What is Cleansing? #
Cleansing refers to an internal process of checking, validating, and optimising the profile details of a business location. These checks are an all-important final review to make sure a location gets published online quickly & in good order while being pursuant to directory requirements. The cleansing process is the result of our commitment to data quality. It promotes us as leaders in our industry and brings added value to our customers & partner directories.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cleansing #
1. How does cleansing work? #
Cleansing is a process that is done by a team of experts. When someone creates a new location on our platform, we send the information to our cleansers. They use a special program to help format and check the data. Once they have finished, the location will be marked “cleansed” and the data will be sent to the directories.
We send most directories uncleansed data. But for some directories that have stricter standards, we wait until the cleansing process is finished before sending the data. This way, we make sure that the listing won’t get flagged by the directory for additional review (which causes publication delays), or worse, get blacklisted and removed.
2. What are the benefits of cleansing? #
Here are the most important advantages of the cleansing process:
- It optimises a location’s findability & SEO,
- It ensures that business information adheres to both directory guidelines and industry standards, resulting in faster publication rates, and
- It increases Direction Local’s credibility with the directories, resulting in data being preferred over other providers.
3. What is looked at during the cleansing process? #
Cleansing focuses on formatting and validating location data to make sure it is ready for syndication. Below is a brief overview of what is done during this process:
- Format validation – We check character lengths, adjust or remove illegal values (ex: legal abbreviations, special characters), ensure consistent capitalization, etc.
- Content Formatting – We format all address elements, check image formats, remove legal abbreviations, etc.
- Content Validation – We validate all address elements, ensure that city, state & countries match, validate postal codes, etc.
- Rooftop Pin Placement – We ensure rooftop pin placement and confirm that the coordinates represent the given street address of the location.
In addition to making cosmetic improvements to location data, cleansers will also be validating the actual existence of a business. To assist with identifying and confirming information, cleansers will view official sources related to the business (ex: official websites, owner-managed sources) and consult available street & satellite imagery.
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4. When does a location get cleansed? #
There are 2 instances when a location will get cleansed:
- When a location is first created on the platform, and
- When changes are made to data fields deemed crucial for locating or identifying the venue (ex: change of name, street address, or website).
If changes are made to non-address-related fields (ex: phone number, opening hours, social media profiles, etc.) automatic validations allow the location to bypass cleansing and be submitted without the need for further review.
5. How do I request cleansing? #
You do not need to request cleansing. It is a complimentary service that is automatically triggered.
6. Which directories require cleansing? #
The following directories require cleansing:
- Apple
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- Baidu
- HERE
- Alexa
- TripAdvisor
- Yandex
We will not submit your location data to these directories until the location has been cleansed. Please keep in mind that this requirement results in a delay in submitting and publishing to these two directories.
For all other directories, we can submit uncleansed data at the time of sync. The listing will be then updated with the cleansed data once the location finishes the cleansing process.
7. How long does cleansing take? #
Cleansing should take up to three weeks to complete.
8. How can I see if cleansing is complete? #
To see the cleansing status of a location, go to the location’s Basic Details. On the right side of the page, under the Profile Completeness section, you will see a section containing the cleansing status. Below are the two possible statuses:
In Conclusion #
Cleansing is the result of our hard work to be the most accurate source of location data. We have years of experience with addresses from all over the world. This experience and our understanding of our partner directories’ needs has helped us develop a tool that only seeks to improve our clients’ results.
Because of the ever-changing nature of our industry, we are constantly perfecting our methods to make the cleansing process faster & more accurate for the benefit of all stakeholders.
