For store owners
How to improve your store score
There is no hidden formula. Our scan reads your public pages and looks for the things a careful shopper would look for. If they are there and they work, the score goes up.
Work through the four areas below. Fixing a handful of points on the policies and transparency lists is often enough to move a store up a band.
Security
Mostly one-off work on the server or in your hosting settings.
Redirect HTTP to HTTPS. Every page should load over HTTPS, and anyone typing the plain http address should be sent to the secure version.
Keep the certificate renewing itself. An expired certificate shows visitors a full-page warning. Automatic renewal is available at almost every host.
Send the common security headers. Strict-Transport-Security, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and a frame rule (X-Frame-Options or a CSP frame-ancestors) cover most of what we check. Your platform or CDN usually has a setting for them.
Get off blocklists. If your domain is listed for malware or phishing, clean the site first, then ask the list provider for a review. Requesting it before cleaning only gets you listed again.
Reputation
The slowest pillar to change, because it builds on history.
Domain age cannot be sped up. A new domain scores lower for the first two years. Do not switch domains to fix another problem, since you would start the clock again.
Collect reviews on an independent platform. Ask customers after delivery, not at checkout. A steady trickle of honest reviews works better than a burst.
Answer complaints in public. A resolved complaint counts for far less than an ignored one.
Link your social profiles. Put them in the header or footer of the homepage. Two or more active profiles is what we look for.
Policies
Usually the fastest win. The pages often exist already but are hard to find.
Publish returns, shipping, privacy and terms as separate pages. Give each its own address and link all four from the footer on every page.
Name the pages plainly. "Returns", "Shipping", "Privacy policy" and "Terms and conditions" are found easily. Creative names are not.
Make sure the links work. A link that returns an error, or sits behind a login, counts as a policy that is missing.
Transparency
Shoppers want to know who is behind the shop. So do we.
Show the company details. Legal name, and the company registration or VAT number, in the footer or on an imprint page.
Add a postal address. A real address, not only a PO box or a contact form.
Offer more than one way to get in touch. An email address plus a phone number or a contact page is enough.
Show the payment methods. Logos in the footer or on the product page work, as long as they are real text or images on the page.
After you have made changes
A result is kept for 24 hours, so a new check straight after a change may show the old page. Search for your store again the next day and the score will be recalculated.
If your firewall or bot protection stops us from reading the site, nothing here will help until we are let in. The ValidShopBot page explains how to allow it.
Still think a score is wrong? Tell us where we missed something.