Editorial policy

1. What BedGuide is

BedGuide is an educational encyclopedia about beds, mattresses, bedding and sleep products. It is also a business. It earns money from labelled partner placements, labelled affiliate links and a fee on sales in the BedGuide shop. We do not run sponsored rankings. Our guides remain under editorial control. Read how BedGuide makes money for what is live today.

BedGuide is published by Elite Digital AI Solutions Ltd, registered in England and Wales (Companies House 17250017). That company is the legal operator. The named editor still decides what publishes. No seller, partner or advertiser can buy favourable guide wording or a recommendation.

The site also carries a free directory of UK bed companies. The A–Z directory is reference material. No company pays to appear in it or to move up it. Paid featured slots sit apart from the A–Z list and are always labelled “Featured partner · paid placement”.

2. Who writes and decides

BedGuide is edited by Kaiser Khan, the named desk-research editor. He researches, writes and maintains the guides. Partners, sellers and advertisers have no editorial influence. Final say on what is published rests with this editor, reachable at [email protected].

We name a real person so readers can judge the work. We do not invent a sleep-lab expert or a first-hand tester. The editor has not product- tested the beds. A named desk researcher plus a public corrections log is more honest than a made-up reviewer face.

3. How we research

BedGuide is desk research, not product testing. We do not claim to have slept on any mattress or assembled any bed. When a page describes how a pocket sprung unit or an ottoman lift mechanism works, that explanation is built from primary sources, not from a showroom visit.

Our main sources are:

• Official UK rules and standards — for example the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and the BS 7177 fire safety standard for mattresses and divans.
• Companies House records — every company in our directory is checked for an active registration before listing.
• Trade body guidance — for example the National Bed Federation's published advice on sizes and care.
• Manufacturers' own published specifications and care instructions, used to explain construction, never copied as endorsement.

Where a fact comes from a specific official source, we name that source on the page. Where we do not know something, we say we do not know. An honest gap is publishable. An invented number is a defect.

4. The answer block rule

Every guide opens with a short direct answer of 40 to 60 words. We call this the BLUF — bottom line up front. It is written for a careful reader in a hurry, and it is also the passage answer engines most often quote.

This rule is enforced by software, not goodwill. Our publishing system refuses to build a page whose answer block falls outside 40–60 words. A guide that cannot be summarised plainly is not ready to publish.

5. What we check before publishing

• Every size is given in centimetres and matches the UK standard it refers to.
• Every claim about a rule or regulation is checked against the current official text.
• Every company profile is re-checked for an active Companies House record and a working official website.
• Every page's title, description and answer block is unique across the site.
• Every machine-readable copy of a page (the Markdown version) is generated from the same source as the page itself, so the two can never disagree.

6. What we refuse to publish

• Prices in guides. Prices change daily and vary by shop. A stale price is worse than no price. Shop product pages show the seller’s own price, and guides never quote it.
• "Best mattress" rankings. Comfort is personal; a ranked list would pretend otherwise.
• Star ratings or review scores. We have not tested the products, so we have no honest score to give.
• Medical advice. We explain dust mites, allergens and materials. We never diagnose, treat, or tell you a mattress will fix a health problem. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist for that.
• Paid reviews, fake reviews, disguised adverts or bought recommendations. Every paid placement and commission link is labelled where you see it.

7. The companies directory rules

A company appears in the directory only if it is active on Companies House and has a working official website that we have checked by hand. We do not list firms in administration or liquidation. We remove or mark profiles when a registration is dissolved or a website dies.

Links from profiles go to the company's own website for reference. Most earn nothing and are labelled “Official website · no commission”. If a company has a live affiliate programme, its link is labelled “Ad · affiliate link”. No company can pay to join the directory, pay to be described more warmly, or pay to remove a fact.

8. What companies can and cannot do

A listed company can:

• Tell us a fact on its profile is wrong, with evidence.
• Tell us its Companies House status or official website has changed.
• Buy a labelled partner plan, or sell in the shop, under separate partner plan terms and seller terms.

An unlisted UK bed factory or shop can email the same facts for a check. The steps are on how to get a company profile. Emailing does not buy a listing.

A listed company cannot:

• Pay for inclusion or a higher position in the standard directory, favourable wording, or removal of a fact.
• Preview or approve what we write about it.
• Add marketing copy to its profile.

9. What triggers a correction

We correct a page when:

• A size, rule, regulation or standard has changed.
• A fact is shown to be wrong, by a reader or by our own re-checking.
• A company's status changes — for example dissolution or administration.
• A word or explanation is found to be misleading, even if technically true.

Material corrections are recorded publicly, with a date, on our corrections log. We treat a visible correction as a sign the system works — not as something to hide. How we write encyclopedia pages is also on method: guides. How we check directory firms is on method: companies. How we write short answers is on method: answers. Size and company tables can be downloaded from open data.

10. Dates and re-checking

Every page shows when it was published and when it was last changed. The "last changed" date moves only when the content genuinely changes. We do not re-stamp pages to look fresh — a date that lies would destroy the trust the rest of this policy builds.

11. Money and independence

BedGuide earns money in three ways. Each one is kept apart from what we write.

• Partner placements. Verified bed companies can pay for a plan. It buys a labelled slot, separate from the A–Z directory. See the partner plan terms.
• Affiliate links. Some links to retailers may earn a commission, but only when a programme is really live. See the affiliate disclosure.
• The shop. Verified bed companies can sell in the BedGuide shop. The company is the seller. We take a fee on each sale. See the marketplace terms.

We call the rules between money and editing our firewall. They are:

• Payment never changes what our guides say.
• Payment never changes the A–Z order of the directory.
• Payment never buys a verification check, a badge we have not earned or the removal of a fact.
• Every paid placement and commission link is labelled where you see it.

Paid placements carry the label “Featured partner · paid placement”. Commission links carry the label “Ad · affiliate link”. Paid links use rel="sponsored nofollow", a code that tells search engines a link is paid. These safeguards follow ASA guidance on recognising advertising and Google’s guidance on paid links.

Free directory profiles keep the same checks and the same A–Z order. Payment cannot buy a verification badge, an editorial recommendation, favourable wording or removal of a fact. A partner plan, a shop listing or an affiliate programme has no effect on a listing request or a correction. Paying companies cannot read or approve a guide before it publishes.

Audience claims must use measured data. We do not promise sales, Google rankings or AI citations. What is live today, and how to spot each paid item, is on how BedGuide makes money.

12. Preferred sources and search

Readers who already trust BedGuide can mark it as a preferred source in Google Search. That is a reader choice. It is not a ranking we can buy or claim. We do not run a page for every search phrasing. Short /answers extracts point at the full guide and are not indexed as a second copy.

13. Health caution

Some pages touch on health-adjacent topics — dust mites, allergies, off-gassing, back support claims. These pages explain mechanisms and evidence in plain words. They are not medical advice, are not reviewed by a clinician, and must not be used to make health decisions. If a sleep problem affects your health, speak to a qualified professional.

14. Legal caution

Pages about refunds, returns, warranties and fire labels explain official UK rules in plain words, with a check date and a link to the source. They are desk research. They are not legal advice and not a substitute for reading your contract. For a named dispute, use the helpers listed on GOV.UK’s consumer-rights page, or a qualified adviser.

15. Why we do not score companies or mattresses

We compare constructions — pocket sprung versus memory foam, divan versus ottoman. We list firms that pass a Companies House and website check. We do not publish “Silentnight versus Dreams” mattress tables, star scores, or best-buy ranks. Those pages become stale prices and hidden adverts. Charity sites can score filings. UK bed makers have no equivalent public quality metric we will invent. Full type lists live on compare. The directory lives on companies. Searched topics live on browse.