The 14 data points we evaluate
Every listing on this site is checked against these 14 data points before publication. The first 8 are public-source facts; data points 9-14 are proprietary editorial layers we built ourselves. When data is missing, we say so on the listing.
1. Verified address
Sourced via Google Places API. We confirm the spa exists at the address on file.
2. Phone number
Verified against Google Places. Where Google has no record, we mark "unverified" on the listing.
3. Real business website
We distinguish between a spa's actual website and an aggregator URL (Yelp, Booksy, etc.). Listings without a real website are marked.
4. Aggregate rating
Pulled from Google's public review aggregate. We never adjust ratings up or down.
5. Patient review volume
We trust Google's review count. Spas with under 3 reviews are excluded from city-level rankings.
6. Recent review text
For our most-researched 1,000 spas, we pull the 5 most recent Google reviews verbatim. Reviews are shown unedited.
7. Service inventory
We document what each spa offers. If the data is incomplete, we say so.
8. Operating hours
Pulled from Google. Listings without hours are flagged.
9. MSD Editorial Score
Our composite 1-5 star rating computed from 6 weighted signals. Distinctly ours, not just Google's rating.
10. Sentiment analysis
We use Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5 to read every Google review and surface the top themes patients praise and the concerns mentioned. Full disclosure on every business page.
11. Editorial team notes
When a member of our editorial team visits or researches a spa in depth, they write notes that appear on the listing.
12. Contributor experiences
Verified patient submissions from our growing contributor network. Each is reviewed by our editors before publishing.
13. Service strength analysis
For every spa with reviews on file we deterministically detect which treatments are mentioned and compute per-service average ratings. The result tells you what each spa is genuinely best at — strongest in Botox, or in laser, or in HydraFacial — supported by a real review quote on every claim. See methodology →
14. Editorial sub-ratings
Five Yelp-style aspect scores for every spa with reviews: staff & bedside manner, cleanliness, pricing transparency, wait times, and results quality. Each score comes with a verbatim review citation. AI-assisted analysis, fully disclosed. See methodology →
Our ranking formula
Every listed spa receives a transparent priority score. The formula is published — we do not hand-rank, and there are no editorial overrides for paying customers because no business pays us.
Worked examples
A 4.9-star spa with 300 reviews scores 4.9 × ln(301) = 4.9 × 5.71 = 28.0
A 4.7-star spa with 1,200 reviews scores 4.7 × ln(1201) = 4.7 × 7.09 = 33.3
This is why review volume can outweigh raw rating — sustained patient satisfaction over many reviews is a stronger signal than a perfect score from few visits.
Our MSD Editorial Score
Every spa gets a 0-5 star No BS Med Spa Reviews Editorial Score. It's a deterministic composite of 6 weighted signals — same input always gives the same score.
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Google rating | 30% |
| Review volume (log-normalized) | 25% |
| Review recency (% in last 12 months) | 10% |
| Sentiment analysis (% positive) | 15% |
| Data completeness (8 data points present) | 15% |
| Google Place ID verified | 5% |
Worked example
A spa with Google rating 4.8, 344 reviews, 70% recent reviews, 87% positive sentiment, 8/8 data points, place_id verified would score:
The score is recomputed every time we merge new enrichment data.
Service strength analysis
Most directories tell you a spa's overall rating but never tell you what they're actually best at. We do. For every spa with reviews on file, we deterministically detect which treatments are mentioned in each review (Botox, fillers, laser hair removal, HydraFacial, Morpheus8, etc.) and compute the average star rating of reviews that mention each treatment.
Each treatment we report is supported by a verbatim quote from one of the actual reviews. We do not paraphrase. We do not invent. If a spa has only one mention of a treatment, we say so — small sample sizes are flagged.
Treatments we currently track:
Botox · Dermal fillers · Lip fillers · Cheek fillers · Laser hair removal · HydraFacial · Microneedling · Chemical peels · CoolSculpting · Morpheus8 · IV therapy · Semaglutide · Tirzepatide · PRP · Kybella · Sculptra · Facial · Microdermabrasion · IPL · Body contouring
The strength ranking on each spa page is sorted by mention count × average rating, so a spa that is genuinely a Botox specialist (many positive Botox mentions) ranks Botox first; a spa that is generally well-rated but has very few specific-treatment mentions will show shorter strength lists. This is one of the few things AI search engines genuinely cannot pull from public data — they can read the same reviews we read, but we do the counting and citation work first.
Editorial sub-ratings
For every spa with public reviews, we compute five Yelp-style aspect scores using Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5. Each aspect is independently scored 1-5 and each score comes with a verbatim review citation — no paraphrasing, no fabrication.
- Staff & bedside manner — injector skill, front-desk friendliness, attentiveness
- Cleanliness — facility appearance, hygiene, equipment care
- Pricing transparency — was the cost communicated clearly up front, or were there surprise charges?
- Wait times — punctuality, in-room waits, scheduling
- Results quality — did treatments work, naturalness, longevity
Scoring rules: 5 = consistently praised. 4 = mostly positive, minor concerns. 3 = mixed / not enough data. 2 = recurring complaints. 1 = severe or repeated complaints. If an aspect is rarely mentioned, we default to 3 and leave the citation blank — we do not guess.
Like sentiment synthesis and editorial summaries, sub-ratings are AI-assisted and disclosed as such on every business page. The original Google reviews remain displayed verbatim below the analysis so you can verify any citation yourself.
AI-assisted analysis: full disclosure
We use Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5 to perform two operations that would not scale with human labor alone: (1) generating an editorial summary paragraph for each spa, and (2) analyzing sentiment across each spa's Google reviews to surface praised themes and concerns.
- • Editorial summary paragraph (each spa)
- • Sentiment % positive
- • Praised themes (top 3)
- • Concerns mentioned (up to 3)
- • Original Google reviews (displayed verbatim)
- • Google rating
- • Review count
- • Address, phone, hours, services
- • Editorial notes (when we visit/research a spa)
- • Contributor reviews (verified by humans)
- • MSD Editorial Score formula weights
Why disclose this?
AI summarization is widely usable. We disclose ours so you can trust the parts we say we wrote ourselves. Every AI-assisted block on this site is labeled “AI-assisted analysis using Anthropic Claude.”
Our contributor network
We're building a network of verified patient contributors who share their visit experiences. Every submission is reviewed by our editorial team before publishing. We never fabricate, never pay, never inflate.
Right now, we're at zero verified contributors. This network grows as people submit and we verify each submission.
Editorial adjustments — full disclosure
Our editorial team may apply a small ranking adjustment to a spa after directly researching or visiting it. Adjustments are capped at ±15% of the priority score (±3 units, 5% each).
How the editorial adjustment works
If a spa scores 28.0 on our priority formula and our team adds +2, the final priority score becomes 28.0 + (2 × 0.05 × 28.0) = 30.8. Every adjusted spa is listed below with the public reason for the adjustment.
Adjusted listings
This is the only mechanism by which our editorial judgment can influence the priority order. It is logged. It is capped. It has a public reason on every page it touches.
What disqualifies a spa
We exclude listings that fail any of the following checks:
- ×Marked permanently closed by Google
- ×Fewer than 3 reviews
- ×No valid US address
- ×Active legal action or license suspension (where publicly verifiable)
What we'll never do
Our editorial process
When a medical spa appears on this site, our editorial team has verified the public business record, cross-referenced Google's data, and checked the 14 data points above. Listings refresh quarterly. Reviews are sourced from Google's public review aggregate and not edited. AI-assisted analysis is disclosed on every page it touches.