When a client searches a district, advisers appear in three groups, and within a group in the order of how much each adviser puts into Sussed. Reviews don't change the order. This page gives the whole picture.
The three groups
- Verified advisers who take new clients and cover the district. Ticking a district on your profile, or "Nationwide", covers it. On a region page, covering any district in the region counts; on the national page, every verified adviser who takes new clients is in this group.
- Other verified advisers. Those who have paused introductions, and those whose profile doesn't cover the district but whose registered address is in it.
- Advisers who haven't claimed their profile, whose registered address is in the district.
Claiming your profile moves you from the third group to the first two; ticking your districts and keeping introductions on keeps you in the first. Your profile covers both.
The order within a group
Each verified adviser has a profile score from 0 to 15, and higher scores come first. It is made of two parts, less any penalties:
- A complete profile, up to 10 points. One point for each of: the name you go by, a photo, a headline, an about of at least 100 characters, a firm, at least one way to reach you, your districts or nationwide, specialities, languages, and a disclosure link.
- Accepting introductions, up to 5 points. The share of introductions you accepted, over the last 90 days, among those you accepted or let run out. Declining doesn't count either way. Until three have counted, you get the middle mark, so a new adviser is neither rewarded nor punished for having no history.
- Less penalties. A fee billed on a client's report or a dispute that goes against you takes 5 points each. An introduction closed as "Contact not made" takes 1 point for the first and 5 for each one after. What you pay and How introductions work say how each arises.
Advisers on the same score rotate daily, so nobody with the same effort is permanently last. Unclaimed advisers all score zero and simply rotate.
What the filters do
A client can narrow the results by what they need and by language. The "what you need" filter keeps verified advisers who list the matching speciality, and lets unclaimed advisers through, since they've said nothing either way. The language filter keeps only advisers who list that language. Both come from the profile form.
What a client sees on your card
Your name, "Verified" with the date you claimed, your firm and licence holder, your headline, your service area, your languages, and how long you've been registered. Once three reviews are published, the card shows the average and how many would use you again. Photos appear on your profile page, not on the card.