How the Trust Score is calculated

Logos in a trust bar, named clients, or 'we've worked with X' claims, checked for a real, findable relationship.

• Every logo or named client is treated as a claim: "this company is a client or partner."
• We check whether the site links the claim out to independent evidence: the logo or name linked to the client's own website. Where web search is available, we also look for an independent public page connecting the client to the site.
• Both signals together score highest (verified). Either one alone scores well (likely true). A claim with neither scores low (unverified): it may still be true, it just isn't publicly checkable.

Claims like team size, years in business, or founding date, checked against the domain's registration age and the company's public LinkedIn page.

• Team-size claims ("a 200-person team"): where web search is available, we look for the company's public LinkedIn page so the headcount can be compared. Without one, a team-size claim stays unverified.
• Founding-year and years-in-business claims are checked against the site's actual domain registration age (from public RDAP records). A claim within about 1.5 years of the domain's age is verified; one that exceeds it by more than 2 years is flagged as contradicted. A person's own years of experience is not treated as the company's age.
• Office and location claims are compared with any address shown elsewhere on the site. A match confirms the site is consistent about its address; we don't look the address up on a map.

Quoted testimonials and review scores, checked for attribution (a real, findable person) rather than anonymous or stock quotes.

• Each testimonial is scored on attribution: a full name, role and company scores well (likely true); a named person whose LinkedIn profile is linked from the page scores highest (verified); first names, initials or anonymous quotes score lowest (unverified).
• Aggregate review scores (Google, Clutch, G2 and others) are checked for traceability: does the site link to its profile on that platform, or, where web search is available, does a public profile turn up? We don't read the platform's own rating, so compare the two numbers yourself.

Badges, certifications, partner-tier claims, and awards, checked for a link to the issuing body or the award announcement.

• Certifications, partner badges and awards are checked for whether they link out to the issuing organisation or the award announcement, rather than sitting on the page as an image (likely true).
• Where web search is available and nothing is linked, we confirm the programme or award exists publicly, but confirming this company's membership still needs a manual check of the issuer's directory, so the claim stays unverified.

Whether the site is straightforward about who runs it: a real address, working contact details, and named leadership.

• Every site gets a baseline read from what's actually on the page: HTTPS, a linked privacy policy, a linked terms page, and a visible phone number, email address, and mailing address — this alone accounts for most of the category even when the site makes no explicit claim about itself.
• Where the site does make an explicit claim (naming its leadership, or stating its contact details), that claim is verified on top of the baseline: named leadership is checked for a linked, findable profile (e.g. LinkedIn); an unnamed 'our team' claim scores lower than a named one.

Whether the numbers and claims the site makes agree with each other from page to page.

• Figures that measure the same thing (team size, years in business, clients served, projects delivered and so on) are compared across every page we read. Figures are matched by what they measure, never just because they're numbers, and percentages (a share of some group) aren't compared.
• Exact figures must agree within 10% (allowing for rounding); a figure like "500+" counts as a lower bound, so it only conflicts with an exact figure clearly below it. A contradiction lowers this category's score and is listed as a flagged discrepancy.