How we rank
A ranking is only worth reading if the method behind it is worth defending. This is ours, including the parts of it that are weaker than we would like.
The process, in order
Every ranked list on the Guide goes through the same six steps.
Build the real population
We assemble every business we can find that genuinely operates in the sector and area, using Google’s own business data, Companies House, trade body registers, physical presence, local knowledge and search. Starting from the full population rather than from whoever ranks well matters, because ranking well is a marketing outcome and marketing is not what we are measuring.
Remove what does not qualify
National chains, franchise offices, lead-generation sites posing as suppliers, businesses headquartered elsewhere with a virtual office locally, and dormant or newly incorporated shells all come out. What remains is the set we assess.
Verify the checkable
Registration and accreditation claims are checked at source — Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, SRA, ICAEW, ACCA, ARB, RIBA, Companies House. A surprising number of claims do not survive this step, and a lapsed registration still displayed as current tells you something beyond the registration itself.
Read the reviews properly
We record the public rating and the number of reviews it rests on, and we date both on the page, because a four-point-nine from twelve reviews and a four-point-nine from four hundred are not the same claim. We then read the reviews rather than counting them, weighting recency and how a business answers criticism. Review counts are gameable, which is why they inform the judgement rather than decide it.
Look at the work
Where the sector allows it we look at completed work rather than photographs of completed work. For trades that means visiting where we can. For professional services it means talking to clients, including ones who left.
Write down the reason
Every entry in a ranked list carries a sentence explaining why it is there. If we cannot write that sentence, the business does not go in the list.
Where the method is weakest
Our local knowledge is not evenly distributed. We know Halifax and Calderdale far better than we know Wakefield, Pontefract or Castleford, and the depth of a ranking reflects that. Lists for towns we know less well are shorter and more cautious.
Businesses that do no marketing at all are harder for us to find, and some of the best trades in West Yorkshire fall into exactly that category — booked out on word of mouth, no website, no reviews. We look for them deliberately, and we still miss some.
This first release also leans harder on public review evidence than we would like. It is checkable, dated and hard to fake at volume, which makes it the right place to start — but it is not the same as having stood on a site or spoken to a client who left. That deeper assessment is being added sector by sector, and where a ranking rests mainly on review evidence the page says so.
Sectors where businesses sell only to other businesses, such as shopfitting, brickwork and commercial flooring, collect almost no public reviews at all. Those lists are shorter and more cautious, and one or two of them say openly that we could not find five firms we were willing to name.
These are limits rather than excuses, and we would rather state them than imply a completeness the Guide does not have. If a ranking is missing someone obvious, telling us is the fastest way to fix it.
Questions about our rankings
Can a business pay to appear in a ranking?
No. Selection for a ranked list is editorial and cannot be bought at any price. A business already selected on merit can pay for a fuller profile or additional prominence on the page, and where that applies the page says so in plain words at the point it appears. Being recommended and paying for exposure are separate things, and keeping them separate is the only reason a recommendation is worth reading.
How often are rankings reviewed?
At least twice a year, and sooner where something material changes — a lapsed accreditation, a change of ownership, a pattern in recent reviews, or a business ceasing to trade. Every ranking page shows the date of its last review at the top, and that date is the review date rather than the date the list was first published.
What if a business disagrees with its position, or with being left out?
Write to us. If the objection identifies a factual error we will correct it and say so. If it is a disagreement about judgement we will explain the reasoning, and we will publish a correction if the reasoning turns out to be wrong. What we will not do is change a position because a business asked, offered to pay, or threatened to.
What does the rating shown next to a business mean?
It is that business’s public Google rating and review count as the Guide read it on the date shown beside it. Nothing more. We do not average it with anything, we do not publish it as an aggregate rating in our structured data, and we do not treat it as a verdict — a business with fewer than about twenty reviews is a story you have to read rather than a score you can trust.
How does the Business of the Month award work?
One business a month, chosen by the Guide for something specific and stated on the page. There is no entry, no fee and no shortlist to buy onto. Winners are drawn from businesses already researched for the rankings, and every citation names the thing the award is actually for so a reader can judge whether they agree.