How ProsRanked ranks
The named criteria behind every shortlist - and what we don't do.
What gets a business listed at all
Before a business appears on any ranking, it's checked for valid licensing and insurance where the category requires it, a real and reachable phone number and website, and a genuine review history on Google - not a brand-new or empty profile. Businesses that don't clear that bar aren't listed, full stop.
Business details - name, address, phone, website, star rating, and review count - are pulled from each company's public Google Business Profile. We don't invent contact information or review numbers; if a detail can't be verified, it's left off the page rather than guessed at.
How the order is set
Ranking order is editorial, not an auction - it is not for sale. The two signals shown on every listing, review volume and average rating, are the same signals used to set the order: businesses with a longer, stronger review track record on Google rank higher among the unpaid listings.
One spot per city/category page can be a paid Featured placement, and it is always labeled "Featured" - visibly, and in the listing itself. Paying for a Featured spot gets a business the placement and a full profile; it does not buy the underlying reputation signals (rating, review count) that the rest of the page is built on.
Open slots, never fake ones
If a city/category doesn't have enough vetted businesses to fill a ranking, the remaining spots are marked "This spot is open" - not padded out with an invented or unqualified competitor just to fill the list. An open slot means exactly what it says: nobody has claimed it yet.
How often it's refreshed
Rankings and business data are refreshed as new information comes in - reviews, ratings, and contact details are re-checked periodically, not published once and left to go stale. Every ranking page shows the date it was last updated near the top.
What we don't claim
We don't run mystery-shopper calls or claim an in-house complaint database - if a criterion isn't listed above, it isn't part of how these rankings are built. What you see is what's used: licensing/insurance checks, verified Google Business Profile data, review volume and rating, and an editorial, not-for-sale order.