Relevance
We match the selected trade and search words against the business name, trade categories, profile description, public facts, and source labels.
Ranking methodology
How TradeList orders business results
TradeList first finds profiles relevant to the selected trade, service area, and search. We then order those profiles using consistent local and source-backed signals. A position is a research aid, not an endorsement or promise of workmanship.
Four organic ranking factors
Our model follows the familiar local-search ideas of relevance, distance, and prominence, then adds an explicit source-backed profile quality check suited to a residential-trades directory.
Location fit
Businesses based in the requested city receive the strongest local signal. Businesses that publicly serve the area remain eligible, with distance used when reliable location data is available.
External prominence
Linked third-party profiles can contribute capped rating and review-count signals. Large counts have diminishing impact, and older or undated metrics receive less weight.
Profile quality
Source-backed contact details, public facts, source links, and a small amount of business-provided media help complete a profile. More photos cannot overwhelm the other factors.
Placement tiers
Tiers are applied only after a profile is relevant to the result. The organic score then orders businesses inside the same tier.
1
Sponsored
Sponsored results are not active today. If introduced, they will be separated from organic results and clearly labelled at the point of use.
2
Claimed
Claimed profiles are connected to an owner account after TradeList verifies profile control. They rank ahead of relevant unclaimed profiles, but claimed status is not an endorsement.
3
Verified
Verified profiles have passed TradeList’s ownership review while secure owner-account setup is still pending. They rank above relevant public profiles but below completed claimed accounts.
4
Public
Public profiles are compiled from public sources and have not been claimed by the business. Strong source-backed information still determines their order within this tier.
What the score does not claim
- It does not verify licensing, insurance, availability, pricing, or workmanship.
- It does not host reviews or combine third-party ratings into a TradeList rating.
- It does not infer response time, completed jobs, or customer satisfaction without auditable data.
- It does not let repeated photo uploads buy an unlimited ranking advantage.
Method reference: Google describes local results in terms of relevance, distance, and prominence. TradeList uses its own documented signals and does not reproduce or claim to know Google's confidential algorithm. Read Google's local ranking overview.