What review schema markup is made of
Schema.org offers two main types for ratings. Review describes a single opinion: who wrote it, what score they gave, what they said and when. AggregateRating describes the overall picture: the average score and the number of ratings behind it.
Neither type stands alone. Both are nested inside the description of a specific item, such as a product, a course, a book, an app or a recipe. Most sites add the markup as a JSON-LD block in the page code instead of weaving it into the layout, which is easier to maintain and harder to break during a redesign.
One rule matters more than any other: the data in the block must match what a visitor sees. If the code says one average and the page shows another, or the reviews are not visible at all, that is a violation, not optimisation.
Who can get stars and who cannot
Google shows review rich results for a limited set of item types, not for any page: products, courses, books, apps, recipes, movies, events and a few others. The list changes from time to time, so check Google's current documentation before you build anything. An ordinary service page or a blog post is not on it.
There is a separate restriction for reviews about the company itself. If a dental clinic, a salon or a car workshop publishes a block of customer testimonials on its own site and marks it up as reviews of the organisation, no stars appear in search. Google treats these as self-serving, because the business decides which opinions to show. The markup does no harm, but it does not pay off either.
An online shop with product pages, a training centre with a course catalogue or a service with its own app is in a different position. The ratings belong to a specific item, not to the company.
What local businesses should do instead
For a clinic, restaurant or workshop in Tashkent, the rating matters most where it shows up in local results: the Google Maps profile, Yandex Maps and 2GIS. Someone searches for a dentist nearby, sees cards with scores and picks from them. Your own website comes second.
A workable routine looks like this. After a visit, the front desk or a Telegram bot sends the client a link to your map profile with a short request. The owner answers every review, the glowing ones and the harsh ones. A calm reply to criticism is read by future customers and often persuades more than a dozen compliments.
Collecting honest reviews for an online shop
If you sell through your own website, collect reviews in a systematic way. Three touchpoints work well: a Telegram message after delivery, a request in the Click or Payme payment confirmation, and a short email a few days after the purchase. People rate a product while the impression is fresh.
On the product page, show the score, the text, a name or initials and the date. Moderate spam, advertising and abuse, but leave justified criticism in place. A page with nothing but five stars makes shoppers suspicious, while honest drawbacks help them decide.
If a product has no reviews yet, leave the rating out of the markup entirely. Zero or empty values tend to produce validation errors rather than benefits.
What is banned and what it costs you
Google's rules here are strict because stars influence trust and clicks. Violations can lead to a manual action, and rich results may be switched off for the whole site, not just one page. You will see a notice in Search Console, and after fixing the markup you submit a reconsideration request.
- marking up reviews that are not on the page;
- inventing scores or inflating the average rating;
- adding reviews from outside platforms to the markup without showing them on the page;
- placing the same company-wide rating on every page of the site;
- writing reviews in the name of staff or buying them;
- marking up only the positive reviews.
How to test your markup
Start with Google's Rich Results Test: it shows whether the rating was recognised and whether the code has errors. After launch, watch the product and review reports in Search Console, which show how many pages are valid and which need fixing.
Keep in mind that correct markup makes a page eligible, not guaranteed. The search engine decides whether to show stars, and the result for the same page can change over time.
Where to start
Work out which group you belong to. Shops and online schools set up markup on product and course pages and build a review collection routine. Local businesses first put their map profiles in order. If you want a structured data plan as part of SEO optimisation in Uzbekistan, the markdev team can help decide which pages are worth marking up and which are not worth the effort. Get in touch and we will talk through your task.
FAQ
Does review schema markup guarantee stars in Google?
No. Valid markup only makes a page eligible. Google decides whether to display stars, and it may not show them even when the code has no errors.
Can I mark up reviews about my clinic or salon on the home page?
You can, but reviews of an organisation published on its own site do not get stars in search results. For this kind of business it is better to build the rating in Google Maps, Yandex Maps and 2GIS profiles.
What should I do if a product has no reviews yet?
Leave the rating out of the markup. Zero and empty values cause errors. Add the rating block once real reviews have arrived.
Can I copy reviews from maps or Instagram to my site and mark them up?
Only if they are actually displayed on the page and relate to the item being marked up. Marking up reviews that visitors cannot see is a violation.
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