Scoring Methodology
Open principles. Verifiable by anyone. Parameters reviewed periodically.
Composite Business Score (CBS)
The CBS is a weighted average of all verified reviews for a business. Three factors determine each review's contribution:
Score — the overall rating given by the reviewer (1–100)
Weight — derived from the reviewer's trust history, using a nonlinear function that strongly suppresses unverified accounts
Recency — exponential decay that gives more influence to recent reviews. The decay rate is calibrated per industry
The result is a single number between 0 and 100 that reflects the current, weighted, verified opinion of real customers.
The exact parameters (exponent, decay rate, weights) are not published to prevent gaming. They are periodically reviewed and adjusted.
Reviewer Trust Score (RTS)
Every reviewer accumulates a trust score based on their behavior across the entire VeriBureau ecosystem. RTS determines how much influence their reviews carry.
Account Age
How long the reviewer has been active. New accounts have limited influence. Trust is earned over time.
Review Volume
Number of verified reviews submitted. Uses a logarithmic scale — the first reviews count more than the hundredth. This prevents farming.
Review Quality
Measured by text detail, specificity, and uniqueness. Encourages thoughtful, helpful reviews.
Behavioral Consistency
Reviewers who provide stable, consistent evaluations earn more trust. Extreme volatility is softly penalized.
Identity Verification
Higher levels of identity verification increase trust. Currently email verification is supported, with additional levels planned.
Dispute History
Upheld disputes against a reviewer reduce their trust score. Penalties are capped to prevent abuse of the dispute system.
Review Weight
A reviewer's influence is calculated from their RTS using a nonlinear function. This means:
A brand new reviewer with minimal history has very little influence on a business's score
A reviewer with moderate history has moderate influence
A reviewer with extensive, consistent history has significant influence
The nonlinear curve makes manipulation exponentially harder. To significantly affect a business's CBS, an attacker would need many high-trust accounts — which take months to build honestly and cannot be fabricated.
Industry-Specific Calibration
Different industries have different dynamics. A restaurant review from last week matters more than one from two years ago. But a review of a construction company from two years ago may still be highly relevant.
VeriBureau supports 27 industries, each with calibrated recency parameters. Fast-moving industries (e-commerce, hospitality, travel) have shorter relevance windows. Stable industries (construction, energy, aerospace, government) have longer ones.
Each industry also has specific review metrics. A telecommunications company might be rated on reliability and support quality, while a restaurant is rated on food quality and atmosphere.
Trend Detection
The trend indicator compares recent review scores against the previous period. A business that is improving will show an upward trend even if its absolute score is moderate. This gives businesses credit for progress, not just position.
Reviewer Levels
Newcomer — just getting started, building trust
Active — developing a review history
Established — significant track record
Trusted — extensive history, high influence
Level thresholds are not published. Levels are displayed to reviewers as encouragement, not as targets to game.
Anti-Gaming Measures
The system monitors for suspicious patterns automatically. These include unusually high token-to-review conversion rates, uniformly identical scores across reviews, review bursts from the same IP ranges, and coordinated timing patterns.
Detected anomalies are flagged for investigation and recorded in the audit chain. Anomaly detection thresholds are not published — publishing detection criteria is equivalent to publishing evasion instructions.
Certification Levels
Business profiles display a certification status based on identity verification. Higher certification does not directly affect the Trust Score — but it provides additional confidence to customers viewing the profile.
Email Verified
Business email confirmed via one-time code.
Domain Verified
DNS TXT record proves ownership of business domain.
Protocol Declared
Dedicated DNS subdomain declares participation in the protocol. Voluntary.
Fully Certified
All levels completed. Maximum trust status.
Certification is earned through verifiable actions and cannot be purchased or manually assigned.
What We Do Not Do
We do not sell higher rankings or premium placement
We do not allow businesses to influence their score through payment
We do not remove negative reviews (only verified dispute process)
We do not publish exact formula parameters (to prevent gaming)
We do not delete historical data (immutable audit chain)
Verification
The integrity of all VeriBureau data can be independently verified at any time through our public audit chain. Every score calculation, review submission, and dispute resolution is recorded in a cryptographic chain that cannot be altered without detection.
The full protocol specification is described on our protocol page.