Local search
Review schema
Review and aggregate rating markup describes ratings and reviews in machine-readable form, and is eligible for star display in results for certain content types.
What is review schema?
Review and aggregate rating markup describes ratings and reviews in machine-readable form, and is eligible for star display in results for certain content types.
What it affects
Stars in a result change click-through independently of position, which makes eligibility worth having where it is permitted.
How it is measured
Applied only to the content types that support it, describing reviews actually visible on the page, with the rating value and count accurate.
Where this gets confused
Self-serving markup on an organisation’s own page, and markup for reviews not visible on the page, both breach the guidelines and risk rich results across the domain.
The term is used loosely in the industry, so it is worth pinning down before agreeing to work.
Where this comes up in the work
It is part of AI Automation and Workflows, and more specifically of Lead routing and enrichment. Across the rest of the work it shows up in:
- Google Ads Management, in which it is the first thing checked before working out what Performance Max is actually spending on
- Paid Social and Meta Ads, where it is the difference between giving the learning phase enough budget to finish working and appearing to
- Conversion Rate Optimization, in which it shows up as making the mobile tap targets survive a thumb rather than a mouse
- Website Design and Development, where it sets the ceiling on making speed a constraint of the build rather than an optimisation after it
What to check
Two questions that establish whether this is actually in order on a given site:
- Whether it is enforced by the build or maintained by discipline
- Whether the figure quoted for it came from a measurement or from a benchmark
Common questions
Is review schema just another name for something?
Self-serving markup on an organisation’s own page, and markup for reviews not visible on the page, both breach the guidelines and risk rich results across the domain. Worth clarifying before agreeing to work on it.
Is review schema a ranking factor?
Stars in a result change click-through independently of position, which makes eligibility worth having where it is permitted. Whether that becomes a ranking change depends on what else is true about the site, which is why it is worth measuring rather than assuming.
How do you check review schema on a site?
Applied only to the content types that support it, describing reviews actually visible on the page, with the rating value and count accurate. Read Digital PR and Link Building next if the problem is already defined, and Ecommerce SEO if it is not.
Whose job is review schema?
It needs one named owner rather than a shared responsibility. The natural home is lifecycle and email, since treating the first fortnight as the window that decides repeat purchase is where the consequence lands. 301 redirect or Canonical tag is the shortest useful page on this. Broad match or Exact match is the most complete.
Is review schema expensive to get right?
It depends entirely on where the problem originates. Establishing that is the first piece of work.
Where does review schema sit in the priority order?
Before anything that depends on it, which is the test rather than a general ranking. Stars in a result change click-through independently of position, which makes eligibility worth having where it is permitted. Pair this with Is programmatic SEO safe?, and with Is SEO still worth it in 2026? if the market is competitive.
See what the first ninety days would cover
Tell us what you sell and what is not working. We will come back with the two or three things we would look at before anything else.