How search ranking works
We believe you should know exactly why agents appear in the order they do. Our ranking is a weighted score built from the factors below — the same factors, with the same weights, for every search. The numbers shown are each factor’s maximum contribution out of 117 possible points.
| Factor | Max points |
|---|---|
Distance Agents closer to your searched ZIP or city score higher. Distance matters most when you want in-person help — and it does more than score: see “Distance comes first” below. | 30 |
Premium placement Agents with a paid Premium listing receive a placement boost — the full boost only in ZIP codes and cities where they purchased priority visibility, and half elsewhere. These listings are always labeled “Premium” in results — paid placement is never hidden. | 25 |
Profile completeness Complete profiles (bio, products, service areas, contact options) score higher because they give you more to evaluate. | 12 |
Product match If you search for specific help — say, Prescription Drug Plans — agents who work with those products rank higher for that search. | 12 |
Reviews Moderated consumer reviews contribute based on rating and volume. We never fabricate reviews; profiles without reviews simply earn no points here. | 10 |
License verification Profiles with a verified license earn additional points. See what verification means on our Verified badge page. | 8 |
Language match If you filter by language, agents who serve clients in that language rank higher. | 6 |
Profile freshness Recently updated profiles earn a small boost, since up-to-date information is more reliable. | 5 |
Availability match Agents matching your requested appointment type (phone, video, in-person, weekends) earn a small boost. | 4 |
Responsiveness Reserved for a future signal measuring how quickly agents respond to inquiries. Currently contributes nothing. | 5 |
Distance comes first
The points below only decide the order of agents who are a comparable distance from the place you searched. They never move an agent past someone meaningfully closer to you. We group results by distance first, and the score re-orders agents inside a group — so a Premium agent 40 miles away cannot outrank a free agent a few miles from you.
Agents more than 75 miles from your search — or who are licensed in your state but based elsewhere — are not mixed in with local results. They appear in a separate section labeled “Agents serving a wider area”, below every local agent, so you always know which is which. If no agent is actually based near you, we say so rather than filling the page with distant listings.
Distance is measured from where an agent is based — the city on their profile — not from the ZIP codes they choose to serve. Choosing a priority ZIP code far from home makes an agent eligible to appear there, in the wider-area section, but never makes them local to it.
Priority ZIP codes rotate — they are never exclusive
Premium agents choose the ZIP codes where their placement boost applies (“priority visibility”). Each ZIP code is limited to a small number of Premium placements, and when more than one Premium agent holds priority in the same ZIP, their order rotates daily so each gets equal time at the top. No agent can buy exclusive ownership of a ZIP code or a guaranteed position.
Three commitments
- Paid placement is always labeled. Premium listings carry a visible “Premium” badge wherever the boost applies.
- Sample profiles rank below real agents, are labeled, and never appear in search engine results.
- No one can buy a guaranteed rank. Premium is one factor among ten; distance, completeness, and match quality regularly place free listings above premium ones.
- Paid placement cannot buy distance. No amount of Premium moves an agent into your local results if they are not near you — placement boosts apply among agents who genuinely serve your area.
- Our own profiles step aside. Staff and founder profiles may be de-prioritized in results so member agents get the visibility — they still appear, below every other agent in their section.
You’re in control of order, too
Every results page has a “Sort by” control to re-order results by distance, reviews, verification, or premium status instead of the blended score — and filters to narrow by what actually matters to you.
Questions about ranking? Contact us. Agents: improve your score by completing your profile — see your dashboard for specific suggestions.