Advertising policy

1. The promise

Rankings, overall scores and best-of picks are never for sale. This has been the founding rule since the first product page was written, and it is the reason the site exists. No brand has ever paid to move up the leaderboard, to be added to a pick, to be described more warmly, or to have a caveat softened. This is the founding rule of the site.

The overall score is computed by a published formula from published inputs (see the methodology). Advertising spend is not an input to that formula. It is not an input to the evidence tier, the quality transparency, the value score, or the community score. There is no field in our product data where money could enter even if we wanted it to.

2. What advertisers can buy

Three surfaces. That is the entire inventory. Each is labelled “SPONSORED” in a visible contrast chip, sits in a container that does not look like editorial content, and carries a “Why am I seeing this?” link back to this page.

A. Sponsored feature card: homepage, one slot

Appears once on the homepage, after the best-of picks and before the leaderboard. Maximum 1 active at any time. Brand name, product name, a tagline of twelve words or fewer, and one link. It is never placed inside a ranked list.

B. Sidebar unit: product, ingredient and category pages

Maximum 1 per page, placed below the editorial content, never inside it. Not available on the comparison tool, the methodology page, or the regulatory tracker: those three pages carry no advertising of any kind, because they are where readers go to check our work. Never inside the best-of picks section.

C. Footer sponsor line: site-wide

One muted text row above the copyright, on every page: “This week, NO1GEVITY is supported by [Brand]: [eight words].” Prefixed with a “Sponsored support” chip. It is the quietest unit we sell and it is still labelled.

3. What advertisers cannot buy, at any price

A ranking change. Position in any list, on any page.
A best-of pick. Picks are derived from the composite plus one stated constraint, printed on the card.
Editorial coverage. Buying a slot does not commission an article, a review, or a mention.
A positive verdict. We do not soften, reword, or re-grade a review because the brand is a customer.
Removal of a negative claim-check verdict. If our claim check says a claim is unsupported, it stays.
Any change to a overall score or to any of its four components.
Removal of a regulatory warning or of anything on the regulatory tracker.
Advance notice of a scoring change, a new pick, or a critical article.

An advertiser who asks for any of the above has their contract ended and their remaining weeks refunded. We do not treat the request as a negotiation.

4. The editorial firewall

The person who sells and selects advertising and the person who writes product editorial are structurally separate roles. NO1GEVITY is small, and for periods it has been run by one person, so rather than claim a wall that headcount does not support, we document the discipline that replaces it:

Advertisers live in a single configuration file (ads.py) that the scoring and ranking code never reads. There is no code path from a booking to a score.
Editorial verdicts and scores are written and committed before any commercial conversation with the brand involved, and are not reopened afterwards.
Nobody is told they are being considered for a pick, and nobody is told a critical piece is coming.
An advertiser's product is not excluded from criticism. Being a customer earns no protection whatsoever.
Every booking is logged with its dates so that any past state of the site can be reconstructed.

5. What we refuse to run

We turn down advertising that would make the rest of the site less useful. Specifically:

Unproven health claims.
Products the site scores below 6.0.
Products with regulatory warnings.
Supplements without third-party testing.

In plain terms: no unproven health claims, nothing we score below 6.0, nothing carrying an active regulatory warning in a market we cover, and nothing without third-party testing. A brand cannot buy its way past the 6.0 floor either: the score is computed first, and the booking is checked against it.

6. Disclosure standard

Every sponsored surface carries the word SPONSORED in an uppercase contrast chip, at a size you can read without looking for it. Not grey-on-grey. Not below the fold of the unit. Not abbreviated. In addition: a distinct container tint and hairline border, a corner ribbon on the feature card, a “Why am I seeing this?” expander on every unit, a dedicated sponsor line in the footer, and this page.

Outbound advertiser links carry rel="sponsored nofollow". If we ever add affiliate revenue on editorial outbound clicks, it will be disclosed on the product page itself, not only here.

7. Refunds for bad-faith advertisers

If, after a campaign starts, we find that an advertised product misrepresents itself, for example a label dose that does not match the certificate of analysis, a claim that the evidence does not support, or a testing claim with no document behind it, we pull the ad immediately and refund the unused portion of the contract, plus the week in which the misrepresentation was found.

We then cover the finding editorially if it is material to readers. The refund is not a settlement and it buys no silence.

8. Rate card

Rates are quoted per week, per slot, with a minimum contract of 2 weeks. Pricing depends on the slot and on current traffic; we send a current rate sheet on request rather than publishing a number that goes stale. There is no volume discount that changes anything on the list in section 3, because nothing on that list is purchasable.

Bookings, questions and complaints: info@no1gevity.com.

9. Affiliate links: terms and conditions

If NO1GEVITY adds affiliate links, the following terms apply to every such link, every brand, and every product page where an affiliate link appears. These terms are published now, before any affiliate relationship begins, so that the rules are in place before the first link goes live.

A. Disclosure at the link

Every affiliate link is marked with a visible disclosure directly at the link, not only on this page. The disclosure reads: "We may earn a commission if you buy through this link. This does not affect our scoring." The disclosure is placed where the reader encounters the link, not buried in a footer or behind a toggle.

B. Affiliate revenue is not an input to scoring

Affiliate status is not a field in the product data, the scoring formula, or the best-of pick logic. A brand that pays us a commission on clicks receives the same score it would receive with no affiliate relationship. This is documented in the methodology and verifiable by inspecting the published formula: there is no input for affiliate status, commission rate, or revenue share.

C. No preferential treatment

Affiliate brands are not:

Excluded from criticism. If an affiliate brand's product scores poorly, the score stands and the affiliate link is removed from that product page.
Given advance notice of scoring changes, critical articles, or regulatory updates.
Allowed to review or approve any editorial content before publication.
Placed higher in rankings or in best-of picks because they pay commissions.

D. Affiliate agreement template

Every affiliate relationship is documented in a written agreement containing these clauses:

No editorial access. The affiliate brand has no right to review, edit, or approve editorial content, scores, or picks before publication.
No score influence. Affiliate status is not an input to the overall score or any of its components.
No removal rights. The brand cannot request removal of negative text, a low score, or a critical verdict in exchange for maintaining the affiliate relationship.
Termination on score drop. If a product's overall score drops below 6.0, the affiliate link is automatically suspended until the score recovers or the product is reformulated and re-tested.
Disclosure obligation. NO1GEVITY discloses the affiliate relationship at the link level. The brand agrees not to describe the relationship as a "partnership" or "endorsement" in its own marketing.
Audit right. The brand may request, once per calendar year, a written confirmation that affiliate status was not used as a scoring input for their products.

A template agreement is available on request: info@no1gevity.com.

10. Advertising agreement template

Every advertising booking is documented in a written agreement containing these mandatory clauses:

No preview rights. The advertiser has no right to review, edit, or approve editorial content, scores, picks, or rankings before publication.
No removal rights. The advertiser cannot request removal or softening of negative text, a low score, or a critical verdict as a condition of advertising.
No score linkage. Payment is not contingent on, or influenced by, the advertiser's product score, ranking position, or inclusion in best-of picks.
Score floor. The advertiser's product must maintain a overall score of 6.0 or above. If the score drops below 6.0 during the campaign, the ad is pulled and the unused portion refunded.
Misrepresentation clause. If the advertised product is found to misrepresent its label dose, testing status, or claims, the ad is pulled immediately with no refund for the week of the finding.
Indemnification. The advertiser indemnifies NO1GEVITY against claims arising from the advertiser's product, claims, or marketing materials.
Term and termination. Minimum 2 weeks. Either party may terminate for breach with 7 days' written notice. NO1GEVITY may terminate immediately for misrepresentation or score-floor violation.