How do I get star ratings in Google?

Last Updated: 30th September, 2019

It’s a question we’re asked all too often; how do I get stars in Google? Known more formally as seller ratings or organic stars, these trust signals are a fantastic way to boost click-through rates and increase conversions.

When there’s so much competition for a single click, activating seller ratings and organic stars is a must if you want to stand out in the search results. Let’s take a look at the difference between the two, and how to implement them.

Seller ratings

Google seller ratings are an automated extension which allows you to display service reviews in the form of a star rating underneath your paid ads.

How do I make seller ratings appear?

There are several requirements you need to meet for seller ratings to appear. Google are constantly reviewing this process and in September 2018 announced they were lowering the seller rating threshold from 150 to 100 qualified reviews - so keep your eye peeled for updates.

What you need to do to make seller ratings appear:

• A Google Ads campaign
• Collecting reviews through a source trusted by Google, such as Feefo
• A minimum of 100 qualified reviews collected in the past 12 months
• An overall star rating of 3.5 or higher

Please note, once you’ve met all the above requirements, you may have to wait up to two weeks until seller ratings start appearing. You can find out more in our Knowledge Base guide.

Organic stars

As you may have already guessed, organic stars appear only on organic search listings, rather than paid ads. They are separate from seller ratings, and can be generated by ensuring your website is marked up with the correct schema.

How do I make organic stars appear?

To be eligible for organic stars, you must add schema markup to your site and check it is error-free. Due to recent changes made by Google, organic stars will only appear alongside search results for individual products. This means you need to be collecting product reviews and use product schema on your individual product pages to become eligible for organic stars.

Organic stars can no longer display alongside your homepage, dedicated reviews page or service pages. You can find out more about product markup on Google's website. 

My schema is correct. Why aren’t my organic stars appearing?

Unfortunately, Feefo has no control over whether organic stars are displayed or not. They are shown at Google’s discretion, when and where they believe they are most relevant. This may mean they show in some searches, but not others. You might also find you have to wait weeks or even months for them to appear.

If all else fails, double check your schema mark-up is correct. You can do this by running your site through Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

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