emph{plus} the no-background sources
 #' }
 #' Then constructs per-ontology (BP, MF, CC) GO-term overlap networks.
diff --git a/R/report_render.R b/R/report_render.R
index 0e8b781..69f0df7 100644
--- a/R/report_render.R
+++ b/R/report_render.R
@@ -13,6 +13,31 @@
     return(NA_character_)
   }
   `%||%` <- function(a, b) if (!is.null(a)) a else b
+  ensure_pandoc <- function() {
+    if (isTRUE(rmarkdown::pandoc_available("1.12.3"))) return(TRUE)
+
+    candidates <- unique(c(
+      Sys.getenv("RSTUDIO_PANDOC", unset = ""),
+      file.path(Sys.getenv("ProgramFiles", unset = ""), "Pandoc"),
+      file.path(Sys.getenv("ProgramFiles", unset = ""), "RStudio", "resources", "app", "bin", "quarto", "bin", "tools"),
+      file.path(Sys.getenv("LOCALAPPDATA", unset = ""), "Pandoc"),
+      file.path(Sys.getenv("LOCALAPPDATA", unset = ""), "Programs", "Pandoc")
+    ))
+    candidates <- candidates[nzchar(candidates)]
+
+    for (cand in candidates) {
+      exe <- if (grepl("pandoc\\.exe$", cand, ignore.case = TRUE)) cand else file.path(cand, "pandoc.exe")
+      if (!file.exists(exe)) next
+      Sys.setenv(RSTUDIO_PANDOC = dirname(exe))
+      if (isTRUE(rmarkdown::pandoc_available("1.12.3"))) return(TRUE)
+    }
+    FALSE
+  }
+
+  if (!ensure_pandoc()) {
+    warning("Pandoc not found; skipping report generation. Install Pandoc or RStudio, or set RSTUDIO_PANDOC.")
+    return(NA_character_)
+  }
 
   # --- Base (root) & Report dir
   base_dir   <- normalizePath(outdir, winslash = "/", mustWork = FALSE)
diff --git a/R/rrvgo_modes.R b/R/rrvgo_modes.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36bceff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/rrvgo_modes.R
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+.echogo_truthy <- function(x) {
+  if (is.logical(x)) return(!is.na(x) & x)
+  if (is.numeric(x)) return(!is.na(x) & x != 0)
+  if (is.character(x)) return(tolower(trimws(x)) %in% c("true", "1", "yes", "y"))
+  rep(FALSE, length(x))
+}
+
+.echogo_norm_go_ontology <- function(x) {
+  dplyr::case_when(
+    x %in% c("GO:BP", "BP") ~ "BP",
+    x %in% c("GO:MF", "MF") ~ "MF",
+    x %in% c("GO:CC", "CC") ~ "CC",
+    TRUE ~ as.character(x)
+  )
+}
+
+.echogo_rrvgo_mode_tables <- function(consensus_df) {
+  if (!is.data.frame(consensus_df) || !nrow(consensus_df)) {
+    empty <- consensus_df[0, , drop = FALSE]
+    return(list(
+      true_consensus_with_bg = empty,
+      conservative_bg_supported = empty,
+      exploratory_all_significant = empty
+    ))
+  }
+
+  df <- consensus_df %>%
+    dplyr::mutate(
+      ontology = .echogo_norm_go_ontology(.data$ontology),
+      significant_in_any = .echogo_truthy(.data$significant_in_any),
+      origin = as.character(.data$origin)
+    ) %>%
+    dplyr::filter(.data$ontology %in% c("BP", "MF", "CC"), .data$significant_in_any)
+
+  list(
+    true_consensus_with_bg = df %>%
+      dplyr::filter(.data$origin == "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)"),
+    conservative_bg_supported = df %>%
+      dplyr::filter(.data$origin %in% c(
+        "GO terms - GOseq only",
+        "GO terms - g:Profiler only (with BG)",
+        "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)"
+      )),
+    exploratory_all_significant = df
+  )
+}
diff --git a/R/rrvgowrappers.R b/R/rrvgowrappers.R
index 11630bd..e517f07 100644
--- a/R/rrvgowrappers.R
+++ b/R/rrvgowrappers.R
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 #' Run RRvGO Semantic Clustering on Consensus Terms (multi-OrgDb, option-aware)
 #'
-#' Applies RRvGO-based semantic similarity reduction to GO terms from either the strict
-#' consensus set or exploratory enrichment set. Produces annotated cluster tables, bubble plots,
+#' Applies RRvGO-based semantic similarity reduction to GO terms from strict,
+#' conservative background-supported, or exploratory enrichment sets. Produces annotated cluster tables, bubble plots,
 #' heatmaps, scatter plots, treemaps, and wordclouds per ontology.
 #'
-#' @param df_input A consensus enrichment data frame filtered for one mode (true consensus or exploratory).
-#' @param label A label to use for the output subfolder (e.g. "true_consensus_with_bg").
+#' @param df_input A consensus enrichment data frame filtered for one mode.
+#' @param label A label to use for the output subfolder (e.g. "true_consensus_with_bg" or "conservative_bg_supported").
 #' @param output_base Directory where output will be saved (default: "similarity_based_consensus").
 #'        Tip: pass a canonical path like file.path(outdir, "rrvgo") from the pipeline.
 #' @param ontologies Vector of GO ontologies to process (default: c("BP", "MF", "CC")).
diff --git a/R/run_echogo_pipeline.R b/R/run_echogo_pipeline.R
index 7db22dc..097e7a2 100644
--- a/R/run_echogo_pipeline.R
+++ b/R/run_echogo_pipeline.R
@@ -234,39 +234,24 @@ run_echogo_pipeline <- function(
   if (verbose) message("🧠 Running semantic clustering (RRVGO)...")
   rr_fun <- if (exists("run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis")) run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis else NULL
   if (!is.null(rr_fun)) {
-    true_consensus_df <- consensus_df %>%
-      dplyr::filter(
-        significant_in_any == TRUE,
-        ontology %in% c("BP", "MF", "CC"),
-        in_goseq == TRUE |
-          origin %in% c("GO terms - g:Profiler only (with BG)", "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)")
-      )
-
     rr_formals <- names(formals(rr_fun))
-    rr_call <- list(
-      df_input = true_consensus_df,
-      label    = "true_consensus_with_bg"
+    rr_modes <- .echogo_rrvgo_mode_tables(consensus_df)
+    rr_specs <- list(
+      list(df_input = rr_modes$true_consensus_with_bg, label = "true_consensus_with_bg"),
+      list(df_input = rr_modes$conservative_bg_supported, label = "conservative_bg_supported"),
+      list(df_input = rr_modes$exploratory_all_significant, label = "exploratory_all_significant")
     )
-    if ("orgdb" %in% rr_formals)       rr_call$orgdb       <- orgdb
-    if ("output_base" %in% rr_formals) rr_call$output_base <- dirs$rrvgo
-    if ("outdir" %in% rr_formals)      rr_call$outdir      <- file.path(dirs$rrvgo, "true_consensus_with_bg")
-    do.call(rr_fun, rr_call)
 
-    extra_terms <- setdiff(
-      subset(consensus_df, significant_in_any)$term_id,
-      subset(consensus_df, origin %in% c("GO terms - GOseq only",
-                                         "GO terms - g:Profiler only (with BG)",
-                                         "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)"))$term_id
-    )
-    if (length(extra_terms) > 0) {
-      rr2_call <- list(
-        df_input = subset(consensus_df, significant_in_any),
-        label    = "exploratory_all_significant"
-      )
-      if ("orgdb" %in% rr_formals)       rr2_call$orgdb       <- orgdb
-      if ("output_base" %in% rr_formals) rr2_call$output_base <- dirs$rrvgo
-      if ("outdir" %in% rr_formals)      rr2_call$outdir      <- file.path(dirs$rrvgo, "exploratory_all_significant")
-      do.call(rr_fun, rr2_call)
+    for (rr_spec in rr_specs) {
+      if (!nrow(rr_spec$df_input)) {
+        if (verbose) message("   · RRvGO ", rr_spec$label, ": no rows after filtering; skipping.")
+        next
+      }
+      rr_call <- rr_spec
+      if ("orgdb" %in% rr_formals)       rr_call$orgdb       <- orgdb
+      if ("output_base" %in% rr_formals) rr_call$output_base <- dirs$rrvgo
+      if ("outdir" %in% rr_formals)      rr_call$outdir      <- file.path(dirs$rrvgo, rr_spec$label)
+      do.call(rr_fun, rr_call)
     }
     if (legacy_on) .mirror_tree(dirs$rrvgo, file.path(outdir, "Similarity_based_consensus"))
   } else {
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 894f8c9..d4becd8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ EchoGO::echogo_quickstart(run_demo = TRUE)
 
 This confirms that consensus scoring, RRvGO, networks, and the HTML report all run successfully.
 
+RRvGO now separates three interpretation layers when data permit: strict `true_consensus_with_bg`, fallback `conservative_bg_supported`, and broad `exploratory_all_significant`.
+
+For HTML report rendering, EchoGO needs Pandoc. If RStudio is installed, EchoGO will automatically use the bundled Pandoc when it can find it.
+
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 ## 🏁 Quickstart
diff --git a/doc/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd b/doc/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
index 303f3f1..f98f052 100644
--- a/doc/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
+++ b/doc/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ Gene-overlap GO term networks:
 -   `with_bg_and_nobg/` → exploratory networks including no-background terms\
     Static PDF/SVG + interactive HTML versions.
 
+Interpretation note: `with_bg/` is the conservative background-supported network layer. It can include GOseq-only and g:Profiler-with-background terms even when strict cross-method consensus is empty.
+
 ### **report/**
 
 The automatically generated HTML report when `make_report = TRUE`.
@@ -450,14 +452,17 @@ In the demo snapshot, you should find:
 
 ```{r rrvgo_check}
 rr_true <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg")
+rr_cons <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported")
 rr_all <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant")
 
 data.frame(
-  mode = c("True_Consensus_with_BG", "Exploratory_all"),
-  exists = c(dir.exists(rr_true), dir.exists(rr_all))
+  mode = c("True_Consensus_with_BG", "Conservative_BG_Supported", "Exploratory_all"),
+  exists = c(dir.exists(rr_true), dir.exists(rr_cons), dir.exists(rr_all))
 )
 ```
 
+Modern EchoGO runs may also include `rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported/`, a fallback semantic-clustering view that keeps GOseq or with-background-supported biology visible when the strict true-consensus set is empty.
+
 If present, these folders typically contain:
 
 -   Reduced term tables (e.g., representative terms per cluster).
diff --git a/doc/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd b/doc/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
index 72d2825..4988f26 100644
--- a/doc/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
+++ b/doc/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
@@ -404,6 +404,10 @@ Semantic similarity reduction (per ontology BP/MF/CC):
 -   `rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg/` – strict consensus clusters\
 -   `rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant/` – all significant terms clustered
 
+Current EchoGO builds may also generate `rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported/` for GOseq or with-background-supported fallback clusters when the strict true-consensus set is empty.
+
+Interpretation note: `rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg/` should be read as strict cross-method consensus only.
+
 These folders typically contain:
 
 -   Treemaps, bubble plots, heatmaps, wordclouds\
diff --git a/inst/reports/echogo_report.Rmd b/inst/reports/echogo_report.Rmd
index 43acb47..8725e4e 100644
--- a/inst/reports/echogo_report.Rmd
+++ b/inst/reports/echogo_report.Rmd
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ suppressPackageStartupMessages({
 
 `%||%` <- function(a, b) if (!is.null(a)) a else b
 npath <- function(x) if (is.null(x)) NULL else normalizePath(x, winslash = "/", mustWork = FALSE)
+truthy_flag <- function(x) {
+  if (is.logical(x)) return(!is.na(x) & x)
+  if (is.numeric(x)) return(!is.na(x) & x != 0)
+  if (is.character(x)) return(tolower(trimws(x)) %in% c("true", "1", "yes", "y"))
+  rep(FALSE, length(x))
+}
 
 # ---- HTML escaping (no knitr::escape_html dependency) ----
 esc_html <- function(x){
@@ -496,6 +502,8 @@ if (is.na(sup_csv)) {
   }
 }
 
+# Retain the legacy Unicode-labelled block for reference, but do not execute it.
+if (FALSE) {
 # Prefer the explicit "NONE significant" placeholder if it exists; otherwise show the ontology plots.
 if (!is.na(pdf_none)) {
   cat(embed_pdf_toggle("GOseq: no significant terms (FDR ≤ 0.05)", pdf_none))
@@ -504,6 +512,16 @@ if (!is.na(pdf_none)) {
   cat(embed_pdf_toggle("Top 50 Enriched GO Terms — Cellular Component (GOseq, all depths)", pdf_cc))
   cat(embed_pdf_toggle("Top 50 Enriched GO Terms — Molecular Function (GOseq, all depths)", pdf_mf))
 }
+}
+
+# Prefer the explicit "NONE significant" placeholder if it exists; otherwise show the ontology plots.
+if (!is.na(pdf_none)) {
+  cat(embed_pdf_toggle("GOseq: no significant terms (FDR <= 0.05)", pdf_none))
+} else {
+  cat(embed_pdf_toggle("Top 50 Enriched GO Terms - Biological Process (GOseq, all depths)", pdf_bp))
+  cat(embed_pdf_toggle("Top 50 Enriched GO Terms - Cellular Component (GOseq, all depths)", pdf_cc))
+  cat(embed_pdf_toggle("Top 50 Enriched GO Terms - Molecular Function (GOseq, all depths)", pdf_mf))
+}
 ```
 
 ```{r, results='asis'}
@@ -729,6 +747,7 @@ section_dir_tree(
 ```{r rrvgo-header, results='asis', eval = "rrvgo" %in% sections}
 cat("## 4) RRvGO — Semantic similarity / redundancy reduction\n\n")
 cat("**How to read these panels:** RRvGO clusters semantically similar GO terms to reduce redundancy. In the treemap, larger tiles represent more representative or higher-scoring terms. These views condense long lists into coherent functional themes in both True Consensus and Exploratory modes.\n\n")
+cat("This report separates three RRvGO views when available: `True Consensus` for strict cross-method consensus, `Conservative BG-Supported` for GOseq or with-background-supported terms, and `Exploratory` for the full significant GO landscape.\n\n")
 
 stopifnot(exists("idx"))
 
@@ -771,17 +790,22 @@ pick_rrvgo_rows <- function(mode_rx, ont) {
 
 # Modes & ontologies
 onts  <- c("BP","CC","MF")
-modes_named <- c("true_consensus_with_bg" = "True Consensus",
-                 "exploratory_all_significant" = "Exploratory")
+modes_named <- c(
+  "true_consensus_with_bg" = "True Consensus",
+  "conservative_bg_supported" = "Conservative BG-Supported",
+  "exploratory_all_significant" = "Exploratory"
+)
 
 # Gather rows
 rows <- list()
 for (ont in onts) {
   r1 <- pick_rrvgo_rows("true_consensus_with_bg", ont)
   if (nrow(r1)) r1$mode <- modes_named[["true_consensus_with_bg"]]
-  r2 <- pick_rrvgo_rows("exploratory_all_significant", ont)
-  if (nrow(r2)) r2$mode <- modes_named[["exploratory_all_significant"]]
-  rows <- c(rows, list(r1, r2))
+  r2 <- pick_rrvgo_rows("conservative_bg_supported", ont)
+  if (nrow(r2)) r2$mode <- modes_named[["conservative_bg_supported"]]
+  r3 <- pick_rrvgo_rows("exploratory_all_significant", ont)
+  if (nrow(r3)) r3$mode <- modes_named[["exploratory_all_significant"]]
+  rows <- c(rows, list(r1, r2, r3))
 }
 rr_tbl <- dplyr::bind_rows(rows)
 
@@ -792,7 +816,7 @@ if (!nrow(rr_tbl)) {
   rr_tbl <- rr_tbl |>
     dplyr::distinct(OrgDb, mode, ontology, rel_path, full_path, .keep_all = TRUE) |>
     dplyr::arrange(OrgDb,
-                   factor(mode, levels = c("True Consensus","Exploratory")),
+                   factor(mode, levels = c("True Consensus","Conservative BG-Supported","Exploratory")),
                    factor(ontology, levels = onts)) |>
     dplyr::mutate(exists = exists_file(.data$full_path))
 
@@ -807,8 +831,13 @@ if (!nrow(rr_tbl)) {
   # ---- Embed by OrgDb × Mode × Ontology (ABS path) ----
   for (odb in unique(rr_tbl$OrgDb)) {
     cat(sprintf("\n### %s\n\n", odb))
-    for (m in c("True Consensus","Exploratory")) {
+    for (m in c("True Consensus","Conservative BG-Supported","Exploratory")) {
       cat(sprintf("#### %s\n\n", m))
+      mode_rows <- rr_tbl[rr_tbl$OrgDb == odb & rr_tbl$mode == m & rr_tbl$exists, ]
+      if (!nrow(mode_rows)) {
+        cat("<p><em>No treemaps were generated for this mode.</em></p>\n\n")
+        next
+      }
       for (ont in onts) {
         sub <- rr_tbl[rr_tbl$OrgDb == odb & rr_tbl$mode == m & rr_tbl$ontology == ont & rr_tbl$exists, ]
         if (nrow(sub)) {
@@ -830,6 +859,7 @@ section_dir_tree(
   roots = { rts <- c("similarity_based_consensus","Similarity_based_consensus","rrvgo"); rts[!duplicated(tolower(rts))] },
   notes = list(
     "rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg/OrgDb=<pkg>/"        = "True Consensus RRvGO outputs per OrgDb.",
+    "rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported/OrgDb=<pkg>/"     = "Conservative background-supported RRvGO outputs per OrgDb.",
     "rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant/OrgDb=<pkg>/"   = "Exploratory RRvGO outputs per OrgDb.",
     "…/rrvgo_<ONT>_treemap.pdf"                        = "Redundancy-reduced treemaps (ONT ∈ {BP, CC, MF}).",
     "…/rrvgo_<ONT>_scatterplot.pdf"                    = "Semantic scatterplots.",
@@ -855,6 +885,8 @@ stopifnot(exists("idx"))
 # Summary CSVs (unchanged logic, now via idx)
 sum_bg <- get_one("^(Network_analysis|network_analysis|networks)/(summary_with_bg\\.csv|with_bg/network_summary_.+\\.csv)$")
 sum_ex <- get_one("^(Network_analysis|network_analysis|networks)/(summary_with_bg_and_nobg\\.csv|with_bg_and_nobg/network_summary_.+\\.csv)$")
+sum_bg_tbl <- if (!is.na(sum_bg)) readr::read_csv(sum_bg, show_col_types = FALSE) else NULL
+sum_ex_tbl <- if (!is.na(sum_ex)) readr::read_csv(sum_ex, show_col_types = FALSE) else NULL
 
 if (!is.na(sum_bg)) print(
   knitr::kable(
@@ -871,6 +903,21 @@ if (!is.na(sum_ex)) print(
   )
 )
 
+if (!is.null(sum_bg_tbl) && !is.null(sum_ex_tbl)) {
+  same_network_summary <- dplyr::full_join(
+    sum_bg_tbl %>% dplyr::select(.data$ontology, total_terms_bg = .data$total_terms, total_edges_bg = .data$total_edges),
+    sum_ex_tbl %>% dplyr::select(.data$ontology, total_terms_ex = .data$total_terms, total_edges_ex = .data$total_edges),
+    by = "ontology"
+  ) %>%
+    dplyr::filter(!is.na(.data$total_terms_bg), !is.na(.data$total_terms_ex))
+
+  if (nrow(same_network_summary) &&
+      all(same_network_summary$total_terms_bg == same_network_summary$total_terms_ex) &&
+      all(same_network_summary$total_edges_bg == same_network_summary$total_edges_ex)) {
+    cat("<p><em>Network note: the with-background and exploratory summaries are identical here because the no-background-only terms did not add extra graph edges after the network gene-count and overlap filters were applied.</em></p>\n\n")
+  }
+}
+
 # Interactive widgets from the index (absolute paths via idx$full_path)
 grab_net <- function(mode_dir, ont) {
   rx <- sprintf("(^|/)(Network_analysis|network_analysis|networks)/%s/.+%s.+filtered\\.html$", mode_dir, ont)
@@ -921,6 +968,22 @@ if ("evaluation" %in% sections) cat("## 6) Consensus Evaluation — EQI, rarefac
 
 cat("**How to read these panels:** EQI and fold-enrichment distributions summarize overall term quality and effect sizes; cumulative and rarefaction curves track how many unique terms appear as tools or species are added. A plateau in True Consensus with continued growth in Exploratory indicates robust, non-redundant signal; the network-complexity table quantifies structural differences between modes.\n\n")
 
+strict_consensus_term_count <- NA_integer_
+if (exists("cons_df") && is.data.frame(cons_df) && nrow(cons_df) &&
+    all(c("origin", "significant_in_any", "ontology") %in% names(cons_df))) {
+  strict_consensus_term_count <- sum(
+    truthy_flag(cons_df$significant_in_any) &
+      cons_df$origin == "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)" &
+      cons_df$ontology %in% c("BP", "MF", "CC"),
+    na.rm = TRUE
+  )
+}
+
+cat("**Evaluation note:** EchoGO's evaluation PDF filenames still retain the legacy `true_consensus` label from earlier releases. Read those files as the package's with-background evaluation view, not as proof that strict cross-method consensus terms exist in the current panel.\n\n")
+if (!is.na(strict_consensus_term_count) && strict_consensus_term_count == 0L) {
+  cat("**Panel note:** This run has 0 strict with-background consensus GO terms, so any evaluation files carrying `true_consensus` are legacy-named outputs rather than strict-consensus evidence.\n\n")
+}
+
 # --- Tiny guard (defined here in case it's not already available) ---
 if (!exists("safe_embed_pdf")) {
   safe_embed_pdf <- function(title, path){
diff --git a/man/run_all_networks.Rd b/man/run_all_networks.Rd
index 22496f2..295eb5b 100644
--- a/man/run_all_networks.Rd
+++ b/man/run_all_networks.Rd
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Writes GraphML, PDF/SVG, HTML and summary CSVs; invisibly returns \code{NULL}.
 \description{
 Builds two network modes from the consensus table:
 \itemize{
-  \item \strong{with_bg (True Consensus)} = GOseq (with BG) + g:Profiler (with BG) + Consensus (with BG)
+  \item \strong{with_bg (Conservative background-supported)} = GOseq (with BG) + g:Profiler (with BG) + Consensus (with BG)
   \item \strong{with_bg_and_nobg (Exploratory)} = all of the above \emph{plus} the no-background sources
 }
 Then constructs per-ontology (BP, MF, CC) GO-term overlap networks.
diff --git a/man/run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis.Rd b/man/run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis.Rd
index 069ce78..ad3e4e5 100644
--- a/man/run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis.Rd
+++ b/man/run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis.Rd
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ run_rrvgo_consensus_analysis(
 )
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{df_input}{A consensus enrichment data frame filtered for one mode (true consensus or exploratory).}
+\item{df_input}{A consensus enrichment data frame filtered for one mode.}
 
-\item{label}{A label to use for the output subfolder (e.g. "true_consensus_with_bg").}
+\item{label}{A label to use for the output subfolder (e.g. "true_consensus_with_bg" or "conservative_bg_supported").}
 
 \item{output_base}{Directory where output will be saved (default: "similarity_based_consensus").
 Tip: pass a canonical path like file.path(outdir, "rrvgo") from the pipeline.}
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ falls back to getOption("EchoGO.default_orgdb", "org.Mm.eg.db").}
 \item{similarity_threshold}{Similarity cutoff for clustering (default: 0.7).}
 }
 \description{
-Applies RRvGO-based semantic similarity reduction to GO terms from either the strict
-consensus set or exploratory enrichment set. Produces annotated cluster tables, bubble plots,
+Applies RRvGO-based semantic similarity reduction to GO terms from strict,
+conservative background-supported, or exploratory enrichment sets. Produces annotated cluster tables, bubble plots,
 heatmaps, scatter plots, treemaps, and wordclouds per ontology.
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-rrvgo-modes.R b/tests/testthat/test-rrvgo-modes.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1499258
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-rrvgo-modes.R
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+test_that("RRvGO mode tables keep strict and conservative sets semantically honest", {
+  df <- tibble::tibble(
+    term_id = paste0("GO:", sprintf("%07d", 1:6)),
+    term_name = paste("term", 1:6),
+    ontology = c("BP", "BP", "BP", "MF", "CC", "KEGG"),
+    significant_in_any = c(TRUE, TRUE, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE, TRUE),
+    in_goseq = c(TRUE, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, TRUE),
+    origin = c(
+      "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)",
+      "GO terms - GOseq only",
+      "GO terms - g:Profiler only (with BG)",
+      "GO terms - Consensus (no BG)",
+      "GO terms - Consensus (with BG)",
+      "KEGG terms - Consensus (with BG)"
+    )
+  )
+
+  rr_modes <- EchoGO:::.echogo_rrvgo_mode_tables(df)
+
+  expect_setequal(rr_modes$true_consensus_with_bg$term_id, "GO:0000001")
+  expect_setequal(
+    rr_modes$conservative_bg_supported$term_id,
+    c("GO:0000001", "GO:0000002", "GO:0000003")
+  )
+  expect_setequal(
+    rr_modes$exploratory_all_significant$term_id,
+    c("GO:0000001", "GO:0000002", "GO:0000003", "GO:0000004")
+  )
+
+  expect_false("GO:0000004" %in% rr_modes$true_consensus_with_bg$term_id)
+  expect_false("GO:0000004" %in% rr_modes$conservative_bg_supported$term_id)
+  expect_false(any(rr_modes$exploratory_all_significant$ontology == "KEGG"))
+})
diff --git a/vignettes/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd b/vignettes/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
index 303f3f1..f98f052 100644
--- a/vignettes/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
+++ b/vignettes/EchoGO_interpretation.Rmd
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ Gene-overlap GO term networks:
 -   `with_bg_and_nobg/` → exploratory networks including no-background terms\
     Static PDF/SVG + interactive HTML versions.
 
+Interpretation note: `with_bg/` is the conservative background-supported network layer. It can include GOseq-only and g:Profiler-with-background terms even when strict cross-method consensus is empty.
+
 ### **report/**
 
 The automatically generated HTML report when `make_report = TRUE`.
@@ -450,14 +452,17 @@ In the demo snapshot, you should find:
 
 ```{r rrvgo_check}
 rr_true <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg")
+rr_cons <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported")
 rr_all <- file.path(out, "rrvgo", "rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant")
 
 data.frame(
-  mode = c("True_Consensus_with_BG", "Exploratory_all"),
-  exists = c(dir.exists(rr_true), dir.exists(rr_all))
+  mode = c("True_Consensus_with_BG", "Conservative_BG_Supported", "Exploratory_all"),
+  exists = c(dir.exists(rr_true), dir.exists(rr_cons), dir.exists(rr_all))
 )
 ```
 
+Modern EchoGO runs may also include `rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported/`, a fallback semantic-clustering view that keeps GOseq or with-background-supported biology visible when the strict true-consensus set is empty.
+
 If present, these folders typically contain:
 
 -   Reduced term tables (e.g., representative terms per cluster).
diff --git a/vignettes/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd b/vignettes/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
index bb9fa6a..cca39ff 100644
--- a/vignettes/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
+++ b/vignettes/EchoGO_workflow.Rmd
@@ -419,6 +419,10 @@ Semantic similarity reduction (per ontology BP/MF/CC):
 -   `rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg/` – strict consensus clusters\
 -   `rrvgo_exploratory_all_significant/` – all significant terms clustered
 
+Current EchoGO builds may also generate `rrvgo_conservative_bg_supported/` for GOseq or with-background-supported fallback clusters when the strict true-consensus set is empty.
+
+Interpretation note: `rrvgo_true_consensus_with_bg/` should be read as strict cross-method consensus only.
+
 These folders typically contain:
 
 -   Treemaps, bubble plots, heatmaps, wordclouds\