A business might have 4.8 stars on Google, 4.5 stars on Yelp and a different rating on another review website.
Which score should you trust?
Looking at all three is a good start, but comparing them isn't always straightforward. Each website may have a different number of reviews, and those reviews may have been collected over different periods.
A composite business rating brings information from multiple sources together to help answer a more useful question: What does the available customer feedback tell us about this company overall?
What Is a Composite Rating?
A composite business rating combines customer ratings from more than one review source into a single result.
A basic version might use the number of reviews and average rating from each website to calculate a combined average.
For example, imagine a company with:
- 40 Google reviews averaging 4.8 stars.
- 20 Yelp reviews averaging 4.2 stars.
- 40 reviews on another platform averaging 4.6 stars.
A simple calculation that weights every review equally would produce a combined rating of 4.6 stars.
That provides a broader view than checking a single platform.
But it still leaves some important questions unanswered.
Were those reviews written recently? Do the platforms have equally reliable methods for collecting feedback? Are all the reviewers actual customers?
A basic mathematical average doesn't address those questions.
Why Combining Reviews Is Only the Beginning
Customer review websites don't all work the same way.
Some focus on local businesses in general. Others specialize in home services, health care, automotive work or particular industries.
They can also differ in how they collect reviews, identify questionable activity and handle feedback from people who may not have been customers.
Simply combining their averages doesn't account for those differences.
The value of a more detailed composite rating comes from examining the information behind each score.
How ONE AllRatings Calculates Its Star Score
ONE AllRatings uses what it calls a super-composite Star Score.
According to its published Rating Process, the system evaluates available customer ratings across review sources, then adjusts how those ratings contribute to the result.
Several factors are considered.
Reviews from actual customers
OAR's published methodology says it excludes ratings from people identified as non-customers and evaluates reviews for signs of questionable activity.
This distinction matters because a rating from someone who never purchased a service may not reflect the quality of the work performed.
More weight for recent reviews
A company that performed excellent work seven years ago may not operate the same way today.
OAR gives more weight to recent customer ratings. Its methodology explains that a review from the past year can receive three times the weight of a review from seven years ago.
Differences between review sources
OAR also evaluates the trustworthiness of review sources and adjusts how much influence their ratings have.
The objective is to reduce the effect of less reliable information rather than treating every website as equally dependable.
These factors contribute to the company's final Star Score, which is displayed on a five-star scale.
Why OAR Also Uses a TOTAL SCORE
A customer rating tells you something about satisfaction. It doesn't necessarily establish whether a business has the required credentials or provides enough information about its services.
OAR addresses this with a separate TOTAL SCORE on a 100-point scale.
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Super-composite Star Score | 80% |
| Key Docs | 10% |
| Company Report | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
The Star Score reflects OAR's calculation of customer ratings.
Key Docs measures the percentage of applicable documentation OAR has verified. Depending on the business and location, this can involve licenses, insurance and other records.
The Report component measures available company disclosures, including information about personnel, services and past work.
This structure gives customer experience the greatest weight while including information that can help consumers evaluate a business beyond its reviews.
A Real Example: A Five-Star Company With an 80 TOTAL SCORE
Consider All Bay Roofing in Vallejo, California.
Its published company report displays:
| Rating component | Reported value |
|---|---|
| Stars | 5.0 |
| Review sources | 2 |
| Reviews | 6 |
| Key Docs | 0% |
| Report | 0% |
| TOTAL SCORE | 80.0 |
Using OAR's published weighting, the calculation is straightforward:
Star Score: 5.0 out of 5.0 contributes 80 points.
Key Docs: 0% contributes 0 points.
Company Report: 0% contributes 0 points.
TOTAL SCORE: 80 out of 100.
The company has a five-star customer rating, but its overall score reflects the additional documentation and disclosure fields.
A 0% Key Docs value should not be interpreted as proof that a company lacks insurance or licensing. It indicates that the relevant verification has not been completed or reflected in that scoring field.
That distinction is important.
For other companies, the calculation may not be reproducible exactly from the displayed Star Score because published star values can be rounded. The underlying scoring data determines the precise result.
What Does a Score of 90 or Higher Mean?
OAR groups companies into three general rating levels.
A TOTAL SCORE below 80 falls into the lower rating group.
A score of 80 or higher qualifies for the high-rating level.
The highest level, ONE AllRatings Certified, requires a TOTAL SCORE of at least 90 along with additional certification requirements.
These include applicable licensing, insurance, complaint handling and company disclosures. The certification is also associated with OAR's Performance Guarantee, subject to its terms.
A company does not become certified based on its star rating alone.
And certification should not be treated as a promise that every customer will have the same experience.
How to Use a Composite Rating
Composite scores work best as a starting point for comparing companies.
When viewing an OAR company report, consider each part of the rating:
- Stars: What does the combined customer feedback indicate?
- Sources: How many review platforms contributed?
- Reviews: How much customer feedback was analyzed?
- Key Docs: What applicable credentials have been verified?
- Report: How much information has the business disclosed?
- TOTAL SCORE: How do those factors contribute to the overall assessment?
A strong composite rating helps narrow your choices. It doesn't replace checking current credentials, reviewing estimates or asking questions about the specific service you need.
That's the purpose of bringing these details together. Instead of making a decision based on one number from one website, you have more information to work with.
You can learn more about the calculations and certification requirements on the ONE AllRatings Rating Process page.