Frequently Asked Questions
Below you’ll find answers to common questions about how TrustLytics works, what our Digital Trust Ratings mean, and how businesses and consumers can participate in the trust movement.
General
A Digital Trust Rating represents how confidently a consumer can engage with a website based on its handling of identity, payments, security, transparency, and self-service. Each rating is backed by measurable evidence, not opinion.
Websites are analyzed based on their public availability and consumer visibility. We focus on digital commerce sites first, prioritizing those most likely to affect user safety, data handling, or financial transactions.
No. TrustLytics operates as an independent analytics platform. We do not accept compensation to influence scores or exclude results. Businesses may later subscribe to manage their profiles and communicate when there are updates for us to evaluate, but all ratings remain independently derived.
Methodology
Ratings are periodically refreshed as websites evolve. Frequency depends on evidence availability, signal changes, and the introduction of new scoring criteria. As the system matures, automated re-evaluations will increase in cadence.
TrustLytics performs independent evaluations of each site to ensure integrity.
Businesses may contact TrustLytics
request a re-evaluation at any time, but cannot influence TrustLytics' ratings (except by implementing changes that align with our ethos.)
While input is welcome, scoring adjustments are only made when verifiable configuration or experience changes are confirmed.
No — only the portions relevant to trust surfaces are analyzed, such as sign-in, checkout, privacy pages, and security configuration. This ensures focus, efficiency, and privacy.
Technical
Evidence is collected through a controlled, sandboxed process that combines human review and automated checks.
For areas like sign-in and checkout, analysts securely capture public webpage screenshots and limited HTML for evaluation.
For other surfaces such as encryption and certificate health, automated methods are used.
All collection occurs within a restricted environment — no user accounts are accessed, and no sensitive or private data is ever gathered or stored.
Yes. TrustLytics uses AI to interpret patterns in login flows, payment forms, and policy visibility. AI helps identify alignment with known best practices but all scoring logic remains transparent and explainable.
The TrustLytics platform is built entirely on Azure and adheres to Microsoft’s security and compliance frameworks. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and diagnostic evidence is retained only for a limited analysis window.
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