Business Rate Awards: How Winners Are Chosen

Spot a ‘Best of’ sticker in a shop window and it’s natural to trust that business a bit more. That badge says someone else has already looked and said yes.

The BusinessRate award works the same way, but it’s one signal, not a guarantee. Knowing how winners are chosen helps you decide how much weight it deserves.

Here, we’ll cover how to share the news and thank the people who helped, how reviews shape local reputation, and how to check a business beyond its awards.

How the Business Rate Award Picks Winners

Before you chase a badge, it helps to know how it’s handed out. The BusinessRate award has nothing to do with the UK business rates tax that businesses pay on their premises, so don’t let the name throw you.

Here’s what goes into the pick and how far we’d trust it.

How reviews and trends shape the pick

The award analyzes Google reviews, the public ratings and comments customers leave. It also considers recent trends and compares each business only with others in the same category and location.

Only verified review data counts, and there’s no application or nomination, so you can’t ask to be considered.

Think of a side hustler who runs a mobile bike repair service from a converted van. She never fills in a form, but each honest review her customers leave after a finished repair becomes part of the record the award reads.

Other things that influence who wins

Reviews aren’t the only input. These factors also shape who wins:

• Public votes. Input from people outside the business.
• Industry reputation. How peers in the field regard you.
• Service consistency. Steady quality, not one good month.
• Innovation and leadership. New approaches and clear direction.
• Local engagement. Your ties to the neighborhood you serve.

Is the business rate award legit?

So is it legit? It’s best read as a reflection of how customers rate you, not a measure of results like revenue or profit. A strong public rating signals happy customers, but Google does not endorse the award, so the badge isn’t an official Google stamp.

If you’re asking whether it’s legit on Reddit, treat those threads as personal opinions, not verified findings.

Use it as one signal among several, next to your own sales numbers and customer feedback. It’s a signal, not proof. Trust it, but not blindly.

Sharing the News and Thanking People

Winning gives you a reason to talk, and the people who helped you deserve thanks too. Here’s how to do both without turning your feed into a trophy case.

Telling customers about the win

Say the award year, the category, and the local market in one clear sentence. Keep the tone honored rather than hyped: ‘We’re honored to be recognized by the people we serve’ reads as genuine, while a stack of exclamation points reads like an ad.

Picture a dog walker who runs her business from a spare room. She adds the year, category, and town to her booking page, and the next client who mentions it at checkout tells her the post did its job.

Then put the badge where people already look:

• your website header,
• your email signature, and
• every profile you manage.

Start with the places you already control. They cost nothing.

Thanking clients, reviewers, and the community

Your reviewers helped earn this, so thank them by name where the platform allows. ‘Thanks, Dana, your note about the Saturday walk made my week’ means more than ‘thanks, everyone.’

Recognition is social proof: it tells a stranger that people in your area have already checked you out, so you don’t have to win them over from scratch.

Treat the win as a checkpoint. Ask what it reflects, like faster replies or cleaner work, and keep doing it. Aim for maintaining the standard rather than resting on it.

If you give time or money to a local nonprofit, or send part of your sales to a cause, mention it in your thank-you. Keep the spotlight on the cause.

How Google Reviews Shape Local Reputation

Reviews are where customers rate you in their own words, and they can affect how often you appear in nearby searches. Here’s how to earn them honestly.

Why reviews sway customers and rankings

Help customers decide. Think of a dog walker six weeks into her side hustle. Her profile shows five-star reviews from neighbors, so a pet owner comparing three walkers picks her. Real voices do more than any polished bio.

Wondering how to rate a business yourself? Open its Google profile, choose to write a review, and leave a star rating with a short comment.

Affect local search ranking. Reviews also feed into local search, the results people see when they look for a business nearby.

Search Engine Land’s guide to ranking in Google’s local results notes that review count and average star rating may also factor into local search ranking.

Part of local visibility. Reviews are one piece of how people find you nearby, so think of them as ongoing proof you’re active, not a one-time trophy.

Ways to earn reviews honestly

Build them the right way with these habits:

• Ask every customer. Make it the last step of every job, not something you do now and then.
• Send a direct review link. A text or email link takes customers straight to the review form.
• Respond to all reviews. Reply to every review, praise and criticism alike.
• Fix issues from negative feedback. If a review flags a real problem, like a late pickup, fix it and say so in your reply.
• No incentives or bought reviews. Skip discounts in exchange for praise, and never buy reviews. Fake praise undercuts the trust you’re building.
• Free review-link and QR (quick response) code tools. These can put your review page one scan away, at no cost.

Trust takes time. Keep asking.

Checking a Business Beyond Its Awards

An award badge is a starting point, not proof. Check the business the way you’d check any vendor you’re about to pay.

Steps to vet a business yourself

Run these four checks before you hire or buy:

1. Review client case studies. Look for named projects with specific results, not vague praise.
2. Speak with current clients. Ask two or three of them what surprised them and what they’d change.
3. Assess process explanation. Can they walk you through the work step by step, without jargon? A fuzzy answer means more questions before you pay.
4. Check fit with goals. A firm built for large corporate accounts may not suit a small side hustle.

Consider a home baker weighing a shipping service for her cookie orders. Its badge looks impressive, but she asks for two bakeries like hers and calls one. That short call reveals how often boxes arrive late, which no badge could.

Common questions and next steps

Start with what the BusinessRate award measures, who issues it, and how winners are chosen. If the award’s site doesn’t answer those clearly, treat that as your first warning sign.

Watch especially for pay-to-play badges, where a business gets recognized by paying a fee rather than meeting a standard. Spot them by asking whether entering costs money, and treat a yes as a reason to look harder.

A badge that’s earned carries real signal; one that’s bought mostly shows who paid.

Don’t assume a big name like Google stands behind the badge just because the logo looks official. Confirm the issuer on the award’s own site before you give it weight.

Then check the category and market. A win in a narrow group that matches your work says more than a broad win that doesn’t.

Finally, contact the award team or the business directly. Ask how winners were picked. A straight answer builds confidence, and a vague one tells you what you need to know. The badge opens the conversation. It doesn’t close it.

An award is a starting point, not a finish line. Treat the BusinessRate badge as one piece of evidence, weigh it alongside what customers say and how the business treats them, and you’ll make far better calls.

For your own side hustle, use recognition wisely: share the news, thank the people who helped, and let your customers’ words do most of the talking.

A badge can open the door, but the work is what keeps customers coming back.

References

1. What Is the Google Local Pack? How to Rank in the 3-Pack — searchengineland.com (2025)