How we rank companies
Every list on Brandz Studio is ordered by the same published formula. This page shows the formula, the numbers in it, what paying can and cannot change, and every change we have made to it.
- Companies listed
- 1,564
- Published reviews
- 0
- Service lists
- 59
- Countries
- 57
The order of every list
A list is built in three bands, always in this order.
- SponsoredCompanies connected to Brandz Studio, then companies that booked a paid position on that list. Each card carries a Sponsored badge and its links are marked as sponsored.
- Reviewed companiesOrdered by review score, highest first. Any company with at least one published review sits above every company with none.
- Companies without reviews yetOrdered by how much their profile tells a buyer, so the list is never just alphabetical.
The review score
A plain average rewards a single five-star review over years of good work. We use a Bayesian average instead: every company starts as if it already had 3 reviews at 4.5 stars, and its real reviews pull the score away from that starting point as they add up.
score = (n ÷ (n + 3)) × average + (3 ÷ (n + 3)) × 4.5
+ 0.05 × ln(1 + n) a small, shrinking reward for more reviews
+ 0.1 if we have verified the listing
n is the number of published reviews, average their mean star rating.
Worked example. A company with one 5.0 review scores 4.66. A company with twenty reviews averaging 4.8 scores 4.91, so it ranks higher. Verified, the same company scores 5.01.
Scores are recalculated the moment a review is published, unpublished or removed, and whenever a profile changes. There is no manual adjustment.
Companies without reviews
Until a company has a published review it scores 2 plus up to 0.82 points for a complete profile. That keeps it below every reviewed company while still putting established, well-described firms ahead of empty listings.
| What the profile shows | Points |
|---|---|
| Website on file | 0.20 |
| Company logo | 0.05 |
| Founding year given | 0.05 |
| Founded 2016 or earlier | 0.05 |
| Team of 10–49 / 50–249 / 250+ | 0.05 / 0.10 / 0.12 |
| Named clients listed | 0.10 |
| Four or more services | 0.05 |
| Other office locations | 0.05 |
| Minimum project and hourly rate both given | 0.05 |
| Listing verified by us | 0.10 |
What paying can and cannot do
Paying can
- Move a company's card to a numbered position on one list, for the months booked
- Add one of two featured spots in a Top 10 article
Paying cannot
- Change a rating, a review or a score
- Remove or hide a review
- Move a company among the unpaid, ranked companies
- Remove the Sponsored label
Positions and prices are public on the advertising page.
Reviews
- Reviews are submitted on Brandz Studio and held for moderation. Only published reviews count towards a score.
- Companies cannot edit or remove reviews about themselves.
- We do not copy ratings or reviews from other directories, search engines or review sites. A company with no reviews here shows "No reviews yet", whatever it has elsewhere.
Where profile facts come from
Headquarters, team size, founding year, pricing bands, services and clients come from public business listings and company websites, and from the details companies submit when they list. A person checks every new listing before it goes live, and anyone can report an out-of-date fact through the listing form.
Changes to this method
- Version 1.1, Paid positions added: a confirmed booking places a company at a numbered position on one list, after the companies connected to Brandz Studio, labelled Sponsored. Scores are unchanged by it.
- Version 1.0, Launch: Bayesian review score, verification bonus, profile completeness for companies without reviews, sponsored listings first.