How VerifiedPros Works
What we verify, how we verify it, what we screen, and how listings appear in search results.
For Help Seekers
Real customer reviews, with a velocity-flagging system that catches review-bombing.
License status one click away from the official lookup on every listing.
Free to use. We never sell your contact info, and we never bid your project to the highest payer.
For Verified Pros
Enhanced — featured placement in the middle results column with photo + rating + lead capture form.
Premium — top-of-page rich card with photo gallery, description, and direct quote-request CTA, plus inclusion in the daily-rotation pool.
Daily-rotation algorithm gives every paying advertiser a fair shot at the top — no auctions, no exclusive-lead upsells.
Verification Process
Every listing’s license, registration, and (where applicable) bond and insurance status is sourced from public records — not from what the business tells us. We import these on a monthly schedule and display the “Verified” date alongside each badge.
- Construction trades — Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) contractor registration dataset, refreshed every 30 days.
- Healthcare professionals — federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) National Provider Identifier (NPI) registry, refreshed monthly.
- Other categories — comparable state or federal licensing authorities where available.
Content & Image Screening
All claimed-listing content (descriptions, photos, responses to reviews) is reviewed by our moderation team before going live. We screen for:
- False or misleading claims about licenses, certifications, or scope of work.
- Photos that aren’t of the business’s own work (stock-photo abuse).
- Discriminatory, offensive, or sexual content of any kind.
- Off-topic content, spam, or attempts to drive traffic away from the directory.
- Reviews from accounts showing velocity-flag patterns (sock-puppeting, review-bombing).
Businesses can appeal a moderation decision via their business portal. We do not allow businesses to remove individual negative reviews; we do remove reviews that violate our screening rules regardless of star rating.
How Search Results Are Presented
When you search VerifiedPros, every matching business appears in a single ranked list — no sponsored slots, no segregated columns, no advertiser-only top of the page.
How we rank. Each listing’s position is computed from three factors:
- Distance. Listings closer to your search location rank higher.
- Subscription tier. Premium listings are weighted up because their subscription supports verification, scholarship sponsorships, and platform operations. Premium listings are clearly marked with a ★ next to the business name — never with “Sponsored” or “Promoted” labels.
- Daily jitter. A deterministic per-day shuffle slightly varies the order so no listing sits permanently on top. Tomorrow’s order will be a little different from today’s, but a given visitor sees a consistent order during their session.
What you see on every card. Phone, license number, verified-license date, and a one-click deep link to the state’s official license lookup. No mystery, no proprietary inbox — when you call, you call the business directly.
Geographic expansion. We search your ZIP code first; if there aren’t enough listings, we widen to the county; then to the state. The current geographic bucket is shown at the top of every results page so you can see how far we widened the search.
Listing Tiers & Pricing
Every Washington-licensed business in our covered categories starts with a free Basic listing when their record is imported from the State of Washington L&I public registry or the federal NPPES NPI registry. Businesses can claim and upgrade their listing at any time.
Subscriptions are billed via Stripe. Cancel any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period and your listing reverts to Basic (you keep your reviews and history).