SiteTruth is a tough, but fair, rating system. Most sites don’t get the top rating. That’s by design and by intent.
If a web site is selling or advertising anything, it must disclose the actual business behind the web site. If you’re selling into California or the European Union, that’s the law. This basic requirement throws out most of the junk sites on the Web.
There are so many phony sites on the Web today that simply flagging “bad sites” is no longer enough. We have to identify the valid ones, and down-rate the others.
That’s just the beginning. We expect businesses to comply with the law. We’ll be checking business licenses, corporate records, and other sources of business legitimacy data. That information is available for most of the developed world; right now, we have it for the US and the United Kingdom.
We’re linking search engine ranking to business legitimacy. We expect that, in time, all major search engines will do that.
At last, on the Web, everyone will know if you’re a dog.