How we score.
The same framework for every business in a category, sources linked next to the facts, and a clear line between what we verified and what we could not.
The short version
Every business in a category is assessed against the same five pillars. Each pillar is rated from 0 to 5 against written anchors, weighted, and added up to a score out of 100. We keep full precision while calculating and round the total once. The score is our editorial opinion of the published evidence. It is not a customer rating, a certification or a guarantee.
- 25Expertise and capability
- 25Evidence of work
- 20Customer experience
- 15Transparency
- 15Professional standards
The five pillars (method v1)
| Pillar | Weight | What earns a high rating |
|---|---|---|
| Expertise and capability | 25 | Specialised in the exact service, a long verifiable track record, and named senior people with relevant qualifications or recognised expertise. |
| Evidence of work | 25 | Detailed case studies or project write-ups with specifics: named clients or sites, scope, outcomes and photos. |
| Customer experience | 20 | A high average rating across a meaningful number of reviews on independent platforms. Ratings shown only on a business’s own site count as its own claim. |
| Transparency | 15 | Published prices or price ranges, a clear process, terms, full contact details and an ABN. |
| Professional standards | 15 | Category-specific: licences, qualifications, stated insurance, industry memberships, certifications and awards, verified independently where possible. |
Unknown is not zero
If we cannot find evidence for something, we say “not verified”. We do not treat missing evidence as a bad result, and we do not quietly reweight the other pillars. If a pillar cannot be assessed at all, the business is not scored until the evidence exists.
Evidence confidence
Confidence is shown separately from the score, because a high score built on thin evidence is not the same as one built on many independent sources.
- High: Several independent sources, checked recently, cover most pillars.
- Moderate: Mostly the business’s own published claims, with some independent checks.
- Low: Too little independent evidence to publish a score. Businesses at this level are not scored.
How a guide is put together
- We build a candidate pool from search results, industry directories, award lists and review platforms, and record how many businesses we considered.
- We assess the strongest candidates from their own websites and from independent sources, and link each factual claim to where we found it.
- We publish the real count. If only seven businesses qualify, the guide says seven.
- Businesses with the same rounded score share a rank, shown with “=”.
- Every guide and profile shows the date it was last checked. We never update a date without re-checking the evidence.
Featured placements
A guide may contain one featured placement in position 1, held by a business that has a commercial relationship with our publisher (for example, a client of Optimising, the agency James Richardson founded, or a business he owns). A featured placement is always labelled next to the business name and at the top of the guide. It is scored with the same rubric and evidence as everyone else, and its score is never adjusted. All other positions follow the score. Outbound links to a featured business carry a rel="sponsored" attribute.
Research basis
Current guides are desk research: published websites, independent review platforms, business registers, award lists and industry directories. We have not purchased or tested the services assessed, and we do not claim first-hand experience unless a guide says so explicitly.
Corrections
Anyone can request a correction for free, with a link to evidence. A request does not change a score by itself; we check it, and material changes are recorded in the guide’s update history. Send a correction.