# How matching works

> How Engado surfaces relevant, verified sites for you overnight, what the matches are based on, and why you still choose who to reach out to.

Engado surfaces sites that fit you. It does not pair you up automatically or send
anything on your behalf. Think of it as a shortlist that refreshes while you
sleep, built from real, verified websites, so the hunting and vetting is done and
the deciding is still yours.

## Where matches come from

Every night, a batch job (we call it Gerald) looks across the network and works
out which sites are a good fit for each of yours. It weighs a few things:

- **Relevance:** how close another site is to your niche and audience.
- **SEO signals:** public metrics about a site, so you can judge quality.
- **What both sides want:** the "what I want from a connection" you set on your
  profile, matched against theirs. A fit has to make sense for both of you.

Because everyone in the network is verified, every site Gerald shows you is a
real business, not a profile someone spun up to farm links.

## Discover and search

- **Discover** is your surfaced shortlist, the fresh set of good-fit sites.
- **Search** lets you go wider: filter the network by niche, country, language,
  and SEO metrics to find sites yourself, beyond the overnight suggestions.

Use Discover when you want the best fits handed to you, and search when you have
something specific in mind.

## You stay in control

Engado never messages a site for you. You look at who it surfaced, open the ones
worth a closer look, and send a connection request only where you see a real fit.
That is deliberate: a partnership works because a person decided it was worth it,
not because software fired a request.

## Why the quality of your profile matters

The matches are only as good as what you tell Engado. A thin profile ("we do
marketing") gets vague suggestions. A clear one (your niche, your audience, and
honestly what a good partner looks like for you) gets sharper ones. It is worth
a few minutes to fill in properly.

## If you are not seeing good matches

A small or very specific niche can mean fewer fits at first, and the network
grows every week. Widen your search filters, make your profile more specific
about what you want, and check back as more sites join. See
[Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting/).