How the Trust Duck Score works

Trust Duck Reliability

An objective 0–100 score measuring how verifiable and trustworthy a business is, based on five independently verified signals.

Why Trust Duck Exists

Finding trustworthy businesses online — especially in fast-moving sectors like Web3, fintech, and crypto — is difficult. Marketing claims are easy to fabricate. Reviews can be purchased. Websites can be set up overnight.

Trust Duck cuts through the noise by checking five independent signals that are genuinely hard to fake: real customer reviews on Trustpilot, an established web presence, a verified LinkedIn identity, a physical location on Google Maps, and profile completeness. Every check is run by AI and confirmed by our team before a score is published.

The 5 Components

Five independent components, each weighted by its reliability as a trust signal.

External Reviews

47 pts

We scrape three major review platforms and compute a weighted average across whichever qualify. Trustpilot and Clutch require 5+ reviews; G2 requires 3+. This prevents a single review from inflating the result.

Trustpilot, Clutch, G2Weighted avg ≥4.5 = 47 ptsWeighted avg ≥4.0 = 38 ptsWeighted avg ≥3.5 = 26 ptsNo qualifying platforms = 5 pts/URL (max 20)

Web Presence

7 pts

Domain age is checked via RDAP — the official public registry used by domain registrars globally. A business that has maintained a domain for 10+ years has demonstrated staying power that cannot be faked retroactively.

Active HTTPS site = 3 ptsDomain 10+ years = +4 ptsDomain 5–10 years = +3 ptsDomain 2–5 years = +2 ptsDomain 1–2 years = +1 pt

LinkedIn

11 pts

Combined follower count across company page and founder profile, verified by AI. A large LinkedIn audience is harder to fabricate than most signals and indicates sustained professional credibility.

10,000+ combined followers = 11 pts5,000–9,999 = 8 pts2,000–4,999 = 5 ptsAny confirmed presence = 2 ptsURL provided (formula only) = 3 pts

Press Presence

5 pts

Worldwide news coverage counted by distinct outlets — coverage on your own website does not count. Businesses without external press can earn the same points by publishing articles on their Trust Duck profile.

5+ distinct news outlets = 5 pts3–4 outlets = 3 pts1–2 outlets = 1 ptOr: 1 pt per published Trust Duck article (max 5)Higher of the two counts

Wikipedia & Wikidata

5 pts

We only count a Wikidata entry whose registered official website matches the business domain — name collisions are excluded. Among the hardest signals to fake: notable coverage requires independent sources.

Wikidata + Wikipedia article = 5 ptsWikidata entry alone = 3 ptsOfficial website must match domain

Maps Listing

8 pts

Google, Apple Maps, and Bing Places are all accepted. A verified listing is the strongest physical presence signal. Remote businesses and those using registered-agent addresses can still earn points with an address on file.

Verified listing with reviews = 8 ptsVerified listing = 5 ptsMaps URL confirmed = 4 ptsAddress on file = 2 pts

Profile Completeness

7 pts

Proportional to how many of the 8 core fields are provided. Transparent, complete profiles demonstrate accountability. There is no cliff — every field filled adds to the score.

8 fields checked proportionallyName, website, description, founderEmail, LinkedIn, maps, review platform8/8 fields = 7 pts, 6/8 = 5 pts

Score Bands

100
Perfect
AI verified + human audited Premium, complete validated profile.
90–99
Excellent
Human verified — strong third-party signals, active LinkedIn, verified Maps.
75–89
Strong
Well-established with good third-party verification.
50–74
Good
Reputable — solid verifiable signals present.
31–49
Fair
Growing — some signals present, limited third-party verification.
0–30
Limited
Insufficient data to establish reliability.

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