Our values, the long version

The No BS Promise

We don’t take money to rank anyone. Every spa on this site runs through the same 14-data-point formula. Same math, every spa, every time.

Current as of May 2026·Reviewed quarterly by editorial team

The 30-second version

  • • No spa pays us. Not now. Not ever. If that changes, we’ll say so on this page first.
  • • No ads. No sponsored content. No “featured tier.”
  • • Every ranking is a math function of public Google data. Run the inputs, get the same number we did.
  • • We don’t edit or remove reviews. Not even the bad ones. Especially not the bad ones.
  • • We’re a small editorial operation. We will tell you when we don’t know something.

Why “No BS” isn’t marketing.

Most med spa “directories” sell rankings. Quietly. You pay a few hundred a month and suddenly you’re a “Featured Provider” with a gold badge. The directory earns from spas, then markets itself to patients as a research source. Patients trust the badge. The badge means nothing.

We built this site because that bothered us. A directory should rank businesses on what they actually do, not what they pay. Otherwise it’s an ad network wearing a research-firm costume.

So we made the opposite. No revenue from spas, ever.The site runs on a spreadsheet, a formula, and the Google reviews we read so you don’t have to.

What we’ll never do

If you ever see us doing any of these, screenshot it and email hello@nobsmedspareviews.com. We’ll either fix it or update this page.

  • ✗
    Sell ranking position
    No spa will ever climb a list because money changed hands. Money cannot buy a higher MSD score. Money cannot buy the “Recommended” badge. Money cannot get a competitor demoted.
  • ✗
    Run display ads
    No banners, no Google AdSense, no “sponsored cards.” If you see an ad on this site, something has gone catastrophically wrong with our DNS.
  • ✗
    Take affiliate commissions on bookings
    If we link out to a spa, no kickback. Ever.
  • ✗
    Edit or remove negative reviews
    Reviews come straight from Google’s public aggregate, displayed verbatim. We cannot edit them. We cannot remove them. We do not want to.
  • ✗
    Fabricate “consumer reviewers”
    If we claim to have a contributor network, the count on the spa page is the real count. If it’s zero, we say zero. We don’t invent people.
  • ✗
    Hide our AI use
    Sentiment summaries and editorial sub-ratings are produced by Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5. We label every AI-assisted block as such. No pretending a machine did human work.

How we actually rank med spas

Three layers. All public. All deterministic. All boring math.

Layer 1 — Priority score

priority_score = rating × ln(review_count + 1)

A 4.9-star spa with 300 reviews scores 4.9 × ln(301) = 28.0. A 4.7-star spa with 1,200 reviews scores 4.7 × ln(1201) = 33.3. The natural log rewards sustained satisfaction over a perfect score from three visits.

Layer 2 — MSD Editorial Score

A deterministic 0-5 composite. 30% Google rating. 25% review volume (log-normalized). 15% sentiment positive percentage. 15% data completeness. 10% review recency. 5% Place ID verification. Same inputs, same output, always. Full breakdown →

Layer 3 — Sub-ratings + service strengths

For spas with reviews on file we score 5 aspects (staff, cleanliness, pricing transparency, wait times, results quality) and detect which treatments the spa is strongest at. Every score is supported by a verbatim review quote. AI-assisted, disclosed on every page.

What the editor can do: apply a ±15% adjustment to the priority score after researching or visiting a spa. Every adjustment is logged publicly with a written reason at /research#editorial-adjustments. It’s the only mechanism by which human judgment touches the order. It’s capped, logged, and disclosed.

How we pay rent

Right now: we don’t. This is an editorial project run independently. There are no paid tiers, no display ads, no affiliate links, no sponsored content. The site is just the research.

If that ever changes, the change goes on this page first, before any new revenue source takes effect. You’ll see exactly what we’re selling, who’s paying for it, and what they get in return. No silent transitions to ad-network monetization. No surprise “featured listings.”

If we ever take outside funding (VC, grants, anything), we’ll publish the source, the amount, and what we promised. Editorial independence is the only product we have. We’re not going to sell it for a Series A.

If you’re a med spa owner

  • Want to be on the site? You probably already are. Search by your business name on the homepage. If not, submit your spa for editorial review— it’s free and never affects ranking.
  • Want to fix something on your listing?Click “Suggest an edit” on the page. Our editors review within 1-2 business days.
  • Want to claim and manage your listing? Free claim flow. You can edit your data, respond to reviews, add photos. Does not change your ranking position.
  • Want to pay us to be #1? No.
  • Disagree with your ranking?Get more 5-star Google reviews. That’s the only lever, and it’s the right one.

Hold us to it.

Every claim on this page is verifiable. The ranking formula is public. The data sources are listed on every spa page. The AI we use is disclosed on every AI-assisted block. If you catch us breaking any of the rules above:

  • • Email hello@nobsmedspareviews.com
  • • Or post about it publicly. We’ll address it publicly.
  • • We don’t have a comms team. You’ll get a real answer.

— The No BS Med Spa Reviews editorial team

Related reading, if you’re into this kind of thing:

Our research methodology (14 data points) · How we rank · How we verify · What we sell (spoiler: nothing) · About