How We Rank Dive Shops

Thailand Dive Map is built on radical transparency. No paid placements, no hidden adjustments, and no algorithms designed to favor specific operators — only data, relevance, and clarity for divers.

Every shop starts from the same baseline. Sharing accurate, structured, and current information is the single best way to appear earlier in search results.

Model: Relevance Score
Paid placements: Never allowed
Signals: Data quality, transparency, reputation
Refresh cadence: Weekly sync + manual fixes

Philosophy

Core Principles

These rules govern both the current algorithm and all future iterations.

Rankings are based on data quality, completeness, and transparency.
No dive shop can pay to influence ranking or receive boosts.
Future updates follow the same philosophy and will be disclosed here.

Score overview

Relevance Score

Each dive shop receives a Relevance Score that reflects how complete, transparent, and relevant its information is. Higher scores appear earlier in search results.

The score is composed of four components. Shops can improve simply by sharing more accurate information and keeping it updated.

Information Completeness

The more complete and structured a shop’s information is, the higher its score. Transparency is rewarded.

Basic info: name, region, address
Website, phone number, Google Maps link
Courses offered and certifying agencies
Languages and facilities (pool, Nitrox, boat type)
Recent updates to core data

Transparency & Safety Signals

Measures whether the shop shares meaningful context that helps divers feel informed before booking.

Instructor qualifications and teaching status
Typical student-to-instructor ratios
Equipment notes and maintenance cues
Clear explanation of what each course includes

Thailand Dive Map never judges whether the content is “good” or “bad.” We only measure whether the information exists.

External Signals

External public data creates context beyond what shops say about themselves.

Google Maps rating
Number of Google reviews
Public certifications (PADI 5★ IDC, etc.)

Extreme values are normalized so one-off positive or negative reviews do not dominate rankings.

Query Match

Results adjust to what the diver is searching for so the list feels relevant to each query.

Name, region, or keyword matches
Selected filters (region, language, certification, course)
Shops offering the specific course searched (OWD, AOW, Rescue, etc.)

Guardrails

What We Will Never Do

The ranking exists to create clarity for divers and fairness for shops.

No paid ranking boosts.
No paid “Top 1 in Region” placements.
No manual suppression of any shop.
No hidden ranking rules.

How We Rank Dive Shops

Thailand Dive Map is built on radical transparency. No paid placements, no hidden adjustments, and no algorithms designed to favor specific operators — only data, relevance, and clarity for divers.

Every shop starts from the same baseline. Sharing accurate, structured, and current information is the single best way to appear earlier in search results.