How Bookify Directory Results Are Ranked
Last updated: 6 August 2026 · v1.1
This policy explains, in plain language, how the Bookify Directory orders search and browse results. We keep this explanation accurate and up to date so that businesses and visitors can understand how results appear.
1. How results are ordered
The Directory orders businesses with a simple, transparent rule. Listings are first filtered by category, locality (and island) and any search term you enter; a search term matches the business name. The remaining listings are then ordered by status: Featured profiles first, then claimed profiles, then unclaimed profiles. Within the Featured group the order is alphabetical, and within the other groups listings keep the order in which they are published in the Directory.
Category, locality, island and search terms do not re-order the listings that match; they only remove listings that do not match. Distance, opening status, how recently information was checked and review counts are not ranking factors in the current version.
In the default All Businesses view, where you have not entered a search term, category or locality, every listing is shown. Featured profiles appear first, in alphabetical order, and the remaining listings are ordered by their published order. Featured status is the only status that changes a profile’s visible position: it moves a profile to the top of any result list. Claimed status ranks above unclaimed in the ordering rule, but every currently claimed profile is also Featured, so in practice the visible order is Featured profiles first, followed by the remaining listings in their published order.
2. Claimed, unclaimed and Featured status
A listing can be unclaimed, claimed or Featured. Unclaimed profiles are published from independent research. A claimed profile has been verified as belonging to the business through the claiming process. A profile may display a “Featured” label where the business has a working relationship with Bookify Malta.
Some Featured profiles may have a direct working relationship with or be affiliated with Bookify. Featured status is not an endorsement of a business’s services, licences, qualifications or quality, and claiming a listing does not imply that Bookify verifies or endorses those either.
3. Paid placement
There is currently no paid placement, sponsorship or promoted placement in the Directory. If Bookify Malta ever introduces paid placement, we will clearly label each paid result as “Sponsored” or “Promoted”, we will update this policy and the Terms of Service before activation, and payment will never be disguised as an organic ranking factor.
4. Manual intervention
Bookify Malta may manually demote, hide or remove a result where information is seriously inaccurate, where a business is closed or the subject of an ownership dispute, where a listing is under legal review, or where required by law. We do not sell manual placement.
5. Keeping this policy accurate
This policy is reviewed whenever the ranking system changes. We do not publish security-sensitive implementation details, but the description above always reflects the main parameters actually in use. Questions about ranking can be sent to legal@bookify.mt.