What You Will Do in the 'Check if a Business has Correct Information’ HitApp

Use the given _business details_ and the _search tool_ to research online and judge the operational Status (Open,
Closed, Junk, or Cannot Verify) based on what you find. If Open, you might also need to judge the Name, Address, and
Phone (NAP) correctness. You must follow Matching rules and use the highest appropriate web Resources.

Judgment check: We will highlight portions of the guideline with this color, to indicate areas where mistakes are
commonly made. Pay extra attention when you see this color!

Site: Searches. A site search can turn up content within a website, which saves a lot of time navigating website menus
manually. For example, searching SITE:IKEA.COM/GB/ "CALL US" on Bing or Google finds a difficult to confirm phone. Try
with or without the www, and consider using a browser extension to save time (this one ↗ works on Edge or Chrome).

If you fall below our quality thresholds or continue to repeat errors after feedback has been given, you will be removed
from the HitApp. Be sure read these instructions to avoid making commonly seen errors; instruction feedback welcome.

1 Basic Workflow
1.1 Tell Us How You Researched

Research options 3 and 5 limit what you can judge.

If you select [2] CWS (Company Website) or [4] Official Social Site, you can judge Status, Name, Address, and Phone.
If you select [3] other approved web information, you can only judge Status; the rest will be auto-judged.
If you select [5] could not find any, it automatically judges Status as Cannot Verify.

1.2 Your Judgment Steps

1. Is the entity Open? (This means operational; it isn’t talking about business hours.)
a. If Yes – Judge Open, then Judge the Name, Address, and Phone Correctness, and Submit the hit.
b. If No – Continue
 2. Can you prove the entity existed in the past and does not exist now?
a. If Yes - Judge as Closed and Submit the hit.
b. If No – Continue

3. Can you prove the entity does not or cannot exist now?
a. If Yes – Judge as Junk and Submit the hit.
b. If No – Judge as Cannot verify and Submit the hit.

2 Research and Research Websites

As mentioned above, the resources you find matching, not matching, and do not find will determine which attributes
you can judge, and what the judgment will be. Combine this with the Matching section to arrive at a Status judgment.
We sometimes supply a URL with the Search Tool, but not always, and sometimes the one given there is wrong. Always
supplement this with a web search to find all relevant resources.

2.1 Top Resources

Company Website (CWS). A Company Website (CWS) uses a dedicated URL to communicate to the public about the
business’s products and services. These can be for a Chain ↗, a single business ↗, a Service Area Business ↗ (SAB – one
which gives a service area where they will visit, and does not supply a physical location), or a Free Hosting website with a
paid URL ↗. With Name and Address match, you can use the CWS to judge status, Name, Address, and Phone.

Official Social Site (OSS). An Official Social Site (OSS) serves the same purpose as a CWS only it is hosted on a social
media platform and should have posts from the business owner within 365 days (Facebook, Dianping, Ctrip, Practo if
claimed, Ekiten, Hotpepper, Gnavi, Tabelog, VK, and OK). When Name and Address match, you can use the OSS to judge
status, Name, Address, and Phone.

A social page with no owner input may not have been created by the business - with only written reviews, treat it like
a Review Site, and with no owner input and no user input, treat it like an Aggregator.

Review Sites. A Review Site is a website that publishes online directories of businesses, similar to Aggregators, only
they also provide a place for users to review the business (such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, FourSquare). A Bing or Google
business listing with written reviews is a Review Site. You can use these to judge Status only.
• Written user reviews on a matching entity made within 60 days are an Open signal (ignore star-only reviews)
• A claimed review page is at least evidence of past existence, so if you find a written review older than 60 days and
there is no closed signal you can judge Cannot Verify, since we do not know what happened after that review
• If all you can find is a matching page with star-only reviews or no reviews, judge as Cannot Verify
Please learn the most common review sites available in your language so you know to include them in your research. If
we test you on a review resource you cannot access, please give feedback in the hit so we can be aware of this.

Permanently Closed Flags on Review Sites. If you find a review site with matching Name and Address, written reviews of
any age, and a permanently closed flag, judge status as Closed (but always ignore the Bing status flag). If the review
page lacks written reviews but has matching Name and Address and a permanently closed flag, and there is no other
status signal found on web search, judge as Junk. You can use these to judge Status only.

Street Images. Find Street Images at the given address using Bing Maps, Google Maps, or Baidu Maps. They can
demonstrate closures when store signs are seen in one image and taken down or new businesses replace them in the
later image (most common use). If the most recent street view available shows the business but the image is older than
60 days and there is no closed signal found in web search, judge Cannot Verify since we are not sure what happened
after. 99% of the time, you use these to judge Status only.

Wikipedia. Do not use to judge Open Status or NAP. Businesses in certain segments, especially public attractions
(geographic features and manmade structures), will not have dedicated websites but with the help of Wikipedia you can
find out who owns and operates them. Wikipedia also informs of rebrands, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies.
99% of the time, you use these to judge one of the not-Open Statuses only.

Aggregators. An Aggregator is a website that publishes online directories of businesses (ex. Whitepages ↗); pages
have no written reviews. Do not use these for confirming Status, Name, Address, or Phone.

2.2 Other Resources

We discuss other web resources here as you will come across them while you’re researching certain businesses.

Free Domains. A Free Hosting Domain does what a CWS does, only the business does not pay for the website URL.
Watch for "Powered By" and a link to a free website builder in the page footer (GoDaddy, Petfinder, Shopify, Wix, etc),
but the main giveaway is the host name in the URL (https://shandas.weebly.com/).

The free websites tend to go stale, so there must be owner activity within 365 days (such as a blog post) or user activity
within 60 days (such as in an embedded written review), in order to treat the URL like a CWS – you could then treat as
Open and judge all attributes.

If you don’t see recent enough activity but you can confirm Open elsewhere (such as if there's a user review within 60
days on another website), you can combine that with a Free Hosting Site and use the Free Hosting Site to judge Name,
Address, and Phone.

Membership Sites. Some businesses join professional organizations and will have listings there. Unless a date is
given, we assume the data is a year or more old, so these cannot be used for Open status; however if Open status is
determined elsewhere and the Name and Address match, you can use these to confirm Name, Address, and Phone.

Container Website. Container Websites come into play when you have one entity located inside another, like a store
in a mall, a bar in a hotel, or a store within another store. Usage varies depending on if it is:
▪ first party container (one enterprise runs both container and contained) – can judge Open/Closed and NAP, or
o ex. Cosmopolitan Restaurant ↗ inside Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant (Open)
▪ third party container (one enterprise runs the container and another enterprise runs the contained) – only used
for non-Open Statuses.
o ex. American Eagle Outfitters ↗ formerly inside Brentwood Town Centre mall (Closed)

Government Registry. Businesses not run by government may still have to register with the government, and these
registries are often online. These are great to verify business that don't have much web presence otherwise. Search for
<location> and "government business registration" to find these. (If you find one that says "Is this your business?" it's
probably just an aggregator.)

Judge Closed if their status is Dissolved (ex. ↗), Merged, Expired, Cancelled, Forfeited, Terminated, Deceased,
Withdrawn, or Purged.
If their status is Active, Inactive, Good Standing, or Bad Standing, check the registration date:
• if the date is within 365 days means you can consider Open and judge Name, Address, and Phone, or
• if it is older than 365 days or not listed, take the site as evidence of past existence only (so with nothing else to go
on, it’s Cannot Verify)
o Continue looking for an Open signal on another site and if you find one, combine these two resources and use
the registry to judge Name, Address, and Phone

Official Tourism. Attractions like geographic features and manmade structures won't have a lot of web presence but
get written up on Official Tourist Sites. Use them like you would Wikipedia – to help with research.

Third Party Action. A third party may use their website to perform some action – make a reservation, make an airline
booking, send out for food delivery – with another business for the customer. If you find the matching business, try the
action (always stop at the payment or submit step), and if you can request the action, that is a current Open signal – but
don’t use the page to judge Name, Address, or Phone.

Articles. News articles often tell of local (ex. ↗) or chain-wide closures and announce moves as well as new businesses.
The information has to be within 60 days for an Open signal. Keep in mind that old articles may themselves be
outdated, but they can help confirm Closures by demonstrating past existence.

3 Matching
We tell you about these matching rules because you need to know if the resource you found actually matches the
business you are judging, although often a resource not matching can give you Status information, too.

1. An Entity is identified by its Name and its Address. Name and Address both need to match or qualify as
matching. Phone and website are given for reference only and may not be accurate.
2. Interpret the entity identity as Name before Address. Thus if you see a business with Name "City Creek Center"
↗ (a mall in Salt Lake City) and Address "6191 S State Street, Murray, UT 84107" ↗ (which is for "Fashion Place"
mall), it refers to "City Creek Center" but at the given address. This probably never existed.
3. Department information is always considered part of the Name. Department words like Pharmacy, Photo, Gas,
etc, may be presented in a separate field but these are usually shown in the Name field.
4. Address matching is within 100 meters (100 m / 0.1 km / 328 ft / 0.062 mi). This is within 100 M of the
property or within 100 M of a large entity. Measure distance in Bing Maps or Google Maps by searching for one
address, and then use the directions feature to input the second.
5. Two businesses cannot be both matching and contained. For example, if "City Creek Center" ↗ contains a
"Costa Vida" ↗, then they do not match. Containment may be Physical or Virtual or both.
6. "Large Entities" impact matching. All addresses within the contiguous property of a large entity are considered
matching. This applies to the large entity itself, as well as to entities contained within the large entity.
7. "Moved" entities do not match. Old and new locations of entities that moved more than 100 M away from the
property or away from the large entity do not match. (Note that entities which move from one point to another
within a large entity do match.)
8. "Major rebrands" do not match. Old and new versions of the name for a business that went through a major
name change do not match. This can be through merger, rebranding, acquisition, etc, but we refer to all of
these under the umbrella term "Major rebrand".
9. "Minor rebrands" match. When users can readily identify both versions of the name, match them. For
example, "Dunkin' Donuts" recently rebranded to "Dunkin' " and most users will know this is the same chain.
10. Generic names probably do not match. Rarely, some generic names do match (such as when the generic name
is really its name, or there is only one of such generic name in the city). If the generic name is a category, it will
probably not match, and if it is a location, interpret it to refer to the location, so it will not match either.
11. If two of these rules apply to the same Hit vs. Resource scenario, choose the lower judgment.
3.1 100 Meter Rule
In the below example, the two addresses in the upper circle would be considered matching, but neither matches to the
address in the lower circle. (If you have a match, you'd then go on to score address correctness if your resource permits
it, and if you do not have a match, the business probably won't be scored as Open.)

Measuring address distances

• use Bing Maps and either Google Maps or the alternate designated for your market (use the smaller distance, if
you get different values between map engines)
• use walking directions
• do not include the business name, unless you cannot determine the address otherwise

Addresses From/To 21212 Bake Pkwy 24511 Trabuco Rd 24541 Trabuco Rd

21212 Bake Pkwy, 0.1 miles (528 ft,
384 ft (117 m)
Lake Forest, CA Same Address 161 m)
No Match ↗
92630 No Match ↗
24511 Trabuco Rd, 0.1 miles (528 ft,
187 ft (57 m)
Lake Forest, CA 161 m) Same Address
Match ↗
92630 No Match ↗
24541 Trabuco Rd,
384 ft (117 m) 187 ft (57 m)
Lake Forest, CA Same Address
No Match ↗ Match ↗
92630
3.2 Large Entity Matching
The presence of a large entity (including College and University Campuses, Large Hospitals, Headquarters of Large
Corporations, Large Parks, Airports, Malls, and Office Parks) impacts matching.

Matching
• When the entity is a Large Entity, and the address variation points to:
o any area inside of the same property of a contiguous large entity
o a different area within 100 m of the boundary of the correct large entity campus
• When the entity is contained within a Large Entity, there is only one found there currently, and the address
variation points to:
o any area inside of the same property of a contiguous large entity ↗
o a different area within 100 m of the boundary of the correct large entity campus

Not Matching
• Addresses pinning more than 100 m outside the property of a contiguous large entity
• When the entity is contained within a Large Entity, but more than one with that name is found there currently,
and the address variation points to:
o any area inside of the same property of a contiguous large entity
o a different area within 100 m of the boundary of the correct large entity campus

Contiguous means there are no breaks in the area. Imagine walking from one address/pin to another – if you ever have
to cross more than 100 m of property that doesn't belong to the entity, that is not contiguous.

For example, this college indicates their campus area with the color green on their campus map. The black buildings on
the left of the image are operated by the college, but are too far from campus to be considered a part of the large entity.

4 Status
Once you find resources by web search, use that information to decide on Status. Ask yourself, does the resource match
the business? Is it permitted for use and for what kind of use? Is it too old to use for Open status but says something
about past existence? Can I find another signal elsewhere, like a closed signal or sign of replacement?

Current Existence (owner ≤ 365 days, written user reviews ≤ 60 days)

Unconfirmed Does Not Exist Confirmed

Existence

Unconfirmed Cannot Verify Junk Open

Past

Confirmed Cannot Verify Closed Open

To use this table, look at where the past existence and current existence meet. For example, if you know the business
used to exist (by written user review or street images > 60 days old or by social page with owner posts > 365 days) but
you do not have any resource confirming its current existence, judge as Cannot Verify.
4.1 Open
Status "Open". The business is operational and able to do business with users (this does not refer to business hours).
Also includes businesses that are:
• seasonal in nature and currently closed for the offseason but due to reopen within 365 days (seen most often in
summer or winter restaurants, ski resorts, lake attractions, etc)
• temporarily closed for remodeling or vacation and scheduled to reopen within 30 days (if it’s longer than 30
days or they don’t say when they can reopen, go with Closed instead)
• businesses temporarily closed for any other reason, including covid-19 (assume it’s due to Covid-19 if they do
not give a reason and mark as Open)

Do not mark Open and "fix" the address, when the addresses are more than 100 meters apart (unless you’re dealing
with a large entity) – this means you’ve found a non-matching resource and will need to select a non-Open Status.

The general rule for Open signals is matching Name/Address and:

• Business activity with 365 days, OR
• User activity within 60 days
…and no sign of Closure.

Open Signals
Signals Directly From the Owner (all 3 of these can also be used to judge Name, Address, and Phone, a.k.a. NAP)
1. Company Website (CWS) – any time period, no closed signal on this page or another
2. Official Social Site (OSS) – posts or other owner inputs within 365 days, no closed signal on this page or another
3. Free Domains – owner inputs within 365 days (blog posts, etc) or user inputs within 60 days (input as a CWS
resource), no closed signal on this page or another
Signals Indirectly from the Owner
• First Party Container – ex. the on-brand restaurant inside a hotel – any time period, no closed signal on this
page or another (input as CWS and judge NAP)
• Government Registry – within 365 days with registry status Active, Inactive, Good/Bad Standing (can judge NAP,
input as a CWS)
• Membership Sites – within 365 days (can judge NAP, input as ‘an Official Social Site’)
• Articles – within 60 days (rare but if it happens you can judge NAP, input as ‘an Official Social Site’)
• Street Images – within 60 days (rare but if it happens you can judge NAP, input as ‘an Official Social Site’)
• Third Party Action – able to perform the service now, up to the payment or submission step (do not judge NAP,
input as ‘other approved web information’)
Signals From Users
• Reviews – within 60 days (do not judge NAP, input as ‘other approved web information’)

NOT AN OPEN SIGNAL

• Stale Official Social Site (OSS) or Free Domain – owner posts > 365 days, written user reviews > 60 days
• Stale Review Sites - user reviews > 60 days
• Stale Street Images – older than 60 days
• Stale Membership or Government Registry Site – date unknown or > 365 days
• Third Party Container sites – ex. a store page on a mall website – doesn’t justify Open Status
• Inactive First Party Action – ex. store found on an order online site but says ‘not available at this time’
• Wikipedia – existence of a Wikipedia page doesn’t tell you the business/entity is Open now
• Official Tourism Website – a page on a tourism domain doesn’t give a strong enough Open signal
• Old Articles – if the post of the article is > 60 days that doesn’t justify Open Status
• Aggregators – do not confirm status using an aggregator alone (if all you have is an Aggregator – a
directory page, no written user reviews, not claimed, no closed flag – mark Cannot Verify)
4.2 Closed
Status "Closed". You find the business has ceased operations permanently but you can show that it was Open in the
past. Also includes:
• businesses temporarily closed, for remodeling or vacation, of unknown duration, and with no set reopen date
o (for unspecified temporary closures, assume it’s for covid-19 lockdowns and go with Open instead)

Closed Signals
DO NOT USE BING PERMANENTLY CLOSED FLAG AS A CLOSED SIGNAL
Single Resource – matching name and address and…
• CWS is found that says the location permanently closed or moved
• OSS is found and either
o the owner posts saying the location permanently closed
o there is past owner activity and now the page is flagged permanently closed
o the page posts indicating they have moved (and it is more than 100 m away)
• A review page with past written reviews (older than 60 days) also has a permanently closed flag
• Articles discuss the business being permanently closed or moved
• Business registration indicates a permanent closure (Dissolved, Merged, Expired, Cancelled, Forfeited,
Terminated, Deceased, Withdrawn, Purged)
• A claimed aggregator confirms past existence while the single space is occupied now by another business (do
not use this if there are multiple units at the given address – only use for single occupancy)
• You confirm the location used to exist (through a stale OSS, old review, old article, old street image, etc), and
also find the business has gone through a Major Rebranding (acquisition, merger, name change, etc, perhaps by
Wikipedia article) and thus is not operating with the given Name and Address any longer
• Street images show the business and later signs are removed/replaced/says "we've moved", or it looks
abandoned
Dual Resource
• Street images show the business and so confirm past existence, and the chain store locator which should show
the business does not list it any longer
For all of these, input the resource as ‘other approved web information’.

“Closed” Example: Closed (3000). The provided CWS ↗ fails to load this location URL, searching the locator
now doesn't return this location (only a nearby one ↗ further than 100 meters away), and this branch is seen in
2016-2019 street images ↗ (no later images available). If this were still Open, it would be in the CWS locator,
but it's not. Since we have evidence of past existence and confirmation it isn't operating now, this is Closed.

4.3 Junk
Status "Junk". We don't know if the business operated in the past but it's definitely not open now. Includes:
• an unreviewed aggregator with a permanently closed flag is the only resource found
• name matches the subject of the website, but the address is for a different business that is briefly mentioned on
the site (ex. ‘Sedro-Woolley Chamber of Commerce, 1860 South Burlington Blvd Burlington Washington 98233’
↗ is Junk)
• the business name is a city, state, or neighborhood unless it is a name that the business actually uses
• the business named could not exist or have existed at the given address (i.e. zoning is unreasonable)
 • the city, state, and postal code are all missing

Do not mark Junk when there are only unreviewed aggregators for the business (this would be Cannot Verify).

Junk Signals
For all of the below scenarios, assume past existence cannot be proven (if you can prove past existence, that’s Closed).
• Chain/Group Locator – The chain or group CWS has a locator or list of locations where the hit business would be
found if it existed, and it's not listed there
• Single Business – Another CWS is found matching Name and City, but with a non-matching address (it is a
common error to mark as Open and ‘fix’ the address – do not do this)
• Not Listed in Container – The business would be contained in some other entity like an airport, mall, shopping
center, or train station, the container website listing all their contained entities, and it doesn't list the hit
business (presence of a higher resource like a CWS overrides this signal)
• Building Occupied by Other Entity – For addresses which would hold one and only one entity, and you can
demonstrate the space is filled by another entity, not the hit business
• Unclaimed Aggregator Flags as Permanently Closed – Applies when no other resources are found
For all of these, input the resource as ‘other approved web information’.

“Junk” Example: Junk (6000). A CWS ↗ can be found for a Wells Fargo ATM only, while the provided Name is
for a Wells Fargo branch. These names don't match (this is a Common Error). We find no past evidence of a
Wells Fargo branch location at the provided Address, and since the Chain CWS branch locator lists all current
locations, we know it is not Open now so it's Junk.

4.4 Cannot Verify

Status "Cannot Verify" (CV). Nothing reliable can be said about past or current existence. Also includes:
• entities that might be open (past existence shown and no closed signal) but the Open signal isn't recent enough
• businesses "Coming soon" or "Opening soon" with no set date, or set to open more than 7 days from now
• when the address line is incomplete/missing and it could match to more than one possible, distinct location
• when the name is a generic category ('ATM', 'Music', etc), or semi-generic category ('London Shoes', 'Paris
Medicine') where no such business of this name exists, while zoning is reasonable

Note: retail chain locations with functioning store locators or complete lists of stores (where the Name refers to a
branch of the chain), very likely will NOT be marked as Cannot Verify. It will either be found in the locator (judge Open),
or it will not be found and you either find proof of past existence (Closed), or you cannot confirm it ever existed (Junk).

How much research is enough for judge CV? Vary combinations of Name, Address, and Phone plus keywords like
Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor, FourSquare, CLOSED, etc on Bing and Google/Baidu, viewing one to three pages of results,
to find the CWS and other resources. Also check Facebook or approved alternate social media manually for the business
(ex. “site:facebook.com Baa Baa Bandits +353 85 750 8208”). Finally check available street images.

“Cannot Verify” Example: Cannot Verify (4000). The CWS ↗ matching name and state lists only a location in
Marietta which is a different city 10 miles away. The State Bar of Georgia page for this lawyer ↗ lists only
 Marietta (this is a Membership Site). Do not mark Open with Incorrect Address (this is a Common Error). There
is a Roswell, GA 30075 ↗, and we do not know if this lawyer ever kept an office there. This is Cannot Verify.

5 Correctness
5.1 Name
Name "Equivalent". These are versions of the name which match and would be considered of equal value to the
average user in the market, and which do not have any serious defect.

Name "Incorrect". These are versions of the name which match but have some defect:
• part of a word is cut off but it's recognizable ("Forever" for "Forever 21" ↗)
• it's a first and last name alone, lacking a title, category, or business container name ("Ashley Park" instead of
"Ashley Park, DDS")
• it's an acronym the business never uses ("BM" for "Boost Mobile")
• the service level variation we have is too high ("Walmart Supercenter" when it's not really a Supercenter)
• generic name, only one possible match found ("Swimming Pool" for "Berea Swimming Pool" ↗)
• chain name, when there is a local brand ("Ace Hardware" instead of "Whale Point Marine & Hardware" ↗)
• chain name, when they are an authorized retailer ("Verizon" instead of "Victra" ↗)
• it's a URL not used as the business name ("Babcockpresbyterianchurch.com" for "Babcock Presbyterian Church")
• it's the owner's personal name (who is not a contained professional), when the business has a trade name

Judgment Check. When you mark the Name as Incorrect and update it and you compare the two names, would you
consider the names to be not matching? If this is the case, you’ve probably made a common error. There is good
chance you have found a resource that does not match the given business, and you should be judging the business as
some non-Open status instead.

Name "Cannot Verify". This should not be used very often, since you won't judge Name on a non-Open business; that
means if you're judging the name, you were able to find a matching resource – that should be used to judge the Name.

5.2 Phone Number

Finding Phone Numbers. Check main pages of the CWS found in the hit or on web search (landing page, Contact Us,
Find Us, About Us, etc). Do a web search for only the phone, varying the punctuation and quotes (“+264 62 521 550” or
+26462521550 or 62521550). Do site: search to find phone numbers (ex. “site:lidl.it contattaci” to find 045-6135111
or ”site:lidl.it 800 48 00 48” or ”site:lidl.it 800480048” to confirm that phone number); avoid using old/undated .pdf files
(if > 365 days or undated judge Cannot Verify). Phone numbers are often confirmable on social media. When the given
phone is not found on the CWS, look for an OSS, often linked from the CWS, or you can we search, ex. “Baa Baa Bandits
Facebook +353 85 750 8208” or “Baa Baa Bandits site:facebook.com +353 85 750 8208”on Bing and Google (or Baidu).

Correct Phone Formats. Do a web search for “phone numbers in “ + the country name to find resources like the
Wikipedia page that explain the country code, whether there is a trunk code, and about landline vs mobile vs toll-free vs
non-geographic numbers, so you can spot when a phone number is invalid. Do not penalize for punctuation or spacing.

Phone "Correct". Hit Phone matches on the confirmation resource, the number is well-formatted, it is either a national
or toll-free number which may be in international format, and it would reach the given business directly or through a
main switchboard (if the Hit business has an extension, the main number without the extension is also Correct).

Punctuation and spacing variations are fine (ex. (844) 462-7342, 844.462.7342, 8444627342, +18444627342, etc).
Phone "Incorrect". The given phone is:
• Not provided, but a phone number can be found
• Different branch of the same chain
• Different department (ex. for car dealerships, use sales, not service/parts)
• Department or specific professional phone, when the Hit business is main, and vice-versa
• Different professional
• Other business entirely
• Fax number
• Missing essential portion (from the perspective of an in-market caller), especially the area code
• (cannot be found on CWS/OSS and not confirmable to any other business either is Cannot Verify, not Incorrect)

Phone “Incorrect” Example: Open (Status), Equivalent (Name), Incorrect (Phone), Correct (Address); (1121).
CWS ↗ Name and Address match exactly but Phone doesn't. Web search (985) 502-0991 to see this number is
for Walmart Grocery Pickup ↗ which is not apt for the store overall (it’s a Common Error to miss this web
search); mark Phone Incorrect – supply 985-467-8046.

"No Phone". Use this option when all reliable resources found confirm this business does not give out its phone number
or does not have one, either for the single location or for the main company phone (use if the hit does or does not have
a phone). Be sure to use all ‘Finding Phone Numbers’ searches before you choose this option.

Do not mark No Phone for locations just because they are unmanned. ATMs and other kiosks often still have contact
phone numbers, and you may have to search the CWS and other resources to find these numbers.

“No Phone” Example: Open (Status), Equivalent (Name), No Phone (Phone), Correct (Address); (1131). CWS
↗ has exactly matching Name and Address, but no phone can be found on CWS, OSS ↗, or in web search.

Phone "Cannot Verify". The Hit Phone cannot be found on the confirmation resources or on any other resources, and it
cannot be linked to any other business either, so it might be a good phone number that is unlisted but we do not know.
We do not want to penalize these unlisted phone numbers. It is a common error to mark these phones as Incorrect.

Phone “Cannot Verify” Example: Open (Status), Equivalent (Name), Cannot Verify (Phone), Correct (Address);
(1141). The CWS ↗ has exactly matching Name and Address so those are Equivalent and Correct. We can find
 references to the provided Phone (719) 591-5516 but they are from 2012 ↗ and 2013 ↗ so we do not know if
this is still a good number. It might be, so don't mark it Incorrect (that is a #CommonError). Mark Cannot Verify.

5.3 Address
For Address Correctness, generally our main concern is navigability, that a core address is present which can navigate
to an accurate lat/long where the given business is located (to within 100 m of the property or edge of the large entity
grounds); we call this a "navigable address".

Usually this will mean you have an AddressLine with either:

1. A standard address of Building Number, Street Name, Street Type (and Cardinal Direction ↗, if required)
2. A cross street address, usually written as "This Street & That Avenue"
…along with enough city, state, and postal code information for the address to pin at the business's true location.

With either of those present, additional AddressLine information may be present or missing, and may be correct or
incorrect, and it will not impact the address correctness (like floor number; suite, apartment, or unit number; additional
building name, number, or letter; neighborhood names; container business names; etc). Details given below and
market-specific considerations override this information if it conflicts.

Address "Correct".
• Complete AddressLine, City, State, and Postal Code – no required portion is missing, and if there is additional
information it is accurate or it does not impact navigability
o includes where the AddressLine uses a navigable cross streets address ("La Veta Dr & Prospect Ave NE")
o check sample addresses on Bing Maps to see if a certain field is never shown (most common especially for
state/subdivision in Great Britain and Germany) – if this is the case, the field is optional
• Incomplete Address which is still navigable, including but not limited to:
o Postal Code missing but not required (applies to most markets)
o missing Suite Number
o Street Type missing but not required (confirmed by CWS/OSS or postal lookup)
o Cardinal Direction missing but not required (confirmed by CWS/OSS or postal lookup)
o Building Number missing but the street name given
▪ matches the address or a cross street, and
▪ it is less than or equal to two blocks (200 M) long

Address "Incorrect".
• Street Name is misspelled
• Cardinal Direction is Incorrect
• Street Type is Incorrect
• Street Type missing but it’s required (you can tell it’s required when CWS/OSS AND postal lookup both use it)
• Cardinal Direction missing and required (you can tell it’s required when CWS/OSS AND postal lookup both use it)
• Postal code:
o missing leading 0 (especially in en language/USA hits)
 o incomplete, where a complete postal code is required for the market
o missing, where the postal code is required for the market
o incorrect and not navigable (pt-BR)
o incorrect and does not pertain to the same city
• Incomplete Address which is not navigable, including:
o building number missing but the street name given
▪ matches the address or a cross street, and
▪ it is more than two blocks (200 m) long
• Large Entity Match but confirmed address is more than 100 m from the hit address

Judgment check: Did you mark the address as Incorrect and update it? If the two addresses are both complete and
more than 100 m away from the business or the edge of the large entity grounds, you probably made a common error.
There is good chance you have found a resource that does not match the given business, and you should be judging the
business as some non-Open status instead.

Address judgment is "No Physical Address".

• The business is a Service Area Business (SAB) ↗
• No AddressLine is provided in the HitApp and no physical address is confirmed on the CWS/OSS
• No AddressLine is provided in the HitApp while the CWS/OSS uses a PO Box (Locked Bag, Private Mail Bag, etc)
• A PO Box (Locked Bag, Private Mail Bag, etc) is provided in the HitApp and no physical address is confirmed on
the CWS/OSS

Address "Cannot Verify". This will not be used very often, it would only apply if you were confident that the business
was open by way of a matching name and address on an approved web resource, but the website contains contradictory
information, and you cannot be sure what the exact correct address would be.

6 Basic Examples
Open (Status), Equivalent (Name), Correct (Phone), Correct (Address). On the CWS ↗ all attributes match and web
search has no closed signal.