Rank methodology

What Harpd Rank measures

Every approved product enters Overall Rank free. Optional Rank Points are transparent promotional placement, not an editorial recommendation.

Definitions

Harpd Rank: A public product discovery system with transparent paid promotional Overall, Monthly and Weekly leaderboards.
Rank Point: A public promotional score created when a completed Harpd Credit spend is applied to Rank; Rank Points are not wallet Credits and cannot be redeemed.
Harpd Credit: A wallet unit that can be purchased or issued by Harpd and spent on eligible Harpd services, including Rank where enabled.
Overall Rank: The lifetime leaderboard ordered by all completed Rank Points for a product.
Monthly Rank: The UTC calendar-month leaderboard ordered by Rank Points earned during the current or archived month.
Weekly Rank: The UTC Monday-Sunday leaderboard ordered by Rank Points earned during the current or archived week.
Verified Maker: A maker whose approved claim verifies control of the product; verification is not an endorsement or review.
Unclaimed: A catalog listing without an approved maker claim. Added by Harpd or imported never means made or owned by Harpd.
Promotional Credit: A Harpd-issued Credit grant or campaign Credit. Promotional Credits can create Rank Points only when disclosed and eligible under the Rank rules.

How Rank works

One completed Credit spend creates one permanent Rank Point for the submitted product. The same completed event contributes to Overall, the current UTC calendar month, and the current UTC Monday–Sunday week.

What stays permanent

Overall Rank Points remain in the product's public history. Monthly and Weekly boards are live aggregations until the period closes; closed periods become immutable snapshots. Refunds or reversals follow the Credits terms and retain an auditable adjustment.

What Trending means

Trending is organic and independent of Rank Points. It uses recent unique product-profile activity, outbound clicks and saves in a rolling seven-day window, with duplicate activity reduced. It does not use Credits or Rank Points.

What counts as measured exposure

A leaderboard impression is counted when a product row or podium card becomes visible in a visitor's browser on a Harpd Rank board. The event records the product, board type, position, category when applicable and timestamp. Maker-facing exposure reports use daily aggregates rather than visitor profiles.

What counts as a click

An outbound product click is counted when a visitor clicks from Harpd Rank to the submitted product URL. The event records the product, source page, leaderboard type and position when the click came from a leaderboard, and timestamp.

Bot filtering and limits

When Cloudflare or the application identifies verified bot traffic, Harpd stores it separately and excludes it from maker-facing human exposure metrics where practical. Metrics can still miss blocked scripts, private browsing behavior, network failures or browser restrictions. Rank Points can buy promotional placement; they do not guarantee traffic, sales, revenue, ranking durability or return on investment.

Questions makers ask

Does entry require Credits?: No. Every approved product enters Overall for free, and new approvals enter their active UTC month and week with 0 RP.
Can companies promote a product?: After verification, owners can spend Credits on promotional Rank Points. Payment does not guarantee traffic, sales or a position.
Who can submit?: Anyone may submit a public product for moderation. Makers can claim and verify listings; verification is not an endorsement.
What happens when a period ends?: Every eligible final placement is snapshotted; public archives emphasize the Top 100 while product history can show lower finishes.
Is Rank editorial?: No. Credit-funded Rank Points are labelled promotional placement. Free listings, New and Trending have separate labels.

FactObserved

One completed Harpd Credit spend creates one permanent Rank Point for the submitted product, counting toward Overall, the current UTC calendar month and the current UTC week.

Source: Harpd Methodology Dataset
Dataset: /data/methodology.json
Method: /rank/methodology/

Evidence, method, data and limitations

Evidence

Rules: harpd.com/rank/rules/
Ranking data: /data/rank.json
Non-sponsored signals: /data/rank-open-data.json

Method

Rank Points are created by completed Credit spends, ordered on the Overall, Monthly and Weekly boards. Trending is separate and organic: recent unique profile activity, outbound clicks and saves in a rolling seven-day window, with no Credit or Rank Point input. The rules are exported as data so the numbers can be recomputed from the published records. Full methodology →

Data

/data/methodology.json — The rules as machine-readable data.
/data/rank.json — One record per approved product.
/data/rank-open-data.json — Non-sponsored signals only — no Rank Points, no positions.

Limitations

Rank Points are promotional placement. They are not an editorial quality score, rating or review.
Verification confirms a maker controls a listing; it is not an endorsement of the product.
Exposure and click metrics can miss blocked scripts, private browsing, network failures and browser restrictions.
Rank Points can buy placement. They do not guarantee traffic, sales, revenue, ranking durability or return on investment.

Read the full rules →View live statistics →