How does cleansing work?

Cleansing is a process during which a location's address is checked for formatting issues and is validated. Once cleansing is completed, the location will be marked "cleansed" and the data will be queued for submission to the directories.

We wait for the cleansing process to be completed before submitting data to directories as most of them have strict data quality standards and rules. This ensures the listing will not get flagged by the directory for additional review (which causes publication delays), or worse, get blacklisted and removed.

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,
• It ensures data parity across all the platforms to encrease customer trust and decrease confusion with conflicting results, and
• It increases our credibility with the directories, resulting in data being preferred over other providers.

When does a location get cleansed?

There are 2 instances when a location will get cleansed:

1. When a location is first created on the platform, and
2. When changes are made to data fields deemed crucial for locating or identifying the venue (change of business name or street address). 

If changes are made to non-address-related fields (ex: phone number, opening hours, social media profiles, website etc.) automatic validations allow the location to bypass cleansing and be submitted without the need for further review.

What is looked at during the cleansing process?

Cleansing focuses on formatting and validating location address and name to make sure it is ready for syndication. Below is a brief overview of what is done during this process:

• Content Formatting - We format all address elements, remove legal abbreviations, etc. 
• Content Validation - We validate all address elements, ensure that city, state & countries match, validate postal codes, etc.
• Clean Name- We set the clean name for a business which depicts the real-life storefront of the business (more information about clean name can be found here). 

How do I request cleansing?

You do not need to request cleansing. It is a service that is automatically triggered.

Which directories require cleansing?

All directories require cleansing.

We will not submit your location data to directories until the location has been cleansed. Please keep in mind that this requirement can result in up to 24 hour delay in submitting and publishing to these directories. 

For Google & Facebook, we can submit uncleansed data at the time of connection. The listing will then be updated with the cleansed data once the location finishes the cleansing process. 

How long does cleansing take?

Cleansing should take up to 24 hours, unless there have been large batch uploads that could overload the queue. 

How can I see if cleansing is completed?

To see the cleansing status of a location, go to the location profile page. On the right side of the page, you will see a section containing the cleansing status. Below are the three possible statuses:

Pending:
Cleansed:Invalidated: Please update your address again, making sure to provide a valid address where your business is located at.