A notary public is an individual who has been certified to serve as a document signature certifier. The notary witnesses a document signature and places their signature and a raised seal on the document. While a notarization is intended to prevent document fraud it in no way verifies the content or document data itself, but does verify its authenticity.
The notarization on a document certifies that the person who’s signature is entered on the document personally appeared before the notary establishes his or her identity and personally signed the document in the presence of the notary.