Reviews
State entity search compared, from Sunbiz to the California SOS
State entity search compared across Sunbiz, California SOS bizfile, New York, Texas, Wyoming and Nevada: search fields, document downloads and office fees.
Desk
Trade Desk
Who does this work, how they charge, and how to tell competence from confidence.
Guides
Reading Illinois and Georgia UCC filings in Chicago and Atlanta
UCC filings in Illinois and Georgia show who holds a secured interest in a business. Here is how to search both registries and read the records.
Industry
How NAICS codes appear in entity lookups and where they mislead
NAICS codes in entity lookups come from self-reported filings, so analysts should always check them against licenses, SEC SIC codes and real work.
Rules
State entity directories facts: signal versus noise
State entity registers: the facts that hold in every jurisdiction, the eight dimensions along which the rest varies, and the question that settles each one.
Guides
4 checks on a Texas entity record from the Austin filings office
Four checks on a Texas entity record: the SOSDirect search, franchise tax status, assumed names, and registered agent entries, run before you sign.
Maintenance
Can a public data APIs search stay accurate after normalizing the query?
Can a public data APIs search stay accurate after normalizing the query? Yes—if you record match mode, keep the raw query, and log every outcome.
Costs
Officer lookup facts: what the names can and cannot be used for
Officer lookup facts on using register names: why they cannot be joined, why fields are withheld, and why decisions about a person fall outside the record.
Reviews
Officer lookup by year works differently: snapshot registers versus event-log ones
How to reconstruct officer records year by year: California's snapshot register against Companies House's event log, why filing dates are not event dates, and how to record gaps.
Maintenance
Secretary of state search: which index answers which question
Secretary of state search indexes explained: which register answers which question, why trading names defeat an entity search, and how to record a nil result.
Maintenance
Filing history updates: comparing saved captures
Filing history updates can reflect company activity or register housekeeping. Compare saved captures, classify changes, and preserve a reliable record.
Industry
Filing history rows rank by weight: office actions first, periodic reports last
Filing history rows ranked by weight: office actions first, identity changes next, periodic reports last, and why adding the tiers up produces nothing at all.
Features
Entity number lookup search: five test queries per register
Entity number lookup search made repeatable: five test queries that show how a register matches, what a nil result means, and what to record.
Reviews
Company verification decay: which fields go stale and how to schedule a recheck
A field by field look at how company verification findings decay, what sets the recheck clock, and how to build a watch, refresh, or rebuild schedule.
Industry
Business name search data counts filings, not businesses: where the counts drift
Business registry data counts filings, not businesses. Here is why formation counts, closure counts and name frequency mislead, and how to read it.
Guides
What a business name search proves, and seven beliefs it does not
Seven business name search beliefs corrected: availability, registration, nil results, trade name filings, reservations and free domains prove less than they seem.
Costs
Company verification: what nine vendor items prove
A company verification list of nine items a vendor may send — website, certificate, badge, tax number — and what each one actually establishes.
Costs
Entity number lookup directory: build your own crosswalk
An entity number lookup directory that works is a crosswalk you build: one row per company per register, a source for every link, and dates you keep current.
Guides
Filing history list: what the register does not hold and where each item lives
A filing history covers only what an entity register accepted. It lists what is left out, from liens and lawsuits to licenses, and where each item is kept.
Rules
Business name search by year: why the year is the wrong key
Business name search by year is not how most registries work. Here is why the year is the wrong key, and how to find an entity by its old name and file number.
Reviews
Secretary of state search: exact, starts-with and contains
Secretary of state search matching: exact, starts-with and contains modes, how to tell which one an office runs, and a query set that survives literalism.