About the UpCity Recommendability Rating & Methodology

Recommendability Rating Explained

UpCity has developed a proprietary algorithm that utilizes digital signals to measure the credibility and trustworthiness of each of our Certified Partners. We use this algorithm to build the UpCity Recommendability Rating, an assessment of how recommendable a service provider is in comparison to other service providers. It is derived from a variety of data points that are designed to help business owners find a partner that is the best fit for them, and one they can trust. A service provider’s Recommendability Rating helps guide us in ranking and recommending the top service providers by service area in each local market and nationally, providing business with a trusted resource when selecting a partner.

Recommendability Ratings cannot be purchased and rely solely on factors that impact how recommendable a service provider is.

There are eight factors used to calculate the UpCity Recommendability Rating, including information from both within the UpCity community and external sources.

UpCity Profile Completion: UpCity lists more than 50,000 provider profiles. Profiles highlight nearly 40 data points on each provider, including services offered, target markets, price points and more.
UpCity Engagement: Businesses come to UpCity to find providers they can trust. By interacting with our community through expert posting, recruiting & responding to reviews, maintaining a profile, etc.; we can be confident in ensuring those businesses would have a positive experience working with a service provider.
UpCity Reviews: The reviews on UpCity provide an in-depth view of how a service provider’s customers feel about them and their services, and are a key component to how likely UpCity is to recommend a provider to businesses seeking services. Both quantity and quality of reviews are considered in the algorithm. UpCity has collected 9,000+ in-depth reviews capturing specific feedback.
Google Reviews: The reviews you gather on Google My Business also give UpCity (and prospective buyers) a good view of how customers feel about a service provider. Both quantity and quality of reviews are considered in the algorithm.
Presence in Search Engines: This signal measures how prominently a service provider ranks in search engines and is a good indicator of overall authority and domain expertise. To this end, UpCity is tracking over 56,000 industry keywords to determine which providers are doing a great job in their industry and geographic region
Location Consistency: We confirm that contact information on Google My Business is consistent with a service provider’s UpCity listing. Listing accuracy is also Google’s method for determining whether or not it can trust a local business search result.
Domain Authority: UpCity uses a trusted domain authority metric as a predictor of how much authority a provider’s domain has in the eyes of Google and others. We then take this metric and statistically normalize across our community.
Website Speed & Experience: The speed of a provider’s website can have an impact on prospects’ first impression of the business. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed scoring can provide businesses with information on how to improve this score.

How Does the UpCity Recommendability Rating Help Businesses Find the Right Partner?

The UpCity Recommendability Rating is based on information provided by service providers and businesses as well as public and third-party data sources. As such, it should not be treated as the only source of information a business uses when making a buying decision. The UpCity Recommendability Rating is designed to be an accurate assessment of a service provider’s credibility, and should be considered in conjunction with other available information like client reviews and testimonials, industry endorsements, and peer recommendations.

Identifies service providers that provide reliable, high quality service to their clients.

Our goal is to give business owners peace of mind in knowing they are partnering with someone they can trust with their business.

Recommendability Ratings cannot be purchased.

Our rating factors rely solely on elements of a service provider that directly affect businesses and potential clients. A higher preferred rating cannot be purchased from UpCity by any provider.

The rating algorithm is constantly refined and improved.

Based on feedback from businesses seek services on UpCity and service providers who are represented in our community alike, our model has been developed and iterated continuously since its inception.

Frequently Asked Service Provider Questions about the Recommendability Rating

Do I have to have an UpCity Recommendability Rating for my agency or business?
By design, all UpCity profiles on any list must be scored and assessed against our rating algorithm in order to qualify to be live and visible.
Our goal is to provide transparency and understanding for business owners across North America, and we create profiles and collect data for agencies and businesses in more than 250 markets across the United States and Canada as part of that process. Claiming your profile and adding additional information about your agency or business helps us to provide a more accurate value for your Recommendability Rating.
What can I do to improve my UpCity Recommendability Rating?
While there are myriad elements that factor into your Recommendability Rating score, there are a handful of things you can do to improve your agency or business’ score easily and quickly:
- Claim and Complete all Profile Information. You receive additional points towards your Recommendability Rating by claiming your profile and ensuring all fields on your profile are completed properly. This is the easiest way to ensure your profile has a fair shot and prominent placement.
- Gather High-Quality Reviews on your UpCity Profile. One of the most important factors of our methodology is feedback from other business owners or clients who can provide first-hand knowledge and feedback about an agency or business and their history. Gathering multiple quality, favorable reviews on your profile gives you a significant advantage over other agencies and businesses in your market.
- Stay Engaged with the Community. Staying engaged with not only UpCity, but with your own clients helps to paint a picture to prospective customers of what it’s like working with you.
  – Activate your UpCity account by logging in
  – Optimize your UpCity profile by getting at least a 5.5 rating
  – Recruit & respond to your UpCity reviews
  – Submit an Expert Post
  – Feature an UpCity badge on your website
- Ensure Your Business or Agency’s Public Information and Directory Listings are Up-To-Date, Accurate, and Consistent. Because UpCity focuses on providing business owners with trustworthy partners they can connect with easily, by ensuring your location data is consistent with Google, our scoring algorithm is able to place higher confidence in the accuracy of this information.
- Ensure Your Website Performance and Authority are Strong. We use a business’ website and overall prominence online to help determine authority and market presence. This includes factors such as organic search performance, backlink portfolio statistics, user experience and load times, and more.
Can I Request a Change to my UpCity Recommendability Rating?
Because our rating algorithm is applied consistently and identically to all profiles across our marketplace as a whole, we are unable to change rating values upon request. By ensuring your profile is completed and accurately filled out, alongside gathering reviews from your clients, you can help influence your Recommendability Rating positively, and your position on lists may change as a reflection of new data.
Does my Recommendability Rating change over time?
Our Recommendability Rating algorithm is constantly being updated and improved to provide more accurate information, so you can expect your rating to change over time periodically. Here are some other scenarios that may trigger a change in your rating:
Adding or updating information on your profile.
Periodic re-scoring processes that take place in the community database.
Significant changes or updates to the rating algorithm that trigger a re-scoring process for all agencies.

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