How "Best Reputation Management Company" Lists Are Made

Why Best-of Lists Exist

People search for the best firm before they hire one. A page that answers that search gets traffic. Traffic is worth money, so the page gets made, and someone decides who is on it.

That is not sinister. It is just how the web works. But it means every best-of list has an owner and a business model, and the model shapes the list. A list built to sell advertising behaves differently from a list built to win clients, and both differ from a list built to inform.

When you read a list, your first job is to find the business model. Your second job is to decide whether the list tells you the truth about it.

The Four Patterns Behind Most Lists

Lists in this industry usually follow one of four patterns. Each one has a tell you can spot in a minute.

A list can mix patterns. A directory can carry sponsored sections. A self-published ranking can accept paid placements. The more patterns you see, the less weight the list deserves.

Paid Placements

A paid placement is a spot on a list that a firm bought. It is the easiest pattern to hide, because nothing on the page has to change.

Signs to look for:

• The list never explains how it chose or ordered the firms.
• Every firm described gets praise and none gets a limit.
• The same few firms appear on many unrelated sites in the same order.
• There is a page for firms that says how to get listed, with a price or a call to get in touch.

Paid placement is not always a problem. But hiding it is. A paid spot is a material connection between the list and the firm, and it should be clearly disclosed.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is advertising dressed as an article. It lives inside a publication you may already trust, which is exactly why it works.

A publisher sells space. A firm buys it. The result looks like a story about the best firms in the field. The label may be small, in a different color or on a different part of the page.

Ask three things. Does the piece carry a clear label at the top? Does the byline name a staff journalist or a vendor? Does the writing explain how firms were chosen? A publication's good name does not carry over to a section its advertisers paid for.

Pay-to-Play Directories

A directory earns money from the firms it lists. That is fine when the page says so and when paying does not change the order. It is a problem when the order follows the spend.

• Does the directory sell profile upgrades, lead packages or badges?
• Does the page say whether paying firms are shown higher?
• Can a firm remove a negative entry by paying?
• Does the directory explain its scoring in plain steps?

Directories can still be useful, especially for finding firms you did not know. Use them to build a list of names. Do not use their order to choose.

Self-Published Rankings, Including This One

A self-published ranking is a list written by a firm that appears on it, or by a group of firms. This site is self-published, and here is what that means and why it is not automatically bad.

A firm that appears in its own ranking has a material connection to the firms it scores, and that connection should be stated clearly. The disclosure page states it in full.

Our answer is to never claim to be anything other than what a page is and to make every score checkable.

A self-published list is a conflict of interest, and no amount of good intent removes that. What can be done is to make the list checkable. That is the next section.

Seven Things a Checkable List Shows

Any list, by anyone, can be held to the same seven tests. A list that passes them lets you check its work. A list that fails them asks for your trust.

1. The author is named. A person and an organization, not only a brand.
2. The relationship is stated. If the author appears on the list, earns from it or sells the same service, the page says so near the top.
3. The criteria are published. You can read what is scored before you read any score.
4. The weights are published. You can see which criterion counts the most and decide if you agree.
5. Every score links to a source. A page or a public record, with the date it was checked.
6. Missing facts are marked. Something that could not be found shows as missing and does not get filled in.
7. There is a way to correct it. A firm or a reader can send a source and see the fix.

Here is how this site answers each one. Authorship and the reviewing editor are on the about page. The ownership and money are on the disclosure page. The criteria, the weights and the full scoring sheet are on the methodology page. The rules for sourcing and corrections are on the editorial standards page.

You can test us. Open any score, follow the link and see whether the source says what we say it does. If it does not, tell us through the contact page.

A Two-Minute Test for Any List

You do not need to be an expert. Run these five checks before you trust any best-of list.

• Find the author and the company behind the page.
• Search the page for sponsored, partner, advertorial and affiliate.
• Look for a page that explains how firms were chosen and scored.
• Pick one claim and try to find its source.
• Look for the date the list was last checked.

If a list fails two or more, use it only to collect names. Then check each name yourself with our twelve questions.

Run the same test on our own side-by-side reputation firm comparisons.

Using Lists Without Being Used by Them

Lists are a starting point. Treat each one as a claim to check, and make the firm you shortlist answer the same questions no matter where it appeared.

Collect names from several lists. Notice which names appear everywhere and ask why. Then go to each firm's own site and public records. Reputation Resolutions offers reputation repair services with results-based work for repairing, improving and protecting online reputations, agreed in writing, and you can check it the same way. See the software versus services guide if you are unsure which kind of help you need.

Brand-name claims in search results are one reason we built Reputation Pros alternatives, scored on one sheet.

Reviewed by

Anthony Will

Founder and CEO, Reputation Resolutions

Anthony Will founded Reputation Resolutions, the publisher of this site, and has worked in online reputation management since 2013. He reviews the methodology and every scoring change.

How we score Our disclosure Editorial standards