Review Snippet Eligibility & Self-Serving Checker
Verify whether your JSON-LD review schema will actually produce golden stars in Google SERPs. Detects Google's 2019 Self-Serving Review policy blocks on LocalBusiness and Organization schemas.
Paste Schema.org JSON-LD
Paste your full script tag or raw JSON-LD code below:
Google SERP Eligibility Report
Google Search Appearance Simulation:
Checking Whether Your Review Schema Earns Stars
Review markup can pass the Rich Results Test and still show no stars, usually because the review is self-serving — a business reviewing itself, or a page carrying an aggregate rating for the company that owns the site. This checker looks for the rules Google applies beyond plain validity.
Paste your JSON-LD above. The checker reports whether the schema is valid, whether the reviewed item is an eligible type, and whether the review would be treated as self-serving and dropped.
🛠️ Practitioner Pro Tip: FTC Compliance & The Review Gating Prohibition
The FTC and Google both strictly prohibit 'review gating' — the practice of asking customers if they had a positive experience, and only routing positive respondents to public review platforms while funneling negative feedback to a private form. Doing so risks federal fines and permanent revocation of rich snippet stars in organic Google Search.
Google’s Rules on Review Snippets
Google stopped showing review snippets for self-serving reviews in 2019. A LocalBusiness or Organization cannot carry a rating about itself on its own site, and an aggregate rating has to be backed by reviews that are actually visible on the page marking it up.
The checker validates the structure first, then applies the eligibility rules separately: the item type, whether the rating is self-referential, whether individual reviews support the aggregate, and whether the reviewed entity appears on the page at all.
Eligible Schema Types
For more detailed technical walkthroughs, explore our in-depth article on Google Self-Serving Review Schema Guidelines. You can also browse our full directory of 18+ free web utilities on the SBS ToolBench homepage.
Review Snippet Questions
Why did my Google star ratings disappear from search results?
Google regularly strips stars if schema is deemed self-serving (e.g. LocalBusiness on homepage), if reviews are fabricated, or if structured data does not match visible page content.
Can an eCommerce store show star ratings on category pages?
No. Google requires review stars to represent a specific, discrete product or item, not an aggregate collection across multiple products on a category page.
What is the minimum rating value required for rich snippets?
Ratings must be on a numeric scale (typically 1 to 5). Google requires ratingValue, reviewCount (or ratingCount), and bestRating properties.
📚 Official Companion Guides & Industry Blueprints
Deepen your technical knowledge with step-by-step documentation designed to accompany this utility.