Sponsorship policy

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.

Directory top placement

One slot at the top of directory result lists — including filtered views, city pages, the local agency finder and the agencies section of search — is reserved for a sponsor. It is labelled “Sponsored”, sits above the editorial results rather than inside them, and is never counted in result totals, page numbers or structured data. The listing itself only shows facts already published on that agency's profile.

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.