What we measured ·
What Google shows for "review schema" right now
Method: Live Google results (United States, desktop, English) for "review schema" retrieved through DataForSEO's SERP API on 2026-10-22. Page types are our own classification of each ranking URL.
The top 8 organic results for "review schema" were 4 guides or explainers, 3 product or service pages, 1 official search-engine documentation. The first three were schema.org, developers.google.com, www.semrush.com.
Google showed an AI Overview for this query, citing 8 source domains including developers.google.com, www.semrush.com, www.youtube.com, www.shopify.com. Pages that state the answer directly and early are the ones an Overview can quote.
People Also Ask listed: "What is a review schema?"; "Can you provide an example of a review schema?"; "Is review gating illegal?"; "Is schema still relevant?". The sections below answer the ones within this page's scope.
| Position | Domain | Page type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | schema.org | Product or service page |
| 2 | developers.google.com | Official search-engine documentation |
| 3 | www.semrush.com | Guide or explainer |
| 4 | www.yotpo.com | Guide or explainer |
| 5 | www.seoclarity.net | Guide or explainer |
| 6 | www.schemaapp.com | Product or service page |
Review versus AggregateRating
A Review describes one person's review: author, rating, and review text. An AggregateRating describes the average across many reviews: ratingValue, reviewCount or ratingCount, and the scale with bestRating and worstRating if not 1 to 5. Both attach to the item being reviewed, such as a Product or SoftwareApplication, through its review or aggregateRating property.
Which items are eligible
Google lists specific types for review snippets.
| Item | Eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Yes | Also part of product rich results |
| SoftwareApplication | Yes | Apps and software |
| Book, Course, Recipe, Movie | Yes | Check type-specific requirements |
| LocalBusiness or Organization reviewing itself | No stars | Self-serving reviews rule |
| Third-party site reviewing a business | Yes | e.g. a review site |
The self-serving review rule
In 2019 Google stopped showing review rich results for LocalBusiness and Organization types, and their subtypes, when the reviews are about the entity itself and published on its own site, including through embedded third-party widgets. A SaaS company's homepage testimonials marked up as reviews of the company will not earn stars. Reviews of a specific product on a product page, collected from customers, remain eligible.
Structure and requirements
Mark up the item with its name and the review or aggregateRating property. For a Review, include author as a Person or Organization with a name, reviewRating with ratingValue, and ideally datePublished and reviewBody. For AggregateRating, include ratingValue and either ratingCount or reviewCount. The reviews or rating must be visible on the page, written by real users, and not filtered to show only positive ones.
Violations to avoid
Marking up reviews that are not on the page. Inventing or editing ratings. Copying aggregate ratings from another site without showing those reviews. Adding review markup to category pages that aggregate ratings for many different products. Review gating, where only satisfied customers are asked for public reviews, violates the rules of many review platforms. Validate with the Rich Results Test; our free schema builder can generate the markup for eligible items.
Clear answers
Frequently asked questions
Why don't my review stars show in Google?
+
Common reasons are self-serving reviews of your own business, an ineligible item type, markup that does not match visible reviews, or Google choosing not to show the snippet for that query.
Can I mark up reviews from G2 or Trustpilot on my site?
+
Reviews about your own company remain self-serving even when sourced from a third party, so they will not earn stars. Link to the review platform instead.
About the author
Shadrack Kumi · Founder, SerionFlow
Shadrack builds SerionFlow's site research, page generation, and Search Console tooling, and runs the free tools these guides pair with. Search Console figures cited on these pages come from serionflow.com's own property.
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