How We Verify Businesses on The Brands List
Every listing is reviewed by a person before it goes live. Here is exactly what we check, why it matters, and what happens when a business stops meeting the bar.
By Nirmal Kanani · 2026-09-02 · 1 min read
Most directories let anyone create a listing in seconds. That is how they get to millions of entries — and also how they end up full of closed shops, duplicate profiles and businesses that were never real. The Brands List works the other way round. Fewer listings, each one checked.
What we check before a profile goes live
- The business is real and operating. We look for a working phone or WhatsApp, a consistent presence elsewhere online, and details that hold together.
- The person setting it up is connected to the business. Ownership of the profile matters — a listing should be managed by the people who run the business, not a third party.
- The details are accurate. Category, city, services and description are read for accuracy, not just spam.
- The content is genuine. Real photos of real work — not stock images or a competitor's catalogue.
Only profiles that clear this review are published. It usually takes a couple of working days.
Reviews come from real customers
A review can only be left by a signed-in customer, and every review is moderated for spam and fakes before it counts towards a rating. A business cannot edit or delete a genuine review of itself.
How listings are ranked
On any discovery or "best X in your city" page, listings are ordered by a blend of customer rating, review volume, profile completeness, verification status and how recently the business has been active — not by who pays the most. Paid featured placements exist, and they are always labelled as featured.
What happens when a business stops meeting the bar
Verification is not a one-time stamp. If a subscription lapses, the listing is removed from public view automatically until it is renewed. If we get credible reports that a business has closed or that a profile is being misused, we review it again and can suspend it.
Why this is worth the trade-off
A curated directory will never have the sheer volume of an open one. What it has instead is trust: when a customer finds a business here, they can be reasonably sure it is real, that the reviews are honest, and that the profile reflects the business as it actually is. For the businesses listed, that trust is the whole point.
See what it takes to get listed →
Tags: trust, verification, how it works