Trust
Sponsorship policy
Sponsorship pays for visibility in a labelled area. It never buys a score, a ranking position, a featured selection or a review.
Three separate concepts
Editorial ranking is our assessment against the published methodology. Featured status is a monthly editorial selection. Sponsorship is a commercial placement. They are recorded separately in our database and none of them can be converted into another.
What sponsorship can buy
A clearly labelled placement in a designated sponsored area, distinct from editorial results and excluded from the editorial sort order.
What sponsorship cannot buy
The following are never for sale, at any price:
- A higher editorial score or a change to any score component.
- A position in a ranking, or inclusion in a shortlist.
- A featured-agency selection.
- Publication, alteration, suppression or removal of a review.
- A change to a best-fit label, an evidence-confidence label or a verification status.
- Removal of accurate, sourced information from a profile.
Labelling
Every sponsored placement carries a visible label at the point of display. Sponsorship start and end dates are recorded, and a lapsed sponsorship removes the placement without affecting anything editorial.