How we verify

What a verified record looks like

area photo · credit

Verified Top rated

H. Hofmeister & Co. Plumbing Heating AC Sewer

Sponsored · client of the agency

Plumbers · Westwood, NJ · 60 yrs in business

License verified

4.8★ · 371 reviews across Google

Why we picked them: Third-generation Westwood plumber since 1966, NJ master plumber and HVACR licenses, 4.8 across 370+ Google reviews, BBB A+.

License 36BI01062500 + 19HC00257400 (Master HVACR Contractor) · NJ DCA Master Plumber · checked Aug 2026

Trust replies in ~2 hrs · serves 17 towns

Call 201-666-1118 View profile Website

The four checks, in order

1. 1 · Identify

   We confirm the business exists and is who it says it is: a working phone number, a real address or defined service area, and a named owner or principal. Businesses we can't identify don't get listed at all.

2. 2 · Verify the license

   Where a category requires a license or registration, we look the business up in the official government registry — not a data broker — and record three things on the listing: the license number, the registry we checked, and the date we checked it. Badge copy always reads “License verified against {source} on {date}”.

3. 3 · Check reviews

   We read reviews across Google, Yelp, and Facebook and look for patterns — recurring complaints, dispute handling, consistency over time — not just the average. We show ratings with their source and count, and we never edit, reorder, or hide reviews based on sentiment or payment.

4. 4 · Confirm they're taking work

   A great business that never answers is a bad recommendation. We confirm each listed business is active and reachable, and listings show typical response times once we have enough data to report them honestly.

Where our license data comes from

Every verification names its source. These are the official registries we check, by state:

Registration or licensure confirms a business met a state's registration requirements at the time we checked. It is not a government endorsement of the business's competency, and it is not a guarantee of work quality.

What each badge means

• License verified

  We found the business in the official registry named on its listing, and the record was in good standing on the date shown.

• License not verified

  The trade requires a license or registration and we could not confirm one, or the business hasn't provided a number yet. Ask before you hire.

• License not required

  No state or county license applies to this category. We still run the identity, review, and responsiveness checks.

• Credential on file

  The registry holds no licence for these premises, but a named individual at the business holds a personal credential we verified — an owner's esthetician licence, a med spa's medical director. We record the person, the number, and the date, and we say plainly that no facility licence is on file. A personal credential never earns the verified badge.

• Suspended

  The registry shows the license as lapsed, revoked, or suspended. We remove or clearly flag these listings.

How listings are ordered

List pages have two zones, and they never mix:

• The featured block — always labeled

  At most three paid placements can appear at the top of a list page, always marked “Featured” or “Sponsored,” with sponsored link attributes for search engines. Paid placement is the only thing money buys here.

• The organic list — a transparent score

  Everything below the featured block is ordered by a score built from public factors, in this priority: whether the license is verified, how many reviews the business has, its rating across platforms, then — only as a tiebreak at equal score — whether the listing is claimed (a claimed listing has a business standing behind its information, so it edges out an unclaimed public-records listing), and finally how recently we re-checked. Payment and agency relationships have zero weight.

Businesses that are clients of our agency are always disclosed as sponsored wherever they appear. They receive no ranking benefit.

Unclaimed listings: some listings are compiled from public records and the business's own website and are labeled "Unclaimed" until the business claims them. We remove any unclaimed listing on request from the business — no questions, within 2 business days — and we do not re-add it. Every unclaimed profile carries a "Remove this listing" link.

Editorial independence, spelled out: clients of the agency that operates this directory pay for web and SEO services only — never for placement, scores, badges, or how their reviews are handled. Staff never write or edit reviews, for anyone. And agency clients are excluded from editorial "best of" selections unless the published, data-driven criteria put them there on their own.

Freshness and corrections

Verification isn't permanent. Licenses lapse, businesses close, phone numbers change. Every listing shows when it was last verified, and re-checks are scheduled — not best-effort. If you spot something wrong on any listing, tell us and we'll re-verify it against the source registry. See our editorial policy for how corrections work.