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CrawlPod Verified Badge

The CrawlPod Verified Badge is a cryptographically signed trust badge — signed with HMAC-SHA256 — backed by a public verification page at crawlpod.com/verify. It can be placed in a site's footer automatically or dropped anywhere on a page using a WordPress shortcode.

What it does

Once a site has an active CrawlPod license, it can display the Verified Badge — a small graphic linking to a public verification page that confirms the badge is genuine and shows when the site was last verified. The signature behind the badge is generated with HMAC-SHA256, so it can't be copied and reused on a different, unverified site.

The badge can be added automatically to the site footer, or placed anywhere else on a page using a WordPress shortcode.

Why it matters

The badge signals to AI crawlers, and to human visitors, that a site is AI-optimized and that its claims about that are independently checkable — a verification page anyone can visit, rather than a graphic that simply asserts trust with nothing behind it. As more buying and research decisions route through AI assistants, a checkable signal like this gives both AI systems and people a reason to treat a site's content as credible.

How it works

  1. Enable the Verified Badge from the CrawlPod dashboard.
  2. CrawlPod generates an HMAC-SHA256 signed token unique to your site and license.
  3. The badge is added to your site footer automatically.
  4. Optionally place it elsewhere with the [crawlpod_badge] shortcode.
  5. Anyone can click the badge to confirm it on the public verification page.
WordPress shortcode
[crawlpod_badge]

Key concepts

  • HMAC-SHA256 signature— the cryptographic method used to sign the badge so it can't be forged or copied to another site.
  • Public verification page — the crawlpod.com/verify page anyone can visit to confirm a badge is genuine.
  • Footer badge — the default automatic placement.
  • Shortcode — the manual placement method for putting the badge anywhere else on a page.

Limitations & fair usage

The Verified Badge is available on the Business plan and above. The badge remains valid only while the underlying license is active — letting a license lapse invalidates the signature the verification page checks against.