How we rank agencies

Advertising Review is an independent review site. Every ranked list is assembled by our editors, audited on a rolling 90-day cycle, and scored against the criteria below. We do not accept payment for ranking placement.

What each category measures

Rankings are category-specific. An agency can rank #1 in Local SEO and not appear at all in Branding & Design. That is intentional — agencies should only compete inside categories where they actually deliver the work.

Scoring inputs

Service fit (40%). Does the agency own the category in-house, or outsource it? Depth of tooling, named practitioners, published case studies.
Outcome evidence (25%). Documented results — rank lifts, first-page share, ROAS, cost-per-lead. Independently verifiable wherever possible.
Fit for local-service advertisers (20%). Most of our audience operates multi-location or single-market service businesses. Agencies that specialize here score higher than those who treat local as a sub-segment.
Transparency (10%). Published pricing, plain contracts, escapable terms, honest reporting cadence.
Client signal (5%). Aggregated review volume and sentiment across public sources.

How the "Local Marketing Pricing" category works

This category inverts the usual ranking. It is ordered by total transparent cost of entry — lowest-priced, fewest-strings-attached plan at the top. An agency can be our #1 for Local SEO and not place first on Pricing; that is expected, and it is why we publish the two lists separately.

Disclosure

Advertising Review is editorially independent. Agencies can submit a listing through our submit page; a submission does not buy placement. We do not participate in affiliate or referral programs for ranked categories.

Corrections

Spot something wrong? We publish a correction within seven days if the claim is factual and verifiable. Email editors@advertisingreview.com.