How ranking works

This page explains, in plain words, how MovItaly orders professionals in search results and recommendations, what "Sponsored" means, and what we do to keep reviews genuine. It is written for people who look for a professional and for professionals who are listed. The live figures are shown in the app on the page "How ranking works", which reads them from the platform settings, so they are always current. The legal terms for professionals are in the Terms for Professionals.

In short. Results are ordered by how well a professional suits your search, with a smaller weight for availability, reply time and price. Money cannot improve a professional's organic position or match score. A professional can pay for one separate, labelled "Sponsored" slot, which is never first, never more than one in the top five, and never shown to minors or when you choose your own sort. You can turn personalisation off. Only people who really booked a professional can review them.

What we rank and how

When you search, we first apply the filters you chose or that the Service requires: for example category, the language you asked for, in-person meetings, that the professional is listed and verified, and, for users aged 14 to 17, that the professional accepts minors. A professional who does not pass a filter is not shown. A language you stated and verification are never relaxed to fill a list.

Then each professional who passes gets a match score from 0 to 100. It measures suitability for your search only. It is built from four parts, with these weights at the time of writing:

How well the specialty matches what you need (55%). A specialty that has been verified, or that the professional has proved through bookings on the Service, counts more than one the professional declared about themselves.
Language (20%). The language you share with the professional. A language the professional declared but we have not confirmed counts for less.
Place (10%). Same city counts most, then same region, then remote work if your need can be handled remotely.
Quality (15%). The average rating, adjusted for how many reviews there are, together with how many booked meetings were completed. A new professional starts from a fair middle value and is not penalised for having no reviews yet.

A professional who is not fully verified is shown a little lower, and so is one with several unanswered enquiries or a complaint that was upheld after human review. These small reductions apply to everybody in the same way.

The score is shown as a number only from 70 up ("Good match" from 70, "Strong match" from 85). Below 70 we say "Partial match" without a number. When you give us nothing to match, for example you only browse, we show "Popular near you" and no score. The score is a match score for your search. It is not a rating of the professional and not a recommendation by MovItaly.

The order of the results

The list is not strictly in score order. After the score we add a smaller weight for practical things: when the professional can see you next, how quickly they usually reply, and whether their price fits your budget. By default these count for 15% of the order, and 30% if you have a deadline within the next 14 days. Results are grouped in small steps of score, and inside a step we show first the professionals who have been shown less, so that exposure is shared. A small share of results is reserved for newer professionals or those with few reviews so that they can be seen too. This is the only reason a result may appear a little out of score order, and it never takes the first position. These rules are the same for all professionals.

If there are too few results, we widen the search step by step (for example from your city to your region, or to remote meetings) and we tell you what was widened. We never widen a language you stated, the verification requirement, the protections for minors, or an in-person requirement.

You can choose other sorts at any time: rating, price, soonest, or "Best fit, no sponsored".

Personalisation and how to switch it off

If you are an adult and signed in, we may use information you gave us, such as your languages and city, and your active goals, to rank results for you. We do this because it helps you find a suitable professional, on the basis of our legitimate interest, and you may object at any time. You can switch it off with the "Not personalised" toggle in the results header or in settings. When it is off, and for guests, results are ranked from your search, the page you are on, the filters you set and quality only. A language filter you set yourself stays. For users aged 14 to 17 personalisation is always off. We do not use special-category data (such as health, religion or ethnic origin) to rank or to choose what is shown, and nationality is not part of the score. Ranking has no legal or similarly significant effect on you: you always decide whether to book. More is in our privacy policy.

Sponsored results

A professional can buy an optional visibility package, sold to professionals under the product name "In evidenza". If the professional already matches your search, the package allows one reserved, labelled slot. You will always see the label "Sponsored" (in Italian "Sponsorizzato"), together with the line "Sponsored · your match score NN%". The information button on the card says that the professional paid, shows what matched (such as category, city, language or goal) and says whether your profile information was used. The label is never "In evidenza".

The limits are fixed:

position 1 is never sponsored;
at most one sponsored result in the top five of a list, one per recommendation row and one in the assistant;
it must really match your search: a match score of at least 70 and a real match with your need, and there must be enough ordinary results. In a small market you see no sponsored result;
none for users aged 14 to 17;
none for sensitive specialties;
none when you choose your own sort (rating, price, soonest) or "Best fit, no sponsored", and none after the first page;
no special-category data and no data about minors is used to choose a sponsored result. For guests and for users who turned personalisation off, the choice uses only your search and the page you are on.

Paid placement never changes the organic score or the organic order. We calculate the ordinary list first, without any campaign, and then, if the rules above allow, add the labelled slot. Everything else stays in the same order. You cannot buy a better organic position, and a package changes neither the match score nor the reasons shown for a match. In the MovItaly assistant, the sponsored card is attached after the answer is written, so the assistant does not see it and its counts of results only count ordinary results. When a result is read aloud, the word "Sponsored" is read before the name.

Reviews and ratings

A review can be written only by a client who has a completed booking with that professional, and only one review per booking. This is how we check that reviews come from people who really used the service. We do not pay for reviews. Professionals may not pay for or offer anything in return for a review, review themselves, or ask only for positive ones. We do not hide or reorder reviews in favour of a professional, and a review is not removed because it is negative. We remove a review only if it breaks our community rules or the law, and we tell the people involved why. Ratings shown to you and used in ranking come from these reviews only. The link to a completed booking is the check we make, so what we state is that reviews come from clients who booked through the Service, not that a person has separately verified every review. You can report a review or a result from its card, with the form described in our notice on reporting content.

Who you are dealing with

The professionals listed are independent traders or professionals. They are not employees or agents of MovItaly, and the contract for the meeting is between you and the professional. MovItaly (Lodato Solutions LLC) provides the platform and takes a fixed fee from the professional for each completed meeting; this fee is the same for all professionals and does not depend on rank. The details of the professional, such as name, professional register entry and trade details, are shown on the profile as the law requires.

Information for professionals

The same rules apply to all professionals. The main parameters and their relative importance are the ones described on this page. Paid packages are the only paid way to influence where you appear, and they work only as described in "Sponsored results". A higher organic score or position cannot be bought. We give you at least 15 days' notice of a change to the main parameters or to package terms, and we record every change in a dated list on the in-app page. If we pause a package or restrict a profile, we send you a statement of reasons and you can contest it; see the Terms for Professionals.

Changes and questions

We list every change to the weights, the order rules, the slots or the label in a dated changelog in the app. Write to To be confirmed with questions or to ask why a result was shown. The "Why this match" sheet on each card also shows the main reasons.