E-COMMERCE & LOCAL SEO
Review Markup Checker
Star ratings in search results come from review markup, and Google applies strict rules to it: only certain item types qualify, a business cannot show stars for reviews of itself on its own site, and the numbers must add up. This checker tests your markup against those rules.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing you paste is uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- CheckEligible item type (Product, Recipe, Course and others)
- CheckSelf-serving reviews of a LocalBusiness or Organization
- CheckratingValue within the scale
- CheckratingCount or reviewCount
Free
no sign-up, no usage limit
0 uploads
what you paste stays on your device
5 checks
what the tool looks at
Offline
works once the page has loaded
Loading the tool…
HOW IT WORKS
How to use the Review Markup Checker
JSON-LD, or page HTML with JSON-LD script blocks.
Paste the page’s JSON-LD or HTML.
Fix problems with the rating scale, counts and authors.
Check the policy notes before relying on stars.
WHAT IT CHECKS
What it looks at, and how to read it.
Checks on every review and rating: eligible item type, attachment, rating scale, counts, author and self-serving reviews.
What it checks
- Eligible item type (Product, Recipe, Course and others)
- Self-serving reviews of a LocalBusiness or Organization
- ratingValue within the scale
- ratingCount or reviewCount
- Review author and rating
How to read the results
- Self-serving reviews are allowed on the page but get no stars in results.
- A rating outside its scale or with no count is an error that blocks the snippet.
The concepts behind it, in the SEO glossary: Rich results.
GOOD TO KNOW
Common mistakes, an example and the limits.
Common mistakes
- Marking up a business’s own testimonials to get stars.
- Copying ratings from Google or Facebook into markup.
- A rating of 4.8 out of the default 5 when the site uses a 10-point scale.
A worked example
A salon’s homepage marks up its own average rating as AggregateRating on LocalBusiness: valid Schema.org, but self-serving, so no stars will show.
Limitations
- Checks the markup, not whether the reviews are genuine or shown on the page, which Google also requires.
FAQ
Questions about the Review Markup Checker
Straight answers about what it does and where its limits are.
Why don’t my LocalBusiness stars show?
Since 2019 Google does not show review snippets for a business’s reviews of itself on its own website.
Which items can show stars?
Products, recipes, courses, books, events, films, software and a few others, when the reviews are about that item.
Need this for a whole website, over time?
The NdovuSEOLabs platform connects your own Search Console, analytics and server logs, and audits every page on a schedule.