They seem biased to me. A friend of mine who's doing an ICO told me that they paid 10ETH for 5 quality ratings and that's that! I noticed that some ICOs with good project, team, and good social media presence are struggling with getting good reviews.
With all that said, should it still be a factor to look at when investing in ICO?
the payment for trustworthy ico rating sites are usual. in the outside world of crypto, big companies are also paying advertising sites to promote its product. same as crypto, survey sites are way of advertising projects.