methodology / Email & Communications / #75

Branded domain email address (vs free Gmail/Yahoo)

live factor #75 · Email & Communications · scoring impl: implemented · weight 1.3%

What we measure

Real businesses use email at their own domain (yourname@yourdomain.com), not a free Gmail or Yahoo address. Customers notice this in seconds and treat it as a basic legitimacy signal.

How to improve your score

Set up Google Workspace ($6/user/mo), Microsoft 365 ($6/user/mo), Zoho Mail (free for small accounts), or Fastmail. Update every visible email address on your site.

Data source

Data source for this factor is not yet documented.

Implementation notes

Already collected. Refines by detecting visible `<a href="mailto:...@gmail.com">` patterns on the homepage / contact page.

Scoring

Scoring formulas are versioned with the methodology. The current method (v1.1.0) maps raw measurements to pass, warn, fail. Factor weights determine how much each contributes to the composite — see the methodology index for the full table.

Version history

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