How Many Google Reviews to Get Gold Stars

The elusive five-star review used to exist something you could but flaunt in a rotating reviews section on your website.

But today, Google has pulled these stars out of the shadows and features them forepart and center beyond branded SERPs and across.

Consider that 48% of consumers won't even look twice at a business with less than 4-stars.

Star ratings can help businesses earn trust from potential customers, improve local search rankings, and boost conversions.

This is your guide to how they work.

Stars and SERPs

Star ratings on Google are powered by consumer reviews from different properties, and Google uses an algorithm and an boilerplate to decide how many stars are displayed.

These ratings appear on a scale of i to 5 stars.

When a person searches Google, they volition come beyond star ratings on standard blueish link listings, ads, rich results similar recipe cards, local pack results, third-party review sites, and on app store results.

John Mueller recently confirmed that Google does not factor star ratings or customer reviews into spider web search rankings. Nonetheless, Google is clear that star ratings influence local search results and rankings:

"Google review count and review score cistron into local search ranking. More than reviews and positive ratings tin improve your concern' local ranking."

Fifty-fifty though they are not a ranking factor for organic search, star ratings can serve as an important conversion element, helping you display social proof and build credibility.

Here'southward what the different types of star-rating results look like in Google, and how they work on each listing type.

Standard "Blueish Link" Listings and Google Stars

Screenshot from SERPs, Google, August 2021

Websites can stand up out from their competitors by getting stars to show upwards effectually their organic search results list pages.

It was simply recently that Google started testing star ratings in organic search.

How to Go Google Stars on Organic SERPs

If you desire stars to testify upward on your organic search results, add schema markup to your website.

Learn how to do that in the video below:

Equally the video points out, yous need actual reviews to become your structured information markup to testify.

Then you can work with your development squad to input the code on your site that indicates your average rating, highest, lowest, and total rating count.

Screenshot JSON-LD script on Google Developers, August 2021

Once you add the rich snippet to your site in that location is no clear timeline for when they will outset actualization in the SERPs, that'southward up to Google.

When you're done, you lot can bank check your work with Google'south Structured Data Testing Tool.

Calculation schema is strongly encouraged. But even without it, if you lot own a retail store and have ratings, Google may still testify your star ratings in the search engine results.

They practise this to ensure searchers are getting access to a variety of results. Google says:

"If you have structured data markup on your website, your products will automatically show in free listings (with the exception of the Shopping tab) without directly participating in the feature."

If you desire star ratings to testify up on Shopping Ads, you'll have to pay for that.

Paid Ads and Google Stars

Screenshot from SERPs ads, Google, Baronial 2021

Screenshot from SERPs ads, Google, July 2021

When Google Stars announced in paid search ads they're known as seller ratings, "an automatic extension type that showcases advertisers with high ratings."

These can appear in text ads, shopping ads (as seen above), and free listings. Both the star rating and the total number of votes or reviews are displayed.

How to Get Google Stars on Paid Ads

To participate in gratis listings, sellers have to exercise two things:

• Follow all the required policies effectually personally identifiable data, spam, malware, legal requirements, and more than.
• Submit a feed through Google merchant center, or have structured data markup on their website (equally described in the previous section).

And again, some ecommerce sellers who do non haveschema markup may nonetheless take their content show up in the SERPs.

For text ads and shopping ads to show star ratings, sellers are typically required to accept at to the lowest degree 100 reviews in the concluding twelve months.

Google treats reviews on a per-country basis, and and so the minimum review threshold of 100 too applies only to ane region at a time.

For star ratings to announced on a Canadian ecommerce visitor'south ads, for case, they would take to accept obtained a minimum of 100 reviews from inside Canada in the last yr.

Google considers reviews from their ain Google Customer Reviews, and also from approved third-party partner review sites, which makes it easier for sellers to see the minimum review threshold each year. Google also requests:

• The domain that has ratings must be the same equally the one that's visible in the advert.
• A research evaluation of your site must be conducted by Google or its partners.
• The reviews included must be about the product or service existence sold.

Finally, Google provides a (actually confusing) requirement stating that:

"Additionally, both of the following criteria must exist met: Average, composite, rating of iii.v or more stars for Text Ads. Currently, Google can show seller ratings if the average rating is less than 3.5 stars."

Basically, paid advertisers must meet a minimum number of stars for seller ratings to fifty-fifty appear on their ads.

This helps higher-quality advertisers stand up out from the competition.

Local Pack Results and Google Stars

Screenshot from SERPs local pack, Google, Baronial 2021

Local businesses accept a scattering of options for their business to appear on Google via Google Maps, a Google My Business organization folio, and more than – all of which tin show star ratings.

Google may aggregate reviews from other local review sites on your local business organisation properties with Google.

It can have up to ii weeks to go new reviews to show in your overall score.

How to Get Google Stars on Local Search Results

Customers have to leave reviews directly on your local business properties, and other local review websites.

Google encourages business organization owners to solicit reviews from their customers, including best practices like:

• Asking your customers to go out you a review and making information technology easy for them to do so past providing a link to your review pages.
• Making review prompts desktop and mobile-friendly.
• Replying to customer reviews (make sure you're a verified provider on Google first).
• Existence sure you lot do non offering incentives for reviews.

Once customers are actively leaving reviews, Google My Business profile owners take a number of options to assistance them manage these:

Screenshot from GMB Help, Google, August 2021

Rich Results, Like Recipes, and Google Stars

Screenshot from search for [tofu recipe], Google, Baronial 2021

Everybody's gotta swallow, and we celebrate food in many means — 1 of which is recipe blogs.

While restaurants rely more on local reviews, organic search results and even paid ads, food bloggers seek to have their recipes rated.

Similar to other types of reviews, recipe cards in search results prove the boilerplate review rating and the total number of reviews.

The effect has become a point of contention among the food blogging community, since just three recipes per search tin can be seen on Google desktop results (like shown in the image above), and four on mobile.

These coveted spots will concenter 75% of the clicks, leaving anyone who hasn't mastered online customer reviews in the grit.

That ways that the quality of the recipe isn't necessarily driving these results.

How to Get Google Stars on Recipe Results

Like the steps to take stars appear on organic blue-link listings, food bloggers and recipe websites need to add schema to their website in lodge for star ratings to evidence.

However, it'due south not every bit straightforward as listing the boilerplate and the total number of ratings. Developers should follow Google'southward instructions for recipe markup. There is both required and recommended markup:

Required Markup for Recipes

• Name of the recipe.
• Image of the recipe.

Recommended Markup for Recipes

• Amass rating.
• Author.
• Cook time, preparation time, and total duration.
• Date published.
• Clarification.
• Keywords.
• Diet information.
• Recipe category past meal type, like "dinner"
• Region associated with the recipe.
• Ingredients.
• Instructions.
• Yield or total serving.
• Video (and other related markup, if there is a video in the recipe).

The markup for recipe instructions would look something like this, for instance:

"recipeInstructions": [  {  "@type": "HowToStep",  "name": "Preheat",  "text": "Heat oven to 425°F.",  "url": "https://example.com/recipe#step1",  "image": "https://example.com/photos/recipe/step1.jpg"  },

Third-Party Review Sites and Google Stars

Screenshot from SERPs listing of a review site, Google, August 2021

Many software companies rely on third-party review sites to help inform their customer's purchasing decisions.

Third-political party review sites include whatsoever website that a make doesn't own where a customer can submit a review such every bit Yelp, G2, and many more.

Many of these sites, like Capterra shown in a higher place, can display star ratings.

How to Get Google Stars on Tertiary Party Review Sites

The best way to get a review on a third-political party review site depends on which site is all-time for the brand or the business organisation.

For example, if y'all have active customers on Yelp, yous may choose to appoint with customers there.

Screenshot from SERPs listing of a review site, Google, Baronial 2021

Similarly, if a software review site like Trust Airplane pilot shows upwards for your branded search, you could do an email campaign with your client list asking them to go out you a review there.

Here are a few of the third-political party review websites that Google recognizes:

• Trust Airplane pilot.
• Reevoo.
• Bizrate – through Shopzilla.

When it comes to third-political party reviews, Google reminds businesses that there is no way to opt out of 3rd-political party reviews, and they need to accept upwardly any issues with tertiary-party site owners.

App Store Results and Google Stars

Screenshot from SERP app store results, Google, Baronial 2021

When businesses have an application as their core product, they typically rely on App Store and Google Play Store downloads.

Right from the SERPs, searchers tin can encounter an app'due south star ratings, besides as the total votes and other important information like whether the app is free or non.

How to Get Google Stars on App Store Results

Businesses can list their iOS apps in the App Store, prompt customers to leave reviews there, and also answer to them.

They can practise the same on the Google Play store; instructions to exercise so are here.

Shoot for the Stars

Stars signal quality to consumers, so they almost e'er improve click-through rates wherever they are present.

Consumers tend to trust and purchase from brands that accept higher star ratings in local listings, paid ads, or even app downloads.

Many, many, many studies accept demonstrated this phenomenon time and once again. Then don't concord back when it comes to reviews.

Exercise an inspect of where your brand shows upward in SERPs and get stars next to as many placements every bit possible.

The virtually of import part of star ratings across Google, however, will always exist the service and experiences companies provide that fuel practiced reviews from happy customers.

More Resources:

• How to Optimize for Rich Snippets: A Complete Guide
• Google Product Reviews Update Goes Live in Search Results
• Your Guide to Google Eastward-A-T & SEO

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Image Credits

Feature Image: BlueberryPie/Shutterstock
All Screenshots Taken by Author

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Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-star-ratings-guide/416951/

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