How we rank transportation companies
Re-scored weekly-1 companies scored0 ranked lists0 paid placements in any ranking
Every company gets one RT Score from 0 to 100, built from 10 weighted factors and calculated separately for each service and city. Ranks come from that score and nothing else. Sponsored placements never affect rank.
The RT Score in one line
Each factor earns a share of its weight; the shares add up to a score out of 100.
- 25%Reputation
- 15%Registration
- 10%Review volume
- 10%Recency
- 5%Availability
- 10%Service focus
- 5%Proximity
- 5%Claimed profile
- 5%Partnered
- 10%Ranked Transportation reviews
A factor we could not measure for a business is left out, and the score is worked out over the factors we did measure. The exact formula is in Formulas at the bottom of this page.
The ten factors
What each factor measures, why it counts, and where the data comes from.
| Factor | Weight | How it’s measured | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reputation | 25% | The Google star rating, adjusted for how many reviews stand behind it. A company with no Google reviews scores zero here. | Google rating and review count |
| Registration | 15% | An active USDOT number (and operating authority for interstate carriers), or a state mover or towing registration, matched in public records. Not measured yet: left out of every score until we load those records. | FMCSA Company Census File and operating authority records (planned); state registers such as TxDMV, California BHGS and TDLR (planned) |
| Review volume | 10% | Number of Google reviews, compared with the most-reviewed company on the same list. Each extra review counts a little less than the one before. | Google review count |
| Recency | 10% | Share of the company’s reviews posted in the last 12 months. | Review dates |
| Availability | 5% | Weekly open hours, open Saturday, open Sunday, and 24/7 or same-day service, counted equally. | Opening hours, Google attributes |
| Service focus | 10% | How clearly this is the company’s service: its Google main category counts most, then a company name that names the service, then an additional category. | Google main and additional categories, company name |
| Proximity | 5% | A company based in the city scores highest; one based elsewhere scores less the farther away it is, down to nothing at the service’s radius (25 miles for towing, junk removal and couriers; 40 for movers and dumpsters; 50 for trucking; 60 for car shipping). | Company coordinates |
| Claimed profile | 5% | Full points when the company has claimed its RankedTransportation profile. Claiming is free, and free and paid profiles earn the same points. | RankedTransportation account records |
| Partnered | 5% | Full points when the company links to RankedTransportation from its own website with our free badge. We check the link periodically. | Badge check on the company’s website |
| Ranked Transportation reviews | 10% | Reviews from customers we verified ourselves: their average rating (pulled toward an average when there are only a few) and how many there are. Reviews a customer verified only by email count half as much as invited ones. None yet scores zero. | RankedTransportation reviews |
25%Reputation
The Google star rating, adjusted for how many reviews stand behind it. A company with no Google reviews scores zero here. A rating resting on a handful of reviews is noisy, and moving and towing attract both very happy and very angry customers.
15%Registration
Interstate movers and carriers must register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A matched, active registration shows the company is allowed to do the work.
10%Review volume
Number of Google reviews, compared with the most-reviewed company on the same list. Each extra review counts a little less than the one before. A large review base is evidence of steady work, without letting one national brand flatten local companies.
10%Recency
Share of the company’s reviews posted in the last 12 months. Ownership, drivers and trucks change; recent reviews say more about the company you would hire today.
5%Availability
Moves happen on weekends and breakdowns happen at night: whether someone answers matters as much as how good they are.
10%Service focus
How clearly this is the company’s service: its Google main category counts most, then a company name that names the service, then an additional category. A dedicated towing company should outrank a repair shop that also tows.
5%Proximity
A nearby truck arrives sooner and costs less to send.
5%Claimed profile
Full points when the company has claimed its Ranked Transportation profile. Claiming is free, and free and paid profiles earn the same points. An owner who keeps the profile current is easier to reach and to hold to account.
5%Partnered
Full points when the company links to Ranked Transportation from its own website with our free badge. We check the link periodically. Putting its ranking on its own site shows the company stands behind the facts we publish.
10%Ranked Transportation reviews
Reviews from customers we verified ourselves: their average rating (pulled toward an average when there are only a few) and how many there are. Reviews a customer verified only by email count half as much as invited ones. None yet scores zero.
Emergency lists (for example emergency towing companies in a city) move 10 points from reputation to availability, and count only 24/7 or same-day signals.
How the star rating is adjusted
A perfect score from 9 reviews should not beat a near-perfect score from a thousand.
A company with few reviews is pulled toward the local average for its service. As its reviews grow, its own rating takes over. At 50 reviews, its rating and the average count equally.
Worked example, using an example average of C = 4.4: a 5.0 from 9 reviews ranks below a 4.8 from 1,049.
| Order | Business | Google rating | Reviews | Weight on own rating | Adjusted rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Business B | 4.8 | 1,049 | 95% | 4.78 |
| #2 | Business C | 4.6 | 140 | 74% | 4.55 |
| #3 | Business A | 5.0 | 9 | 15% | 4.49 |
Businesses A, B and C are illustrations, not real companies.
When data is missing
We never fill a gap with a guess.
A company with no Google reviews scores zero on reputation, review volume and recency, so it can’t outrank reviewed companies on missing data. That changes once it has 10 or more verified RankedTransportation reviews. Claimed profile, partnered and ranked transportation reviews are always measured: no claim, badge or review yet means zero.
For any other factor, a missing input is left out rather than set to zero or to an average. The score is calculated over the factors we could measure, and each business shows its coverage: the measured weight out of 100.
In score bars a measured factor is solid. A factor we have not collected yet is hatched:
Example only: no review dates yet, so recency is hatched.
Who gets ranked
Some businesses are listed but not ranked; some are not listed at all.
- To be ranked for a service, a company needs a confident service match (its Google category or its name names the service) and either 3+ Google reviews or a claimed profile.
- Everyone else who serves the city appears unranked in a compact “Also serving” table on the same page.
- Ties are broken by score, then weekly open hours, then profile completeness (website, photos, description and hours), then name.
| Rule | Effect | Companies affected |
|---|---|---|
| Weak service match (only a services tag names the service) | Listed in “Also serving”, not ranked. | — |
| Fewer than 3 reviews and not claimed | Listed in “Also serving”, not ranked. | — |
| Permanently closed | Removed from every list. | — |
| Sponsored or any paid status | Never read by the score; never changes a rank. | — |
Service areas and coverage
Transportation companies travel, so a city list includes companies based nearby that serve it.
Each service has a service radius. A company based inside the city gets full proximity points; one based elsewhere scores less the further away it is, reaching 0 at the radius. Every card says where the company is based and how far that is.
| Service | Radius | Emergency list |
|---|---|---|
| Movers | 40 mi (64 km) | No |
| Junk removal companies | 25 mi (40 km) | No |
| Dumpster rental companies | 40 mi (64 km) | No |
| Towing companies | 25 mi (40 km) | Yes |
| Car shipping companies | 60 mi (97 km) | No |
| Trucking companies | 50 mi (80 km) | No |
| Courier services | 25 mi (40 km) | No |
Where the data comes from
- Google Business data: star rating, review count, review dates, categories, opening hours, coordinates and listed attributes.
- Business-submitted data: companies that claim their profile can correct hours, services and contact details. Changes are checked before they count.
A weekly job rescores the cities that were scored longest ago first. Scores are stored, not computed when you load a page, so a company’s number is the same on its profile and on every list it appears in. Each list shows the date it was last scored.
When a page shows a ranking
- A service × city list is published and indexed with 10 or more rankable companies. With 5–9 it is shown but kept out of search indexes; below 5 we point to the state list instead.
- Emergency lists need at least 3 companies with 24/7 or same-day signals.
- We don’t publish a separate page when more than 70% of its top 10 matches its parent list; it becomes a section of the parent.
- The top 25 companies appear in full; the rest of the ranked list appears in a compact table on the same page.
- Every “best” names its basis and date: best by RT Score, scored on a stated day.
What companies can and cannot pay for
Companies can pay for
- A Sponsored slot: a block labelled “Sponsored”, outside the ranked list, with at most 3 companies per page, rotated daily at an equal price
- Pro profile tools: photos, a website link, review invites and profile stats
Companies can never pay for
- A higher rank, on any list
- A change to their RT Score or any factor in it
- Removal of a competitor, or of facts they dislike
Claiming a profile and adding our badge to your website are free. Free and paid listings earn exactly the same points for a claimed profile (5%) and for being partnered (5%); paying for Sponsored or Pro adds nothing to the score.
Each Sponsored card also shows that company’s actual rank, so readers see where it really places. Sponsored companies are left out of the ranked list’s structured data.
Found a wrong fact? Our editorial policy explains how to request a correction and how fast we act.
Formulas
The exact calculations behind the factors above, for anyone who wants to check our work.
| Factor | Weight | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Reputation | 25% | adj = v/(v+m)·R + m/(v+m)·C, with m = 50 and C = the review-weighted mean rating for the service in that city (a Bayesian average). Part = adj / 5. 0 when the company has no Google reviews. |
| Registration | 15% | Left out (not measured) until a registration source is loaded. |
| Review volume | 10% | log10(v + 1) / log10(V + 1), where V = the most Google reviews on the same ranked list. 0 when the company has no Google reviews. |
| Recency | 10% | Reviews in the last 12 months / all reviews. Left out until review dates are collected; 0 when the company has no Google reviews. |
| Availability | 5% | (min(1, weekly open hours / 60) + Saturday + Sunday + 24/7 or same-day) / 4, each sign 0 or 1. Emergency lists: 1 with 24/7 or same-day evidence, else 0. |
| Service focus | 10% | Google main category 1.0, company name names the service 0.7, additional category only 0.5; the highest that applies. |
| Proximity | 5% | 1.0 when based in the city, falling in a straight line to 0 at the service’s service radius. |
| Claimed profile | 5% | 1 when the profile is claimed (free or paid), else 0. |
| Partnered | 5% | 1 when our badge is verified on the company’s own website (or set by an admin after a manual check), else 0. |
| Ranked Transportation reviews | 10% | 0.6 · (q − 1) / 4 + 0.4 · min(1, ln(1 + n) / ln(21)), where n = the weighted review count (invited 1.0, email-verified 0.5) and q = (avg · n + 3 · 4.0) / (n + 3). 0 with no reviews. |
- No Google reviews: reputation, review volume and recency are 0, not left out, unless the company has 10 or more weighted RankedTransportation reviews; then they are left out and the score is renormalised over the measured factors.
- Emergency lists move 10 points from reputation to availability.
- Ranking needs service focus of 0.5 or more and 3+ Google reviews or a claimed profile.