Using the Signal Mark

The rules, in full

• Link it to your profile. The badge is a live link to your verified profile so anybody can check the source in one click. A badge that links nowhere is just a picture.
• Use the code we give you. The image is served from us on every page load. Do not download it and host it yourself — a self-hosted copy keeps saying "verified" after it stops being true.
• Do not alter it. No recolouring, no rotating, no stretching, no adding your own words to it.
• Clear space. Leave a gap the height of one bar on every side.
• Minimum size. Never below 16px. Under 24px, use the emblem on its own without the wording.
• Do not claim a rating you cannot back up. The rich badge shows your live figures. Do not put a different number beside it.
• Solid backgrounds. Light or dark, not photographs.

When the licence ends

The right to display the mark lasts exactly as long as your verification does. If a certificate lapses, if you leave, or if a dispute goes against you, the badge on your website changes by itself within a few minutes — we do not have to ask you to take it down, and you do not have to remember to.

That is deliberate, and it is the reason the mark is worth displaying. Anybody can copy an image; nobody can copy a badge that stops working when it stops being true.

Unauthorised use

The mark is our property. We monitor where it is being displayed, and we act on use by companies that are not verified — including companies that once were. If you have seen the mark somewhere it should not be, tell us.