In July, Google updated its Review Snippet Structured Data guidelines with a clear warning about fake and undisclosed incentivised reviews. It’s an important change because it underscores Google’s ongoing focus on transparency and trust within search results. The update doesn’t mean businesses need to stop collecting incentivised reviews. Google is making it clear that if someone receives a discount, free product, voucher, or other incentive in exchange for a review, they must disclose it clearly. The problem Google is aiming to prevent is presenting paid or rewarded opinions as though they were completely independent. For anyone who relies on review snippets to improve visibility in search, now is the time to ensure your review snippet structured data is in line with Google’s latest guidance.
Understanding Review Snippet Structured Data
A review snippet is the star rating or review information that sometimes appears in a Google search result, known as a rich result. These ratings can come from review platforms such as:
- Trustpilot
- Feefo
- Google Reviews
- Yelp
- G2
- Gartner
- or Capterra
Review snippets are powered by structured data, which is a standardised way of describing information on a web page so search engines can understand it more accurately. When Google detects valid review structured data, it may display rich results that include star ratings, review counts, and summary information. Ratings are typically displayed on a scale, such as one to five stars, and can also appear in Google Knowledge Panels. According to Google’s updated documentation, review snippet structured data can be used for these features:
- Books
- Course lists
- Events
- Local businesses
- Movies
- Products
- Recipes
- Software apps
When implemented correctly, structured data helps search engines interpret your website content more effectively, which can improve how your pages appear in search results and make them more attractive to potential customers.
The Update to Google’s Guidelines on Review Snippet Structured Data
Google’s new instruction is: “Don’t include fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews on your page or in your structured data markup.” It also gives examples of reviews that shouldn’t be included:
- Reviews that aren’t based on a genuine experience of a product or service
- Reviews written in exchange for money, discounts, vouchers, or free products that don’t clearly and prominently disclose the incentivisation.
This means that Google doesn’t want businesses marking up reviews that create a misleading impression of genuine customer sentiment. If a customer received something in return for leaving a review, this needs to be made obvious to users. The update is likely a response to websites that try to manipulate review snippets by inflating ratings or displaying paid feedback as real customer opinions.
Violating a Quality Guideline
Violating Google’s updated structured data guidelines can have serious consequences for your search visibility. One is that Google may now ignore your review markup, which means your star ratings won’t show up in search results. In more serious violations, your website could receive a manual action that removes it from search results entirely. Recovering from a manual action is often difficult and will impact your organic search results until you’ve resolved the violation. Even if you avoid getting a penalty, losing review snippets can reduce click-through rates (CTRs) because your listings in Google search become less visually compelling than competitors who have rich results.
There are also several other common structured data mistakes to avoid if you want to ensure you’re following Google’s guidelines:
- Invisible reviews – Marking up reviews that visitors can’t see on the page
- Self-serving markup – Adding reviews or aggregate ratings for your business directly on your own website where you control the feedback
- Mismatched content – Using structured data that doesn’t accurately match the reviews or ratings displayed to users on the web page itself.
The Broader Implications for Your Search Strategy
Although this update focuses specifically on review snippets, it speaks to the direction Google is taking. Now more than ever, search is rewarding websites that demonstrate transparency and authenticity, while reducing visibility for tactics that could mislead users or manipulate search engines for better rankings. This is a reminder that review collection processes, customer feedback pages, and structured data should all work in tandem to present an accurate image of your brand.
Based on this addition to Google’s documentation, we recommend reviewing your structured data, validating schema, ensuring it reflects visible page content, and keeping your website aligned with the search engine’s guidance. Small technical elements like these often go unnoticed until they affect visibility, so keeping them up to date is an important part of protecting and preserving organic search performance.
The Final Word
Google is making its expectations much clearer. Review snippets are still a valuable way to improve visibility and trustworthiness in search results, but they’re only permissible when they’re built on genuine customer feedback and accurate structured data. If you’re unsure whether your review markup still aligns with Google’s guidance, we’d love to help review your website and compliance. Feel free to get in touch with our team.