Editorial policy
How this directory works
Who is in it, how they got here, what the labels mean, and what we do not sell.
01
How providers got here
We compiled the first 565 listings from public sources, so a good number of the companies here have not spoken to us. Nobody paid to be included, and nobody was left out for not paying.
The directory is free to search and free to be listed in. Most of it will always be free listings, because a list that only shows advertisers tells you who is selling rather than who exists.
02
Screened and Verified are two different things
| Label | What it means | Who did the work |
|---|---|---|
| Screened | The company is real, trading, and who it claims to be | We confirmed it, from public sources |
| Verified | Somebody at the company proved they work there | They confirmed it, with us |
Every listing is screened. That is the bar for being here at all.
Verified is the blue check. It comes with the Enhanced and Featured tiers, because verifying a person is something we do when we onboard a paying customer. It cannot be bought without that step, and it is not sold on its own.
Neither label judges the quality of anyone's work. We do not review providers, rank them by how good they are, or score them.
03
What the tiers mean
Free, Enhanced and Featured describe what a supplier has paid for. They are visibility, not endorsement.
| Tier | What it is |
|---|---|
| Free | The default. Searchable, filterable, tagged and linked, at no cost and with no expiry |
| Enhanced | Paid. Verified check, logo, full profile, contact channels, case study link, and an owner login |
| Featured | Paid. Homepage rotation, the Featured label, a newsletter mention, a second category and a Provider Insight. Capped at three per category |
| Sponsored | A paid ad, always labelled, never mixed unlabelled into the listings |
A Featured provider is not better than a free one. They are more visible, because they paid to be. Every paid placement carries a visible label, ours included.
04
Links
An unclaimed listing carries a nofollow link. A claimed and verified listing carries a standard editorial link.
That is not a paid upgrade and it is not on any rate card. The link changes because somebody at the company confirmed the entry is accurate, which is what a link is supposed to signal. Claiming is free.
We do not sell links that pass ranking credit. Google treats that as a link scheme, and the cost lands on the directory and the buyer alike.
05
What we do not sell
- Advertising targeted at a named company's profile page.
- Category exclusivity below the Featured tier.
- The removal or downranking of any listing.
- Links that pass ranking credit.
- The Verified check separately from a paid tier.
- Editorial coverage or opinion.
06
We are in our own directory
Fathom, the Talent Gravity Standard and IEBP are part of the Employer Branding News group. Beyond Cloudnine is our EBClub partner. All four are listed here, all four carry a visible label, and some hold paid tiers.
A publisher that owns a directory and lists its own companies in it has an obvious conflict. Rather than leave that unsaid, here is what we hold ourselves to:
- Our listings carry the same tier label as anyone else's, in the same place, at the same size.
- Where one of our companies holds a paid tier, its description says so as well as its badge.
- The same caps apply. Three Featured per category, with no extra slot for us.
- Our listings buy the same things a paying customer buys and nothing more.
- We do not remove or downrank anyone we compete with.
Leaving our own companies out would look tidier and tell you less, because they do the work the category describes. Listing them without saying so would be worse. If you would rather discount them when you shortlist, that is a reasonable thing to do.
If we have your company wrong
We will fix it, and we will not ask you to pay to be removed from a directory you did not ask to join. Corrections are made within five working days, and faster where something could mislead a buyer.