How we know what we know.
“Every number on this site must come from a real source. That's the whole product.”
Sourced
From Google Business Profile sync, public regulatory datasets (FMCSA, NHTSA, BLS, CDC), and human editorial research.
Checked
Cross-referenced against state licensing boards for credentialed verticals — legal and medical businesses must hold active licensure.
Rated
Ratings synced from Google. Minimum review volume thresholds applied before a listing earns a rating tier.
Tracked
Changes tracked over time. Anomalies flagged. Corrections accepted from the public.
Published
Listings publish to category directories. Research studies publish to ownlisted.com/research.
“Every number on this site must come from a real source. That’s the whole product.”
Where the data comes from.
Every listing starts from a public, reproducible source. Our primary inputs are Google Business Profile data (for display names, addresses, phone numbers, Google ratings, and review counts), plus authoritative public datasets specific to each category.
Examples: FMCSA for trucking-adjacent legal research, state licensing boards for medical and legal verticals, NHTSA for vehicle-accident data, CDC for health-services baselines, BLS for employment and wage context.
- Google Business Profile (listings, ratings, review volume)
- State licensing boards (credentials, practice scope)
- Federal datasets (FMCSA, NHTSA, CDC, BLS, Census)
- Human editorial review (deduplication, category assignment)
What we include, and what we don't.
We track businesses with a physical US presence across the five category groups in our network. A listing enters the catalog when it meets three tests: a real verifiable address, a publicly accessible business record, and at least one independent review source.
We explicitly exclude online-only operators without a physical service address, lead-generation shells, and businesses without a reviewable public footprint. Known gaps — rural markets with sparse Google coverage, newly-formed businesses without review histories — are documented in each study.
How often we refresh.
Listings refresh on a rolling 30-day cadence; ratings and review counts refresh weekly for the top-rated segment. Research-grade snapshots — the numbers we cite in studies and on the brand hub — are dated and versioned so readers can reproduce any cited stat at the publication date.
What "top-rated" means.
For credentialed categories — legal, medical, some financial — we cross-reference listings against state licensing boards and publish credential status. For general business categories, "top-rated" is derived from public Google ratings (4.0+) and review volume thresholds appropriate to the category density.
We do not claim to independently vet business quality. We claim to publish what independent sources have already measured, and to make those sources auditable.
How to report an error — and what we do with it.
Business owners, journalists, and readers can report an error to corrections@ownlisted.com. We acknowledge every report within two business days and publish the resolution — accepted, rejected with reasoning, or in-review — on a public corrections log.
Substantive research corrections update the affected article and append a dated note at the top. Minor factual corrections to directory listings update the listing and log the change. No correction is silent.
No pay-to-play.
Rankings are derived from public ratings and credentials; they are not influenced by any commercial relationship. When a business pays to enhance a directory listing, the enhancement is disclosed on the listing page. Research content is never sponsored.
We do not ghostwrite reviews, host sponsored placements disguised as editorial, or adjust rankings in response to claim-status upgrades. A paid listing and a high-rated listing are different things, and we show both, clearly.
Sample sizes, methods, disclosed limits.
Each study declares its sample size, inclusion criteria, temporal coverage, and statistical methods up front. Datasets are published alongside the article as downloadable CSVs so any finding can be reproduced or reinterpreted.
Where a study uses correlations or modeled estimates, the methods section names the estimator, the assumptions, and the magnitude of uncertainty. When we don't know, we say so.
Tell us. Every correction is logged in public.
corrections@ownlisted.com · we acknowledge every report within two business days.