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Frequently Asked Questions
How our scores work, where the data comes from, and what our verdicts do and do not promise.
- How does SiteScope decide if a website is safe?
- Every audit combines structural signals (domain age, TLS configuration, registration metadata, and global ranking) with a category-specific editorial review. A site is not judged against an absolute bar; a five-year-old bank is held to different expectations than a three-month-old storefront. The trust score is a 0 to 100 composite, and the verdict (Safe, Caution, or Avoid) reflects how the structural picture lines up with what visitors in that category should reasonably expect.
- What do Safe, Caution, and Avoid actually mean?
- Safe means we found no structural red flags and the site behaves the way an established operator in its category should. Caution means the site is usable but has at least one trade-off worth knowing before you hand over money or personal data, such as a misconfigured certificate or a young domain. Avoid means we found signals serious enough that we would not recommend transacting without independent verification.
- Is the trust score the same as the safety score?
- No. The trust score is a 0 to 100 composite that blends every signal we collect. The safety score is a simpler 1 to 10 readout focused specifically on transactional and data-handling risk. A site can score well on overall trust while still carrying a moderate safety score if, for example, its certificate is misconfigured.
- How often are reviews updated?
- Each audit page shows the date it was last reviewed. Structural signals like domain age and ranking shift slowly, so most audits hold up for months. When a domain changes ownership, lets its certificate lapse, or moves sharply in the rankings, we re-audit and update the published date.
- Do you accept payment to change a score?
- No. We do not take payment from the sites we review, we do not accept guest posts, and we do not run sponsored audits. Contextual advertising appears in clearly marked slots and has no bearing on which domains we audit or how we score them.
- Where does your ranking data come from?
- Our catalog is seeded from the Majestic Million, a freely published list of the most-referenced domains on the web. The active data source is recorded on our methodology page. Ranking is one input among several; a high rank does not by itself earn a Safe verdict.
- Can I request a review of a specific site?
- Yes. Send the domain through our contact page. We prioritize requests for sites that are widely used or that readers have flagged as confusing, and we cannot promise a turnaround time for every submission.
- A site you rated Safe scammed me. What now?
- Our audits describe structural signals at the time of review; they are editorial opinions, not guarantees, and a previously clean site can be compromised or change hands. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer first, then report the incident to the relevant consumer-protection authority in your country. Let us know too, so we can re-audit.
Still stuck? Read our methodology for the full scoring breakdown, or get in touch.