Knowing how to check reviews before hiring a web designer means reading the pattern, not the star average: how many reviews there are, how recent they are, and what the middle-of-the-road ones actually say. Pull reviews from at least two platforms the designer does not control, favour reviewers who describe a project like yours, and read how the designer responds to unhappy clients. Twenty minutes of that will tell you more than any sales call.
Why the star average misleads
A 4.9 built on a dozen reviews is thinner evidence than a 4.6 built on ninety. Volume tells you the provider has a track record you can actually inspect. Recency tells you whether that track record belongs to the current team, because studios change staff, and a wall of five-star reviews from three years ago may describe people who have long gone.
Look at the distribution too. A business with only ever glowing reviews and no dated detail can mean careful client selection, or careful curation. A business with recent negative reviews that were answered well can be a safer bet than one whose bad patch happened quietly and invisibly.
Where to look, in order
Google Business Profile
Start with the Google reviews attached to the designer’s Maps listing. They are the hardest to fake at volume, they carry dates, and reviewers usually have publicly visible histories. Sort by newest rather than letting Google show you the “most relevant” ones, and note how many of the recent reviews mention the kind of work you are buying.
Facebook reviews and recommendations
A designer’s Facebook page carries a second, independently collected set of reviews, and Perth small business owners use it heavily. Recommendations left on local community pages count too, with one caution: a friendly name in a comments thread is an anecdote, not a review. Treat it as a lead to verify elsewhere.
Directory and marketplace profiles
Some B2B directories and freelance marketplaces carry their own review systems. Read them, but weight them below Google and Facebook, because the platform profits from keeping listed businesses happy. The same caution applies to testimonials screenshot onto the designer’s own website: curated by definition, and unverifiable.
How to read a review properly
Specifics beat superlatives. “Great to work with” tells you nothing; “rebuilt our plumbing site in six weeks, kept to the quote and still answers questions a year later” tells you everything. Hunt for the reviews that mention your buying situation: a business your size, an industry like yours, a rebuild rather than a first site.
Check the reviewer where the platform allows it. An account with a history of reviews across unrelated Perth businesses is a real person. An account created last month with a single five-star review is less so. And weigh dates: a review from four years ago describes a studio that may no longer exist.
Signs of fake or curated reviews
Fake reviews cluster. Watch for a burst of five-star reviews inside a fortnight, several reviews using strikingly similar phrasing, praise with no project detail at all, and reviewer profiles that exist only to leave that one review. None of these is a conviction on its own; a pattern of them is a reason to keep looking. You are not accusing anyone, you are just refusing to make a five-figure decision on evidence you cannot stand behind.
What the replies tell you
Read every one-star and two-star review, then read the reply. A designer who acknowledges the problem, explains without excuses and points to a fix is showing you exactly how you will be treated on the day something goes wrong. A designer who blames the client, argues in public or never replies at all is showing you the same thing. Project bumps are normal; how a provider behaves during them is the whole story.
Reviews are one leg of three
Reviews tell you about relationships. The portfolio tells you about the work, and a reference call tells you what a real client says when nobody else is listening. We walk through the portfolio and reference steps, including the questions worth asking past clients, in our guide to checking previous work and speaking to references. If all three legs hold, the reviews were probably honest.
Frequently asked questions
How many reviews are enough to judge a web designer?
There is no magic number, because a two-year-old studio collects slower than a ten-year-old one. What you want is enough recent reviews, across a year or more, that consistent patterns appear: on-time delivery, quote accuracy, and answers after launch.
What if a designer has no reviews at all?
Either the business is new or its clients are quiet, and you cannot tell which from outside. Ask for two references you can call, weigh the portfolio more heavily, and structure the engagement so the first paid milestone is small.
Can a designer delete bad reviews?
On Google, a business cannot remove someone else’s review; it can only ask Google to remove reviews that breach the platform’s policies. So a genuinely clean profile usually means genuinely happy clients. What you can see is a business that replies well to its criticism, which is worth more than a spotless wall.
Should I trust the testimonials on a designer’s own website?
Treat them as marketing copy, because that is what they are. Real ones can still be real, so if a specific testimonial matters to you, ask to speak to that client. How the designer responds to that request is itself a review.
Do the checking before the deposit
Every warning sign above takes minutes to find and saves months of regret. When you have a shortlist with reviews that survive reading, bring it to us. Optimise Online works with Perth small businesses through design, build and ongoing care, and you will find our own reviews sitting exactly where we cannot edit them. Start with our website design and development service or book a discovery call, and make us pass the same test you are running on everyone else.
