Personal Branding Agencies The vetted directory

Review Integrity

How reviews are verified.Every one of them.

A directory that publishes unchecked reviews is a review site with extra steps. Every review here is read by a person, tied to a contactable client, and can be removed if it turns out not to be genuine.

How a review is verified, in one paragraph

Every review needs a working email. Before it publishes, we write to that address to confirm the reviewer was a client of the practice; if we cannot reach the reviewer, the review is not published. A person reads every review, the reviewer's name publishes as a first name and last initial, and a review is corrected only for spelling and grammar, and labeled when it is. Ratings and the Power Ranking cannot be bought.

Write a review

Worked with a listed practice? Each listing has its own review form, so the review is filed against the right practice. Choose it here, or use Write a Review on its listing.

The process

  1. You submit

    A review requires a rating, a written account, your name, and a working contact email. The email is required and is never published.

  2. We check it is a real client

    We contact you at the email you gave. If we cannot reach you, the review is not published. This is the single step that does most of the work, and it is why the email is not optional.

  3. A person reads it

    Every review is read before it appears. Nothing publishes automatically, and there is no automated filter deciding on its own.

  4. The agency can respond

    For a critical review, the agency is shown the substance and given the opportunity to respond before publication. It cannot veto the review.

  5. It publishes, or it does not

    You are told the outcome either way. A published review counts toward the agency's rating and its position in the PBA Power Ranking.

How we edit reviews

We correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and nothing else. We never change what a reviewer meant, what they said happened, or how they rated the practice. The limits are enforced by the software, not left to judgment:

  • Corrections only. An edit may change at most 12 characters of the review, or 10 percent of its length, whichever is more. Anything larger is refused by the system.
  • Measured against the original. Every correction is compared with the reviewer’s original words, not the last edit, so a series of small corrections can never add up to a rewrite.
  • The rating is never edited. No setting or role in the system can change a star rating.
  • Names and roles. These can be corrected (a misspelled name, a missing capital), never replaced.
  • The original is kept. The reviewer’s exact words are stored alongside the corrected version and can be produced on request.
  • Every edited review is labeled on the listing: Edited for spelling and grammar.

A review can be taken down only for a reason on file: it fails verification, it was not written by a client, it breaks the review terms, or the reviewer asks for it to be removed. Removing a review recalculates the practice’s rating and review count. The review and the reason are kept on record; neither is published. A practice cannot pay for, request, or approve an edit or a removal.

Common questions

Can an agency write its own reviews?

No. A review requires a contact email we can reach, and the submitter confirms they are not an employee or someone writing on the agency's behalf. Reviews that fail that check are rejected, and an agency caught submitting them is removed from the directory under the Code of Ethics.

Can an agency pay to remove a bad review?

No. Paid plans buy placement and presentation. They cannot buy approval, a rating, a rank, or the removal of a review.

Is my email published?

Never. It is used to verify you were a client and to tell you the outcome. It is not shown on the site, not given to the agency, and not used for marketing.

Can I stay anonymous?

Your name is published as a first name and last initial, and a full surname is never asked for. We need your email to verify you, and it is never published.

What if a review is unfair?

An agency can dispute a published review. If it turns out the reviewer was not a client, the review is removed. Disagreeing with an accurate review is not grounds for removal.

Do you edit reviews?

Only for spelling, grammar, and punctuation, within limits the system enforces: at most 12 characters or 10 percent of the review, whichever is more, measured against the reviewer's original words. The rating is never edited, the original is kept, and an edited review is labeled on the listing.

How does a review affect the ranking?

Published reviews feed the PBA Power Ranking, which weights an agency's rating by how many reviews support it. A small number of reviews moves an agency less than a large number does, so a handful of unusually positive or negative reviews cannot swing a position on its own.

What we cannot promise

Verification confirms that a reviewer was a real client and that the account is their own. It does not make a review objective, and it does not mean we have independently audited the work described. Two honest clients can reasonably disagree about the same engagement.

Reviews are one signal. The vetting standard and the Code of Ethics are the others, and they are the ones an agency cannot influence by being liked.

Browse agencies or read about the PBA Power Ranking.