Zero shortcuts.
Every spa.
On most directories, anyone with a credit card sits up top. Here, the work does. Three tiers: Listed, Aura Screened, GlowRanked Verified. This is a California register, built on what California requires of a med spa.
Listed is automatic: an open California med spa in Google’s data. Aura Screened is automatic and free: three public records agree. Google shows it open, the licence tied to its address is current with no public discipline record, and two independent public records place a licensed provider there. GlowRanked Verified is earned by hand: the spa opens the private records California requires but never makes you see, and a person reads every page.
The licence check is one of the three. Provider licence numbers are read against the state’s own records — the Medical Board, the Board of Registered Nursing, and the Physician Assistant Board. The result prints on the spa’s page with the date it was read, wherever the state’s record ties to that address.
Payment never changes a result, and no spa can pay to move up. Screened costs nothing. Verified: Free to submit and get reviewed. $59/mo only after you pass, just to keep the badge live. Triple-checked. Never bought.
GlowRanked is not a neutral third party. We sell services to spas on this register, including the Verified badge. No purchase changes a spa’s tier or the result of any check.
Same way, every time.
I read each spa’s Google rating and review count for every operational med spa in California, run each spa through my public-record screen, and write the verdict in plain English. Same way, every time.
I don’t take bribes.
No spa has ever paid me for a higher rank, and the Verified fee changes no result. Every spa in a tier faces the same checks; placement is earned, never bought.
I don’t have favorites.
Two spas with identical receipts get identical verdicts. The only thing that moves the score is the receipts.
I don’t skip a spa.
Every spa gets the same read, spa by spa. Verified applications are read by a person and re-checked by hand every quarter. Screened is re-run against the public record when the screen runs. Nothing runs on a timer, and I won’t say it does until it does.
I weight by volume.
A 5.0★ spa with 37 reviews doesn’t rank above a 4.9★ spa with 300. Thin track records get pulled toward the global average until the receipts catch up. Volume earns the verdict, not just the stars.
I’m readable.
Every verdict is written in plain English with the reasoning attached. No proprietary score, no black-box ranking — you can see exactly why each spa earned what it earned.
That’s the best part about me. The register stays clean because the editor can’t be bought.
The listing checks, every spa.
Automated public-data reads, run as a spa is listed from public Google data. Being operational on Google is the one that decides whether a spa is listed at all; the rest are presence checks, printed per spa on its own page whether they are met or not.
- i
The doors are open
The spa is operational on Google. Its listing is then read for a phone number, a website and published hours, and every spa's own page prints which of those it has and which it doesn't. These are presence checks on the listing — nobody calls the number, and a missing one does not keep a spa off the register.
- ii
The reviews, as they are
The Google rating and the public review count are read and printed on the spa's own page, met or unmet, so you can weigh the track record yourself instead of taking a badge for it. Neither is a bar: a thin history or a low rating does not keep a spa off the register. Nothing here tests whether a review is authentic — no such check exists.
- iii
California ground
California only. No out-of-state spas. This is a California register.
Public records, no spa input.
Public-record cross-references that go deeper than the listing checks — without asking the spa to participate. Spas where all three records agree carry the Aura Screened mark on their listing, dated to the day the screen ran. The website checks — a website that holds up, details that agree, website wording — still run and print on every spa's page. They do not decide the mark. Some sites turn my crawler away at the door; when that happens I record the check as one I could not complete, never as one the spa failed, and the page says so.
- i
Open, per Google
Google's public record shows the spa operating at this address.
- ii
A current licence, no public discipline
The licence the state ties to this address is current, and none of the licensing boards read holds a public record of discipline against it, as of the date printed on the spa's page.
- iii
A licensed provider, placed there twice
Two separate public records put a licensed provider at this address.
My name, on the line.
Owner-participated. The spa opens its private records — medical director's license, Patient-Specific Order protocol, malpractice cover, every injector's license — and I read each one by hand. Free to submit and get reviewed. $59/mo only after you pass, just to keep the badge live. Skip the fee and the spa keeps Screened; it just doesn't get the Verified badge. This is the checkwork behind the badge, and why my name on a listing means something.
- i
Medical director — current license
The spa gives me their medical director's license number. I check it by hand against the state license lookup and confirm the license is current.
- ii
Patient-Specific Order protocol
The spa provides its Patient-Specific Order protocol. I confirm it covers the procedures the spa lists, as submitted.
- iii
Insured for what's on the menu
A current malpractice certificate, as submitted. I confirm the procedures the spa lists fall within the coverage written on it.
- iv
Every injector's license, one by one
Each injector's state license number, as submitted. I confirm each license is current and that its class allows the procedures the spa lists for that person. Per injector, not just the medical director.
- v
Re-checked by hand every quarter — my name attached
The badge is revocable. Medical director leaves, license lapses, insurance expires — the badge comes down. I re-check Verified by hand every quarter, and I take it back sooner if anything slips. Verified reflects documents as submitted on the date shown. It is not a guarantee of care or outcomes.
Marked inactive.
If a spa closes or stops being reachable, I mark the listing inactive. Listings are not removed. The register shows what I found, good or bad.
The result shows.
If a record does not agree, the listing stays up and shows which one, with the source and the date it was read. The licence check is the exception: it says it did not clear and nothing more, on purpose. The screen runs again when a person starts it — there is no cycle behind it, and every listing carries the date of its last run.
Badge comes down.
If a Verified spa stops passing, the badge comes down. The listing stays, and it shows what changed.
The short version, with the counts and the dates they were read, is on the facts page.