How verification works

What the badge means

A verified badge means we checked that the business is who it says it is. It is not a rating, a recommendation, or a promise about the quality of their work — reviews are for that.

The levels

A business with none of these has no badge, which is normal for a new listing.

• Business email: someone proved they read email at the business's own domain, by entering a code we sent there.
• Documents: our team checked a GST certificate, Udyam certificate, Shop & Establishment licence or a utility bill in the business's name.
• Verified on site: someone from OctaPages visited the premises.

How a business gets verified

Claiming a listing with your business email verifies you at the email level straight away. Sending documents with a claim, or from your dashboard, gets our team to look and decide, usually within three days.

Claiming a listing someone else added

Some listings are added by our team from public information so people can find the business before it joins. If that's your business, claim it: enter a code we send on WhatsApp to the mobile number on the listing, prove your business email, or send documents. A WhatsApp code hands the listing to you but adds no badge — for a badge, verify with your business email or documents. If a listing already belongs to another account, nothing moves without our team deciding, and the current owner is told at once and has 7 days to respond.

When we take a badge away

If a business closes, changes hands, or we find that a check no longer holds, we remove the badge and tell the business why. Report anything that looks wrong from the listing page, or write to [email protected].

It can't be bought

Verification is free and never for sale. A sponsored listing is labelled "Sponsored" and gets no badge for paying.