SiteList disclosure
How SiteList works — and how reviews are verified.
SiteList combines a technical examination with verified first-hand experience. This page explains what we measure, what each review label proves, and how incentives, moderation, and aggregate ratings work.
The three pillars
The examined score. We crawl each published site end to end and score it across 34 published dimensions. The result is a technical verdict with the evidence behind it.
Verified reviews. User reviews carry an evidence-class label. Automated checks, purchase evidence, product-use evidence, or a completed trial must support the claim before a review is published.
Trade access for evidence. Businesses can offer a free paid-tier trial to reviewers. That buys hands-on access, never a rating, sentiment, or favorable verdict.
How the examined score works
A crawl collects the public evidence, the analysis maps it to 34 dimensions, and fixed public weights produce a score from 0 to 100. The bands make the range easier to read without hiding the underlying number.
| Band | Range |
|---|---|
| Score 25 out of 100 — Critical issues | 0–39 |
| Score 50 out of 100 — Below the bar | 40–59 |
| Score 67 out of 100 — Fair | 60–74 |
| Score 82 out of 100 — Strong | 75–89 |
| Score 95 out of 100 — Exceptional | 90–100 |
Scores are automated and never sold. Published sites are re-crawled on the directory cadence so a verdict can change when the public product changes.
How reviews are verified
Every published review has one evidence-class label. It tells you what the verification proves and how the check was made.
| Label | What it proves | How it's checked | Automated? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verified trial reviewer | The reviewer completed a marketplace trial. | Accepted application + used credential | Yes |
| Verified purchaser | The reviewer bought the product. | Receipt or order evidence | Yes |
| Evidence reviewed | The reviewer used the product shown in the review. | Screenshot checked by AI, with human escalation | Yes |
| Verified by vendor | The vendor confirms the reviewer relationship. | Signed confirmation — coming soon | No |
| Evidence reviewed by SiteList | An admin reviewed the submitted evidence. | Manual evidence reference and reason | No |
Reviews that cannot be verified are not published. Identity signals such as a work email can support a review, but they never substitute for evidence that the reviewer used or bought the product.
How moderation works
Moderation is sentiment-blind. Policy checks look for fake or duplicate content, illegal activity, privacy violations, harassment, and off-topic submissions. Structured reason codes send exceptions to the platform for review.
The platform decides, never the business. All compliant reviews publish regardless of rating. Owners may respond publicly, but they cannot edit or remove a review.
How incentivized reviews work
A marketplace offer trades access for attention. A reviewer receives the stated benefit, uses the product, and writes what they found. The benefit is never conditional on sentiment or a minimum rating.
Incentivized reviews are counted separately in aggregates so you can see the composition of the evidence.
How aggregate ratings are computed
Only verified and published reviews enter the aggregate. The page always shows the organic and incentivized composition, along with the verified count and recency. Reviews with an insider or material relationship are excluded from the aggregate and displayed separately.
There is no pay-to-play placement and no paid path to a better score.
Questions and appeals
Reviewers whose verification was rejected can contact us with the missing evidence. Businesses can contact us about factual errors. An examined review has a 48-hour factual-error preview window before publication.
Last updated 2026-07-30.