Verification methodology

Every listing carries the results of automated checks. We record what was checked, whether it passed, and when, so a badge is always a factual statement about a check that ran rather than an open-ended claim.

The checks we run

Each check is automated and recorded with the date it ran. A badge reading "Confirmed open with Google" means Google reported the business operating when we last checked it, within the past month, and nothing more.

How to read a badge

A badge counts the checks that actually ran: "8 of 8 checks passed" means eight checks ran and all eight passed. Some checks have not run yet on every listing; those are shown separately as "pending" and are never counted as passed. We deliberately do not publish a single 0–100 score, because a percentage would read as complete even while checks are still pending. The count only ever reflects checks that have a dated result.

Verification tiers

What we never do

• No pay-to-play. Inclusion, ranking, and badges cannot be bought.
• No stored Google map content or business descriptions. Maps are rendered from OpenStreetMap data with verified addresses. A storefront photo is shown only when a business-profile photo of the store is available; it is loaded directly from that public business listing with attribution — we do not copy or re-host it, and photos never enter a listing's structured data. We do not display Street View imagery, which is not the store's own photo and can show the wrong storefront; those listings show an illustration instead.
• No review hosting and no ratings of our own. Where a Google rating is displayed, it is shown as-is with attribution and a source link, and it never affects listing or verification decisions.

Data sources

Store facts come from the store's own public website. Verification draws on that site plus public state registries. We store a Google place identifier for matching and re-checking. Displayed Google ratings, review counts, and reviews come directly from the Google Places API, not from third-party data services, and reviews are shown unaltered with their author attribution.

How often we check

Every listed store is re-checked against Google monthly: whether the business is still operating, its address, its rating, and its reviews. A store Google reports permanently closed is removed from the directory. We do not publish the date of the last check on each listing, because the checking is continuous by cycle rather than a one-time event; the date is recorded for every store and we will produce it on request. Store websites are checked on the same monthly cadence.

Found something wrong?

Use the correction form. Flagged listings are re-checked on their next verification run.