Generate valid Review and AggregateRating JSON-LD structured data. Display star ratings, review counts, and review snippets as rich results in Google search.
OneStepToRank monitors your review schema in production, alerts you when markup breaks, and tracks how your star ratings appear in search results over time.
Get StartedReview schema markup is structured data that communicates review and rating information about a product, business, or creative work to search engines. Built on the Schema.org vocabulary, it uses the Review and AggregateRating types to encode star ratings, review counts, author details, and review text in machine-readable JSON-LD format. When Google reads this data, it can display rich snippets in search results featuring gold star ratings directly beneath your page title -- a feature that dramatically increases visibility and click-through rates.
There are two primary schema types involved. AggregateRating represents a summary of many reviews: the average rating value, the total number of reviews, and the rating scale. Review represents a single review from one person, including the author name, a numeric rating, the review body text, and the date the review was published. You can use AggregateRating alone for a summary, individual Review objects alone, or both together for the most complete markup.
When Google detects valid review schema on your page, it may show a rich snippet below your search listing. This typically includes gold stars representing the average rating, the numeric rating value (e.g., 4.8), and the total number of reviews in parentheses. These visual elements are impossible to ignore in a page of plain blue links, which is why pages with star ratings consistently achieve higher click-through rates -- studies show increases of 25 to 35 percent compared to listings without stars.
Google applies review rich results to specific content types including products, local businesses, books, courses, movies, software applications, and recipes. The key requirement is that the reviews must be visible on the page itself. Google will not display star ratings from schema that does not match visible content. For local businesses, review schema complements your Google Business Profile by reinforcing your ratings in organic results, not just the Maps pack.
The AggregateRating type is ideal when you have dozens or hundreds of reviews and want to present the overall picture. It requires just three properties: ratingValue (the average), reviewCount (total reviews), and bestRating (the maximum possible score, usually 5). This is the most commonly used type because it covers the majority of rich snippet displays in Google.
Individual Review objects are useful when you want to highlight specific testimonials. Each review includes an author, a reviewRating with its own value, a reviewBody with the full text, and a datePublished. You can include multiple Review objects alongside the AggregateRating for a richer schema. Google may choose to display a review snippet alongside the star rating in certain result types, pulling the most relevant excerpt from your individual reviews.
Google enforces strict rules about review schema to prevent abuse. The most important guidelines are:
Our generator outputs valid JSON-LD conforming to Schema.org specifications. Use this tool alongside our Local Business Schema Generator for complete business markup, our Local Rank Checker to track how schema affects your positions, and our GBP Completeness Grader to ensure your Google Business Profile matches your structured data.
Review schema markup is structured data that tells search engines about reviews and ratings on your page. It uses the Schema.org Review and AggregateRating types to encode star ratings, review counts, author names, and review text in a format Google can read. When implemented correctly, this data can appear as rich snippets in search results showing gold stars, rating values, and review counts below your page title.
AggregateRating represents a summary of multiple reviews, showing the average rating value and total review count. Review schema represents a single individual review with a specific author, rating, date, and review body. You can use both together: AggregateRating for the overall summary and individual Review objects for specific testimonials. Google can display either or both in search results depending on context.
No. Google requires that review and rating schema only appear on pages where the reviews are actually visible to users. You cannot add AggregateRating schema to your homepage if it has no reviews displayed. The schema must accurately reflect content that visitors can see on the page. Self-serving reviews, where the entity being reviewed also controls the page, are not eligible for star-rich results on certain page types.
Yes. Google explicitly states that marking up fake reviews, reviews not visible on the page, or misleading rating data violates their structured data guidelines. Penalties include removal of rich snippets, a manual action in Google Search Console, or in severe cases, demotion in search rankings. Only add review schema when you have legitimate, visible reviews on the page that match the structured data values exactly.