The Popularity factor accounts for 20% of every Trust Score. It measures how many people visit a site and whether that traffic is growing or shrinking.
Why traffic matters
A site with high, stable traffic has an active user base. Users continue to return, which signals that the service delivers on its promises. Very low traffic on a site that claims thousands of transactions is a warning sign.
Traffic alone does not guarantee quality. A popular site can still have poor security or bad reviews. That is why popularity is one of four factors, not the only one.
Monthly visitors
Monthly visitor count makes up 60% of the popularity factor. The system measures this as a percentile rank within the site's category. A trading site is compared against other trading sites. A boosting site is compared against other boosting sites.
This category-relative approach prevents unfair comparisons. A niche boosting service with 50,000 monthly visitors should not be penalized because a major trading marketplace gets 5 million. Within its own category, 50,000 visitors may place it in the top tier.
The data comes from third-party analytics providers. We cross-reference multiple sources to reduce the risk of inflated numbers.
3-month trend
The growth trend makes up 40% of the popularity factor. It compares the current month's traffic against the average of the previous three months.
- Growing traffic raises the trend score. A site gaining users month over month signals increasing trust in the community.
- Stable traffic produces a neutral trend score. The site maintains its user base without significant change.
- Declining traffic lowers the trend score. A sustained drop may indicate service issues, increased competition, or loss of user trust.
Short spikes from marketing campaigns or viral events smooth out over the three-month window. The trend rewards sustained growth, not temporary bursts.
How the factor combines
The final popularity score blends the percentile rank (60%) with the trend score (40%). A site can score well by being the most-visited in its category, by growing quickly, or by doing both.
Traffic data updates daily as part of the standard score recalculation cycle. Large shifts in visitor count between updates usually reflect real changes in site usage.