Eight categories. Eight different rule books.

Consumer categories are not interchangeable. Wording that satisfies home services will not satisfy education, and a routing rule that works for automotive is useless for insurance. We treat each category as its own piece of work.

Categories
Eight
Coverage
United States
Access
One at a time
Rules
Different for each
Personal finance category imagery Personal finance

Personal finance

Consumers looking into borrowing, refinancing, managing what they already owe and everyday budgeting.

Inquiries only reach businesses set up to operate in the consumer's state. Marketing language in this category is checked against a written standard, and nothing that implies an outcome is allowed anywhere in the journey.

Licensed businessesState by stateLanguage reviewed

Insurance

Auto, home, renters, health and life shoppers comparing cover from licensed carriers and agencies.

We only pass inquiries to carriers and agencies licensed for that state and that type of cover. Figures shown to a consumer are never presented as final, and anything about cover stays with the carrier.

Carrier licensingType of coverLocal agents
Insurance category imagery Insurance
Home services category imagery Home services

Home services

Homeowners planning repairs, remodeling, roofing, heating, plumbing and general improvement work.

Routing follows the area a business actually covers rather than a broad region, because a contractor ninety minutes away is not a useful call. The type of work and the timeframe are captured with the inquiry.

Service areaType of workContractor capacity

Education

People exploring degree programs, certificates, vocational training and continuing education.

This category carries the strictest requirements we work with. The program, the institution and its accreditation have to be clear to the consumer before an inquiry is submitted.

Institution namedAccreditationProgram fit
Education category imagery Education
Automotive category imagery Automotive

Automotive

Shoppers researching vehicles, dealer stock, part-exchange value and ways to finance a purchase.

Dealer distance and the type of vehicle drive routing. Price and availability always stay with the dealer, and nothing a publisher shows is treated as an offer.

Dealer radiusVehicle classLocal stock

Legal services

Consumers who want an initial conversation with a licensed attorney or law firm.

Jurisdiction and practice area decide where an inquiry goes, and advertising rules for legal services vary a great deal from state to state. Publisher wording is reviewed against those rules before launch.

JurisdictionPractice areaBar rules
Legal services category imagery Legal services
Home energy category imagery Home energy

Home energy

Homeowners looking at solar, efficiency upgrades and other ways to reduce what they spend on energy.

Property type, whether the person owns their home and which utility serves them all change whether an inquiry is useful. All three are captured at the source rather than guessed at later.

Utility areaOwnershipProperty type

Business services

Owners and operators looking into working capital, payments, insurance and back-office services.

A business-to-business category with its own expectations around consent and a longer decision window. Details about the business travel with the inquiry.

Business detailLonger cycleB2B consent
Business services category imagery Business services

What stays the same across all eight.

The rules differ by category. The floor underneath them does not.

Consent recorded

What the consumer was shown and agreed to is kept with every inquiry, whatever the category.

Checked before delivery

Verification, duplicate removal and removal requests happen before routing in every category.

Location respected

Inquiries only reach businesses set up to operate where the consumer is.

Source always visible

Which publisher and channel produced an inquiry travels with it, always.

Common questions.

No. Access is given one category at a time, because each has separate creative rules, separate requirements and separate expectations from advertisers. Opening everything at once would mean nobody is really reviewed against the rules that matter.

Occasionally, and slowly. A new category needs a written set of rules, advertisers who can describe what they want, and publishers who can meet the standard. Until all three exist we would rather leave it closed.

Education, by a clear margin, followed by legal services. Both carry obligations that go beyond general advertising rules, and both are areas where cutting a corner causes real harm to a consumer.

Coverage is set per advertiser, per state, per category. If a business is not set up to operate somewhere, inquiries from that state do not reach them. The rule lives in our platform rather than in a policy nobody reads.

Which category are you working in?

Tell us the category and whether you are an advertiser or a publisher. We will come back with what is open, what the rules look like and whether it is a fit.