Trust Index formula · v2026.1

Trust Center

Every number on Howsociable — the rating, the Trust Index, the claimed badge, the tier on a community review — has a published definition. This page is the reference.

The 0–100 Trust Index

The Trust Index is a single composite score per service, calculated from five components with fixed weights. Weights sum to 1.0 and changes to the formula are versioned — the current formula is v2026.1.

Component	Weight	Definition
Weighted review rating	40%	Tier-weighted aggregate over all submitted community reviews (1–10 scale, normalized to 0–100).
Review volume	15%	Log-scaled — 10 effective reviews scores about 50, 100 scores about 100. Diminishing returns keep the leaderboard reachable.
Evidence coverage	20%	Percentage of reviews backed by OAuth-verified ad-account performance data.
Claim + verification	15%	Whether the business has claimed its profile through our three-method verification flow.
Report-free track record	10%	Open reports in the last 90 days knock 5 points off; each upheld report knocks 10. Floors at zero.

If the rating component is unavailable (not enough weighted reviews), its 40% is reallocated proportionally across the remaining four components so the score stays on a 0–100 scale. We never artificially inflate to 100 when data is missing — if the signal floor isn't met, we show "Not yet rated" instead.

Four review tiers

Community reviews are classified by the strongest verification signal present at submission. Weights are spread by roughly an order of magnitude so evidence-backed reviews dominate the aggregate and anonymous ones cannot swing it.

Unverified

0.2×

No email, no account. Submitted anonymously.

Verified account

0.5×

Reviewer confirmed an email address at submission.

Client-invited

1.0×

Review collected via invite link from the business's own client list.

Evidence-backed

2.0×

Reviewer connected their ad account. The performance claim was verified against real data.

Flagged reviews are floored to 0.1×. Automated fraud detection (burst, duplicate, scattergun signals) drops any review to near-invisible weight until moderation clears it. Flagged reviews are still displayed — we don't hide disputed input — they just don't meaningfully move the number.

What counts as evidence

For a review to reach tier-4 (evidence-backed), the reviewer must complete a read-only OAuth connection to one of the following ad-account providers, and our system must verify that the connected account's spend on the reviewed service's campaigns matches the claim in the review:

Meta (Facebook + Instagram) Marketing API
TikTok Business API
LinkedIn Marketing API
Google Ads API

Connections are read-only. We never post, modify, or spend on your behalf. Connection can be revoked at any time; after revocation we retain only the aggregated metrics that backed the review, not the underlying account data.

Claiming a profile

Business owners can claim their profile to respond to reviews, correct factual errors, and gain the Claimed badge. Verification uses one of three methods, all standard across the industry:

Email at domain. Click a confirmation link sent to an address at the business's domain (e.g. owner@yourdomain.com).
DNS TXT record. Publish a DNS TXT record at the business's domain with our challenge value.
HTML file. Upload a file at https://yourdomain.com/.well-known/howsociable-verify.txt.

Once verified, an admin reviews the claim within one business day and either approves it or contacts the claimant for additional evidence. Start a claim at /claim.

Reporting a service

If you believe a listed service is fraudulent, has fabricated reviews, or is misleading in a material way, you can file a report. We investigate every report within five business days. Upheld reports affect the Trust Index; dismissed reports do not. Filing a report does not remove a listing — removal only follows a factual or legal finding.

Aggregation rules

Aggregate ratings are only published when weighted volume clears a threshold of 3 effective reviews. Until then, we display the raw reviews we have but show "Not enough reviews yet" where the aggregate would otherwise be.

We do not Bayesian-smooth toward a global prior. That's the right statistical move for a site averaging over tens of thousands of services, but here the reader-facing promise is "reviews you can verify". A smoothed rating borrows information from unrelated products and undermines that claim.

Limits of the data

No scoring system eliminates gaming risk entirely. We publish our aggregation rules specifically so attackers know the tradeoffs — and legitimate reviewers know why their submission matters. Known limits:

A brand-new service with no reviews scores "Not yet rated". Absence of bad news is not evidence of good service.
A coordinated client-invite campaign can move the aggregate legitimately. We publish the tier breakdown on every profile so readers can judge the mix.
Trust Index values are snapshotted monthly. Day-to-day fluctuation from new reviews is smoothed out; a rapidly declining service may retain a score for up to 30 days.

Change log

v2026.1 — initial published formula. Five components, weights 40/15/20/15/10, signal floor of 3 distinct signal categories.

Spotted an error?

The Trust Center is a public commitment. If a number on a profile disagrees with the rules described here, that is a bug — tell us so we can fix it.

Report a discrepancy