When you search for a product or service on Google, some results show yellow star ratings right in the search result. Others don't. Listings with stars get significantly more clicks, sometimes 2-3x more.

So why do some businesses get stars and others don't? And what can you do to get yours to appear?

Here's the complete breakdown.

A related read on reputation is embed Google reviews on your website.

1. The Two Places Star Ratings Appear in Google

There are actually two different contexts where stars appear in Google results, and they work completely differently.

Context 1: Google Maps and Local Pack

Stars in the local pack (the map results) come directly from your Google Business Profile reviews. These are your actual Google reviews, there's no special setup required. Every verified GBP with reviews shows stars.

Context 2: Organic Web Search Results (Rich Snippets)

Stars appearing in the regular blue-link search results (not the map) are called review rich snippets. These come from structured data (schema markup) on your website, NOT from your GBP reviews.

This distinction is critical. Your GBP reviews don't make stars appear in your organic search results. You need schema markup for that.

2. Review Rich Snippets: How They Work

Review rich snippets appear in organic search results when Google detects valid review schema markup on a webpage and trusts the data.

What they look like: A yellow star rating (e.g., ★★★★☆ 4.6 / 5, 127 reviews) shown directly below the page title in search results.

Types of schema that trigger review stars:

Product schema, for product pages with ratings
LocalBusiness schema with AggregateRating, for business websites
Recipe schema, for recipe pages
Course schema, for online courses
Event schema, for event pages

For local businesses, the relevant schema is LocalBusiness with an AggregateRating property.

⚠️ Common Mistake: Many businesses assume their GBP reviews automatically make stars appear in their website's search listings. They don't. GBP reviews show stars only in Maps and the local pack, not in organic search results.

3. Google's Rules for Review Rich Snippets

Google has strict guidelines about what review data can be shown as rich snippets. Violating these rules gets your stars removed.

Allowed:

First-party reviews collected on your own website using a proper review system
Third-party review aggregators that compile verified reviews
Editorial reviews from legitimate publications

Not allowed:

Self-written reviews (you can't write your own review schema)
Reviews from friends, family, or employees
Reviews that aren't publicly visible on the page
Duplicated reviews from Google, Yelp, or other platforms displayed as your own
Review schema on every page of your site (only pages that genuinely contain review content)

📊 Flento Data: Pages with valid review rich snippets see an average 15% increase in click-through rate compared to identical pages without stars.

4. How to Implement Review Schema for Local Businesses

To get stars in organic results, you need valid LocalBusiness schema with an AggregateRating on your homepage or main service pages.

Basic LocalBusiness + AggregateRating schema:

Add this JSON-LD to your webpage's <head> section:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Your Business Name",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main St",
    "addressLocality": "Chicago",
    "addressRegion": "IL",
    "postalCode": "60601"
  },
  "telephone": "+13125551234",
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "127"
  }
}

Important: The ratingValue and reviewCount in your schema must reflect real reviews that are publicly visible on your website. You cannot use your Google review count in schema intended to generate rich snippets, Google considers this manipulative.

5. Why Your Stars Might Not Be Showing

Even with valid schema, Google doesn't guarantee review stars will appear. Reasons they might not show:

Schema errors, validate using Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results)
Insufficient reviews, Google typically wants 5+ reviews before showing stars
Policy violation, using Google reviews in schema, self-reviews, or other violations
Google's discretion, Google manually reviews and may suppress stars for any reason
New domain, newer domains with low authority are less likely to get stars

💡 Pro Tip: Focus on your Google Maps stars first, those appear for free with your GBP and have the highest search visibility. Organic stars are a bonus, not a requirement.

6. Stars on Your GBP vs. Stars on Your Website

GBP stars (local pack):

Come from verified Google reviews
Appear automatically in Maps and local pack
Updated in real time as reviews arrive
Completely free, no technical setup needed

Website organic stars (rich snippets):

Come from your own on-site review system with schema markup
Require technical implementation
Subject to Google's rich snippet policies
Not guaranteed to appear

For most local businesses, the highest-ROI focus is on Google Business Profile reviews, those stars are more visible, more trusted by customers, and easier to obtain.

🔥 Quick Win: Check your GBP right now. If your star rating is below 4.5, focus your next 30 days on getting new reviews from happy customers. Moving from 4.2 to 4.6 can increase your Google Maps click-through rate by 20-30%.

Action Step: Search your business name on Google. Do you see stars in the organic results? If not, check your website for LocalBusiness schema using Google's Rich Results Test. If you have valid schema but no reviews displayed on your website, that's why.

Start free →, Flento monitors your review count and rating and alerts you when your star rating drops, keeping your click-through rates protected.

How to Get Google Review Stars in Search Results (2026)