How we verify every business.
Business identity, ownership and operating status are separate. A Verified badge requires qualifying evidence through one of two verification paths. Public listing follows the existing eligibility rules. Evidence is dated; unavailable checks remain unknown, not proof that a business is absent or closed.
Path A — Domain email match
Path A links the business email to its website domain, or exactly matches an available official-record email, with credible matching business presence and no unresolved material identity contradiction. Third-party presence may qualify. Free official records are optional supporting evidence, not a universal gate. DNS, MX and HTTP checks do not prove mailbox control; Firecrawl is optional enrichment.
Path B — Any two of three real-world proofs
Path B uses the existing approved independent web, email and phone evidence rules. An inconclusive check does not authorize an automatic paid phone fallback. Provider errors, timeouts and missing coverage are not proof that a business is absent or closed.
Real checks, never self-attested
Identity verification, ownership claim, operating status and profile completeness are separate. OPEN, TEMPORARILY CLOSED, PERMANENTLY CLOSED and UNKNOWN describe operating status; UNKNOWN is not OPEN. Verified closed businesses retain their identity history without active booking or recommendations.
What the badge means
- Verified — the listing's public data proved out through Path A or Path B. This can happen before the owner ever signs up: it says the data checks out, not that the owner is here.
- Claimed & Verified — two independent facts: qualifying identity evidence and authorized owner control. Claiming does not automatically mean Verified Plus or OPEN.
- Unverified records — retained source records are not automatically eligible for public listing. Public visibility uses the existing eligibility rules; we never show a badge that wasn't earned.
- A check could not complete? — provider outages and technical errors stay distinct from business mismatches. They do not prove absence, closure or failed ownership.
How claiming works
- Find your listing in the directory and hit the claim button on your profile page.
- Initiate the claim and prove control —Claiming starts with the owner finding the existing listing and initiating its claim. Authenticated or magic-link email-control proof must also have qualifying business linkage; a domain match or successful sign-in alone does not prove ownership of every business. Approved alternative ownership-proof routes remain available.
- Proof pending? Public-data reporting and private management are separate. Approved alternative ownership-proof routes remain available; there is no automatic paid phone fallback.
- Once you're in, you control the listing: edit your details, manage services and hours from your portal, and earn the Claimed & Verified badge once the checks above pass.