How organic ranking works

Current algorithm version: 2026.11-1. Every change to these rules is versioned and recorded.

What decides the order

• Reputation (45%) — a confidence-adjusted rating from verified reviews only.
• Reliability (20%) — completed jobs vs. business cancellations and late arrivals, plus how complaints are resolved.
• Relevance to you (30%) — distance, whether it fits your budget, and whether the frequency you want is offered.
• Responsiveness (5%) — how often the business responds to reviews.

Why five 5★ reviews don't beat five hundred

A simple average treats a business with five perfect reviews as better than one with hundreds of consistently excellent reviews. We use a Bayesian average: each business starts with the equivalent of 8 reviews at the platform average (4.00★), and real reviews gradually outweigh that starting point. Older reviews count for less (their weight halves every 365 days).

This also protects new businesses: they start at the platform average rather than at zero, so they are not unfairly buried while they build a history.

Review history labels

• Limited history — fewer than 5 verified reviews.
• Developing history — 5 to 24 reviews.
• Established history — 25 or more reviews.

These labels describe how much evidence there is. They are not a guarantee of service quality.

Paid placement

Businesses can pay for sponsored placements. These are always labelled “Sponsored”, shown in a separate area, and never change organic positions, ratings or review scores. Businesses on the Professional and Enterprise plans may also appear in that separate area labelled “Featured”. Higher business plans do not buy higher organic rankings.