Reputation management guides.
Focused guides on reputation recovery, review management and platform-specific strategy — organized by service and by platform.
Articles
Can Businesses Remove Google Reviews?
Google removes reviews that violate its policies — not reviews a business simply disagrees with. Here’s what actually qualifies.
How to Respond to Negative Reviews
A negative review handled well often builds more trust with future customers than having no negative reviews at all.
What Is TrustScore, and How Is It Calculated?
Trustpilot’s headline number isn’t a plain average of your star ratings — here’s the actual mechanics behind it.
Trustpilot vs. Google Reviews: What Actually Differs
Different audiences, different scoring math, and different rules for what counts as a legitimate review.
Why Happy Customers Don’t Leave Reviews
Satisfaction doesn’t automatically turn into a review. Here’s the actual gap, and what closes it.
How Many 5-Star Reviews Do You Need to Improve Your Rating?
The math behind moving a star rating, explained in plain language — plus a calculator that does it for you.
How Much Does Reputation Management Cost?
Published review packages start at $110 — here’s the ladder, and when a custom quote still makes sense.
What Is Review Gating, and Why Is It Prohibited?
A common shortcut that most major platforms explicitly ban — here’s what it is and why it backfires anyway.
How Does Google's Rating Actually Work?
How Google’s star rating is actually calculated
How Does Yelp's Rating Actually Work?
Why a Yelp star rating isn’t a simple average of what gets posted
How Does Facebook's Rating Actually Work?
Why there’s no such thing as a 5-star Facebook rating calculator
How Does Tripadvisor's Rating Actually Work?
Why the bubble rating is a simple average — and why that’s not the same as your Popularity Ranking
How Does Reviews.io's Rating Actually Work?
How the REVIEWS.io star rating actually works
How Does Sitejabber's Rating Actually Work?
Why Sitejabber’s rating isn’t a simple average — and why the brand is now SmartCustomer
How Does G2's Rating Actually Work?
The G2 star rating and the G2 Score are not the same number
How Does Capterra's Rating Actually Work?
How Capterra actually verifies, scores, and — within limits — incentivizes reviews
How Does Glassdoor's Rating Actually Work?
Why a Glassdoor rating isn’t a simple average you can back-calculate
How Does Booking.com's Rating Actually Work?
Why Booking.com’s review system works differently from every other platform
How Does BBB's Rating Actually Work?
The BBB Rating and BBB Customer Reviews are two different things
How Does Indeed's Rating Actually Work?
Why an Indeed rating isn’t a simple average you can back-calculate
How Does Healthgrades's Rating Actually Work?
How a Healthgrades star rating is actually built
How Does Zillow's Rating Actually Work?
How Zillow’s 1–5 agent rating is actually calculated
How Does Thumbtack's Rating Actually Work?
Why a Thumbtack star rating isn’t one simple number
How Does Avvo's Rating Actually Work?
The Avvo Rating and Avvo Client Reviews are two different numbers
How Does DealerRater's Rating Actually Work?
Why a Dealer Rating isn’t a simple average
How Does Houzz's Rating Actually Work?
How a Houzz star rating differs from Houzz directory ranking
How Does HomeAdvisor's Rating Actually Work?
Why a HomeAdvisor/Angi rating isn’t a simple pass/fail number
How Does FindLaw's Rating Actually Work?
How FindLaw actually calculates and displays a rating
How Does WeddingWire's Rating Actually Work?
How a WeddingWire storefront rating actually works
How Does CarGurus's Rating Actually Work?
Why a CarGurus dealer rating isn’t static
How Does RealSelf's Rating Actually Work?
Why RealSelf shows two different numbers, not one
How Does RateMDs's Rating Actually Work?
How the RateMDs rating is actually calculated
How Does Vitals's Rating Actually Work?
How a Vitals rating is actually built
How Does BuildZoom's Rating Actually Work?
Why the BuildZoom Score isn’t a review average
How Does DesignRush's Rating Actually Work?
DesignRush ranking isn’t just a review average — and reviews aren’t simple averages either
How Does Bark's Rating Actually Work?
Why there’s no “add N reviews to hit X stars” math for Bark
How Does Hellopeter's Rating Actually Work?
Why the TrustIndex isn’t a simple star average
How Does Networx's Rating Actually Work?
Why Networx doesn’t publish how its contractor score works
How Does HomeStars's Rating Actually Work?
Why Star Score isn’t a simple average
How Does HomeLight's Rating Actually Work?
Why there’s no HomeLight rating formula to calculate
How Does Realtor.com's Rating Actually Work?
Why a realtor.com rating isn’t just a running average
How Does RealEstateAgents.com's Rating Actually Work?
RealEstateAgents.com doesn’t publish a rating formula
How Does CustomerLobby's Rating Actually Work?
What CustomerLobby actually is — and how its review pages work
How Does Rehab.com's Rating Actually Work?
Rehab.com’s facility score isn’t a review average
How Does Yellow Pages's Rating Actually Work?
How Yellow Pages ratings and reviews actually work
How Does Expedia's Rating Actually Work?
Why Expedia’s review score isn’t quite what it looks like
How Does Google Play's Rating Actually Work?
How a Google Play app rating is actually calculated
What Trustpilot Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real customer stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the process actually works.
What Yelp Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
Yelp’s own policy is that it generally won’t take down a review just because a business says it’s unfair or inaccurate. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the flagging process actually works.
What Facebook Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative recommendation from a real customer generally stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how Facebook’s reporting process actually works.
What Tripadvisor Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real guest stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal under Tripadvisor’s Trust & Safety guidelines, and how the process actually works.
What REVIEWS.io Will Actually Remove — and What It Won't
A genuine negative review from a real, verified customer stays up, even if it's harsh. Here's what does qualify for removal, and how the process actually works.
What Sitejabber Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real, verified customer stays up, even if it’s harsh — and Sitejabber states outright that businesses can never pay to remove or suppress a review. Here’s what does qualify, and how the process actually works.
What G2 Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine review from a real, verified user stays up, even if it’s critical. Here’s what does qualify for removal on G2, and how the dispute process actually works.
What Capterra Will Actually Remove — and What It Won't
A genuine negative review from a real, verified user stays up, even if it's harsh. Here's what does qualify for removal, and how the flagging process actually works.
What Glassdoor Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, unflattering review from a real employee stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal under Glassdoor’s Community Guidelines, and how the flagging process actually works.
What Booking.com Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A guest’s genuine but unflattering account of a stay that actually happened stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the process works through the Extranet.
What BBB Will Actually Remove — and What Stays
A genuine complaint or review from a real customer stays on the profile for 36 months, even if it’s unflattering. Here’s what does qualify for removal or non-publication, and how to contest the rest.
What Indeed Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, unflattering review from a real employee stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal under Indeed’s Company Reviews guidelines, and how the reporting process actually works.
What Healthgrades Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine patient’s unflattering account of their visit stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the dispute process actually works — without ever asking a practice to confirm what happened with a specific patient.
What Zillow Will Actually Remove From Your Agent Profile — and What It Won’t
A genuine, if harsh, review from a real client generally stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how Zillow’s flagging process actually works.
What Thumbtack Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real customer stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the dispute process actually works.
What Avvo Will Actually Remove — and What Stays
A genuine, guideline-compliant review from a real client stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how Avvo’s dispute process actually works.
What DealerRater Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real customer stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the process actually works.
What Houzz Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine review from a real past client stays up, even if it’s critical. Here’s the narrow set of cases that qualify for removal, and how to raise one.
What HomeAdvisor/Angi Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real, completed job generally stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal or a pending hold, and how the process actually works.
What FindLaw Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine but unflattering review from a real client stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how FindLaw’s process actually works.
What WeddingWire Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, if harsh, review from a real client stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal under WeddingWire’s Reviews Policy, and how the dispute process actually works.
What CarGurus Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, if harsh, review from a real customer who contacted you through CarGurus stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the dispute process actually works.
What RealSelf Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine patient’s unfavorable but honest review stays up, even if it lowers your Worth It Rating. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the dispute process actually works.
What RateMDs Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative rating from a real patient stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the process actually works.
What Vitals Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, unflattering account from a real patient stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal under Vitals’ own guidelines.
What BuildZoom Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from an actual client stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how BuildZoom’s dispute process actually works.
What DesignRush Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine review from a real, verified past client stays up, even if it’s critical. Here’s what does qualify for removal on DesignRush, and how the dispute process actually works.
What Bark Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
Bark’s own guidance is that it does not remove reviews simply because they’re negative. Here’s what does qualify under its Banned Reviews Policy, and how the reporting and appeal process actually works.
What Hellopeter Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real customer stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the process actually works.
What Networx Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
Networx hasn’t published a dedicated review-dispute tool, so removal runs through its general Terms of Use and Networx’s own discretion. Here’s what that document actually says.
What HomeStars Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real customer stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the investigation process actually works.
What Can Actually Be Done About a HomeLight Review
HomeLight doesn’t publish a self-service flag-and-appeal tool for individual reviews the way some platforms do. Here’s what its own Terms of Service and Agent Help Center actually say about disputing content.
What Realtor.com Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine review from a verified, closed-transaction client generally stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify, and what agents can control instead.
What RealEstateAgents.com Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, unflattering review from a real client isn’t grounds for removal. Here’s what does qualify under the platform’s own guidelines, and what its process actually looks like.
What CustomerLobby Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, negative review from an actual paying customer isn’t grounds for removal under CustomerLobby’s published policy, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify, and how to raise it.
What Rehab.com Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine, unflattering account from a real reviewer stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal under Rehab.com’s own Terms of Use, and how the process actually works.
What Yellow Pages Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review stays up, even an old one. Here’s what does qualify for removal under YP’s Terms of Use, and how the process actually works.
What Expedia Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A traveler’s genuine but unflattering account of a stay that actually happened stays up. Here’s what does qualify for removal, and how the dispute process works through Partner Central.
What Google Play Will Actually Remove — and What It Won’t
A genuine negative review from a real user stays up, even if it’s harsh. Here’s what does qualify for removal on Google Play, and how the reporting process actually works.
