Can a business pay for a better ranking?
Published by BusinessRate · Last updated November 13, 2026
No. BusinessRate is an objective platform for quantifying business performance, and its rankings can’t be bought. A business can’t pay for a ranking, raise its score by purchasing anything, or have a competitor ranked lower. Every business is measured the same way, so the rank it holds is the rank it earned.
What is the score calculated from?
A multi-part scoring model that gives an in-depth look at how your business performs. Every business gets three scores: Endurance, for its review performance across its full history; Momentum, for the last 90 days; and the Benchmark Score, which combines both with five measures of review quality, such as how detailed and positive reviews are and whether the owner responds to criticism. Each score weighs how much evidence stands behind a rating, not just the rating itself. Here is how each part of the score is weighted.
Beyond reviews, we also rank businesses by their position in Google Maps and Google Search results, and by whether AI platforms such as ChatGPT recommend them, with paid ads left out. Every ranking then compares a business with its competitors in the same category and area, on the same scale, which is what lets an owner see exactly where they lead and where they trail. Here is how those rankings work.
What is left out of the score?
Anything that isn’t performance. We never raise or lower a score because of our relationship with a business, and the same reviews always give the same score. None of the following are inputs to any score or ranking:
- Whether a business has bought anything from BusinessRate, or what it bought
- Whether a business uses our software
- Whether a business responded to a letter, email, text or call from BusinessRate
- Any revenue or payment information
What’s left is an entirely objective score: the same data, measured by the same rules, for every business, so every rank reflects only how a business actually performs.
What happens if a business never buys, or gets a refund?
Its score and rank stay exactly where the data puts them. Every business’s score and rank are calculated the same way, whether it never buys anything, buys something, or gets a refund.
Can a recognition change after it is given?
No. Once a recognition is given, it stays yours. It is a record of where the business ranked when it was earned, and it doesn’t change when reviews or search results change later.