Review stars in Google results: who can still get them

Key takeaways

Since 2019, Google does not show review stars for 'self-serving' reviews, meaning reviews a business or organisation displays about itself, using LocalBusiness or Organization markup. Product pages, recipes and some other types can still earn stars with valid review markup. For service businesses, stars come from your Google Business Profile in local results instead.

• Self-serving reviews for LocalBusiness and Organization no longer show stars.
• Product pages with genuine reviews can still earn star snippets.
• Local businesses show ratings through Google Business Profile.
• Never mark up reviews that are not visible on the page.

Can a business get review stars in Google search?

A service business usually cannot get review stars on its own website's organic listing from its own reviews. Google's review snippet guidance says self-serving reviews about a LocalBusiness or Organization are not eligible. Online shops can still earn stars on product pages with genuine product reviews and valid Review or AggregateRating structured data.

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Where do local businesses get stars instead?

Local businesses get stars through their Google Business Profile, which shows the rating and review count in Google Maps and the local results pack. That is where most local buyers see them. Building Google reviews is therefore the main route to visible stars for service and local businesses.

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What are the rules for review markup?

Google's review snippet guidelines include:

• Reviews must be visible on the page that carries the markup.
• Ratings must be genuine, not written by the business.
• Do not aggregate reviews from other sites into your own markup.
• Self-serving reviews for LocalBusiness and Organization are ineligible.
• Breaking the rules can lead to a manual action.

• Fake reviews law in the UK: what businesses must know

When is review markup still worth adding?

Add it for product pages with genuine customer reviews, and for content types Google supports, such as courses or software where you meet the guidelines. For service businesses, focus effort on Organization and LocalBusiness markup for accurate business details instead, which helps search engines and AI tools understand who you are.

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What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a plugin adds aggregate rating markup to every page of a service business site, using testimonials the owner typed in. Google ignores it at best and may issue a manual action at worst. Removing it and building Google reviews gets stars where buyers actually see them.

• See client work
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Review stars checklist

• Remove self-serving review markup on service pages.
• Keep product review markup only for visible, genuine reviews.
• Add accurate Organization and LocalBusiness markup.
• Build reviews on your Google Business Profile.
• Test markup with Google's Rich Results Test.

• The website credibility score: rate your site out of 10
• NAP consistency: same name, address and phone everywhere

Next step

Run your homepage through Google's Rich Results Test and check for review markup you should remove.