BBB Business Search: How to Look Up a Company and Read Its Profile
How to look up a business on BBB.org, what its letter rating and accreditation really mean, how to read complaints and customer reviews, and what a BBB profile can't tell you.
By Editorial Team
9 min read
A BBB business search is free: go to BBB.org, search for the company by name and location, and open its Business Profile. The profile shows the business’s letter rating from A+ to F, whether it’s BBB Accredited, its complaint history and its customer reviews in one place. BBB publishes profiles for accredited and non-accredited businesses alike, so a business can have one whether or not it ever asked for it.
The search itself takes a minute. Reading the profile well takes a little longer, because a rating, a seal and a star average each mean different things. This guide walks through how to check a business on BBB, what each part of the profile means according to BBB’s own explanations as of September 2026, and where the profile runs out of answers.
What the BBB is, briefly
The Better Business Bureau is a nonprofit. Its FAQ says it publishes free Business Profiles with ratings, customer reviews and complaint history, sets standards for ethical business practices, helps resolve disputes between consumers and businesses, and alerts the public to scams.
Two points shape how you should read what you find:
- It isn’t a government agency. BBB says it holds no legal or policing authority. It can’t fine a business or force a refund.
- It’s funded by businesses. BBB acknowledges this in its FAQ and says its value depends on staying neutral between businesses and consumers.
BBB works through local BBBs, and the local BBB that serves a business’s area handles its complaints, reviews and questions.
How to check a business on BBB, step by step
BBB’s site changes its layout from time to time, so these steps describe what to look for rather than exact buttons.
- Search by name and location. Use the search on BBB.org, enter the business name, and add the city or ZIP code where it operates. Location matters because many businesses share similar names.
- Confirm you have the right profile. Match the address, phone number and website on the profile against what the business gave you. If they don’t match, keep looking before you draw conclusions.
- Try other names if nothing comes up. A contractor might trade under one name and invoice under a legal company name. Search both, and try spelling variations.
- Note the letter rating. Then read the rest of the profile to understand what’s behind it, using the factors explained below.
- Check the accreditation status. Accredited businesses display the BBB Seal on their profile. Every profile states whether the business is accredited.
- Read the complaints, looking at what they’re about and how the business responded, not only how many there are.
- Read the customer reviews separately. They’re a different kind of feedback from complaints.
- Look for government actions or alerts. BBB says it reports fines, penalties and other government agency actions when they relate to marketplace issues that matter to consumers.
If you’re checking an offer that feels off, such as a caller claiming to be from a company you’ve never dealt with, also look at BBB Scam Tracker, where people report scams whether or not they lost money.
What the BBB letter rating means
BBB describes a rating as its “opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers, based on complaint history, transparency, and available public data.” It is not a guarantee: BBB’s ratings page says “a rating is not a guarantee of a business’s reliability or performance.”
As of September 2026, BBB’s ratings overview lists seven factors that add or subtract points on a 100-point scale:
- Complaint history, including how many complaints, how the business responded, and patterns
- Type of business, where BBB has marketplace concerns about certain kinds of business
- Time in business
- Transparent business practices
- Failure to honor commitments to BBB
- Licensing information
- Advertising issues
The points convert to a letter grade:
| Points | Grade |
|---|---|
| 97 to 100 | A+ |
| 94 to 96.99 | A |
| 90 to 93.99 | A- |
| 80 to 89.99 | B+, B or B- |
| 70 to 79.99 | C+, C or C- |
| 60 to 69.99 | D+, D or D- |
| 0 to 59.99 | F |
You may also see NR, meaning “No Rating.” BBB says it assigns NR when there isn’t enough information to rate a business, or while the business’s file is under review or being updated. On its own, NR tells you little either way.
What BBB accreditation means, and what it doesn’t
Accreditation is a voluntary status a business applies and pays for. BBB’s FAQ is direct about the relationship: “Accreditation is voluntary and separate from the rating,” and “accreditation dues do not buy a rating, and they do not remove a complaint.” A business can hold an A+ without being accredited.
As of September 2026, BBB says accredited businesses:
- affirm they meet its eight Standards for Trust: build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy and embody integrity
- must maintain at least a B rating
- generally need at least six months of serving customers before applying
- pay a fee that varies with the size of the business
- are monitored against the standards, and can have accreditation revoked if they stop meeting them
So what does the seal tell you? That the business agreed to BBB’s standards, including responding to complaints, and currently meets the rating threshold. What does a missing seal tell you? BBB’s FAQ says it may mean the business hasn’t applied, didn’t meet the standards or chose not to pursue it, and that on its own “it is not a mark against the business.” For the business-owner view of whether the dues pay off, see our guide on BBB accreditation.
How to read BBB complaints
A complaint, in BBB’s words, “asks us to help resolve a specific dispute.” BBB forwards it to the business, works with both sides toward a resolution, and the complaint becomes part of the business’s public profile. Complaints can affect the rating.
Raw complaint counts mislead more than they inform. A large company serving a huge customer base will collect more complaints than a two-person shop, and BBB’s own rating method considers the size of the business and the age of resolved complaints. Look instead at:
- Patterns. Ten complaints about the same thing, such as deposits taken and work never started, tell you far more than ten unrelated gripes.
- Responses. Does the business reply, and do the replies offer something concrete, or just argue? A business that answers every complaint calmly is often a safer bet than one with fewer complaints and no replies.
- Recency. A cluster of complaints last month matters more than a few from years ago that were resolved.
- Relevance to you. Complaints about a service you aren’t buying may not matter to your decision.
If you run a business and you’re on the other side of this, our guide on how to respond to a BBB complaint covers the process and a sample reply.
How to read BBB customer reviews
Reviews record a customer’s opinion and experience, rather than asking BBB to resolve a dispute. According to BBB’s customer review guidelines as of September 2026:
- BBB doesn’t allow anonymous reviews, or reviews where the consumer was compensated directly or indirectly.
- BBB validates the reviewer’s contact information and confirms that a marketplace interaction took place between the reviewer and the business.
- The business gets an opportunity to respond to a review.
- BBB says it “cannot guarantee the accuracy or truthfulness of a review.”
Read reviews the way you’d read them anywhere: look for specific details, recent dates and how the business replies. If you’re a business owner, the same habits of replying promptly and specifically are the core of good review management on every platform. A small number of reviews, positive or negative, is a thin basis for a big decision.
A worked example
This is an illustrative scenario, not a real business. Priya needs a new roof and has two quotes.
- Company A has an A rating, isn’t accredited, and has four complaints over several years, each answered with a specific offer and marked resolved.
- Company B is accredited but has recent complaints about deposits taken for jobs that were delayed for months, with short, defensive replies.
The seal alone would point to Company B. The detail points the other way: Company A’s complaints are few, old and handled well, while Company B shows a recent pattern about exactly the thing Priya is worried about. She checks both contractors’ licenses with her state, reads their Google reviews, asks each for references, and goes with Company A. The BBB profile didn’t make the decision, but it told her which questions to ask.
Not sure where to start?
Get a free audit of your search results and review profiles, with a prioritized fix list.
Get a free auditThe limits of a BBB business search
A BBB profile is one useful input. It isn’t a verdict. Keep these limits in mind:
- A rating is BBB’s opinion, and BBB says it isn’t a guarantee of reliability or performance.
- No profile, or an NR rating, doesn’t mean bad. New businesses and those with little public information may simply not have enough on file.
- Not every unhappy customer uses BBB. Many people complain on Google, Yelp, social media or consumer complaint sites instead, so a clean BBB profile doesn’t mean a clean record everywhere.
- BBB can’t enforce outcomes. It has no legal or policing authority, so a complaint marked unresolved may simply be unresolved.
- It doesn’t replace licensing checks. For contractors, movers, financial advisors and other regulated trades, check the relevant state or federal license directly.
- Fake “BBB” badges exist. A seal on a website is only meaningful if the BBB profile itself confirms the accreditation.
Checking your own business on BBB
If you own a business, search for yourself the way a customer would. Check that your name, address, phone number, website and hours are correct, and read any complaints and reviews with fresh eyes. BBB says profiles exist for non-accredited businesses too, so you may have one you’ve never seen.
Responding to every complaint and review calmly is the most reliable way to protect how your profile reads. If your BBB profile is part of a wider reputation problem, our BBB reputation management page explains how we help.
Common mistakes when checking a business on BBB
- Treating the seal as a rating, or the rating as a seal. They’re separate, and dues don’t buy a grade.
- Judging by complaint count alone without adjusting for size, age and how complaints were handled.
- Reading the wrong profile because two businesses share a name.
- Trusting a seal on a website without confirming it on BBB.org.
- Stopping at BBB. Cross-check Google reviews, licensing records and references before you hand over a large deposit.
Frequently asked questions
Is a BBB business search free?
Yes. Searching BBB.org and reading Business Profiles is free. BBB’s FAQ describes the profiles, with ratings, customer reviews and complaint history, as free to the public.
Can a business pay for a better BBB rating?
No, according to BBB. Its FAQ says accreditation dues do not buy a rating and do not remove a complaint, and that accreditation is separate from the rating.
What does NR mean on a BBB profile?
NR stands for “No Rating.” BBB says it assigns NR when there isn’t enough information to rate a business, or while the business’s file is under review or being updated.
Do customer reviews affect a BBB rating?
No. As of September 2026, BBB’s ratings page says customer reviews are not used in the letter-grade calculation. Complaints can affect the rating; reviews don’t.
Why can't I find a business on BBB?
Try other names the business uses, spelling variations and a different city or ZIP code. If you still can’t find it, the business may be new or operate under a name you haven’t been given. Ask the business for its legal name and check that too.
