review guidelines
Fair and authentic reviews are the heart of our platform. These guidelines help ensure the quality and trustworthiness of our reviews.
Our principles
Authentizität
Reviews must be based on genuine experiences. Only people who were actually customers may review.
Fairness
Reviews should be fair and balanced. Personal attacks or insults are not allowed.
Sachlichkeit
Describe your experience objectively. Specific details help other users decide.
Aktualität
Reviews should be written soon after the visit or use of the service.
Keine Interessenkonflikte
You may not review your own business or those of competitors.
Rechtmäßigkeit
Reviews must not contain false statements of fact or unlawful content.
How our ranking is created
Every best-of list is sorted automatically by the same rules — identical in every city and every category.
1. Our own reviews first
Businesses with at least one verified review on dieBestenderStadt rank ahead of businesses for which we only have a Google rating. Verified reviews go through the moderation described on this page — they are the more reliable basis.
2. Average stars
Within these two groups, the average star rating decides. If we have our own reviews, their average counts; otherwise the stored Google rating.
3. Number of reviews
With the same star rating, the business with more reviews ranks higher. An average of 5.0 from three reviews is less meaningful than 4.8 from two hundred.
4. Editorial rating
If it is still a tie after that, an older editorial rating from our database decides.
What does not influence the ranking
Payment does not change the order. Neither a premium subscription nor an ad slot moves a business up within a best-of list.
Sponsored listings appear exclusively in separate blocks labelled "Ad" outside the ranking. Where you see a rank number, it was earned through reviews.
Limits of this method
- Businesses without any reviews cannot be rated and appear at the end of a list.
- We take Google ratings as a stored snapshot; they are not queried in real time.
- We measure how guests and customers rate a business — not our own on-site quality inspection.
Rating scale
Use the following criteria as a guide for your star rating:
Prohibited content
The following content is not permitted in reviews and will be removed:
- Insults, discrimination or hate speech
- Falsche Tatsachenbehauptungen
- Advertising or spam
- Personal data of third parties
- Copyrighted content
- Reviews of businesses not visited
- Mehrfachbewertungen desselben Unternehmens
- Paid or incentivised reviews without disclosure
How we moderate
Automatic check
Every review is automatically checked for spam and inappropriate content.
Manual review
Our team personally reviews reported reviews and disputed cases.
Reporting by users
Users can report inappropriate reviews.
For businesses: responding to reviews
As a business you have the option to respond to reviews. Use this opportunity:
- Say thank you for positive feedback
- Respond professionally to criticism
- Offer solutions to problems
- Report inadmissible reviews via our form