How do I get stars/reviews in Google?

10 March 2017 Laatste update: 29 November 2021 This is how

What are the stars or ratings in Google?

Since 2014, stars and reviews have increasingly been appearing in Google's search results. Previously, this was mainly used by web shops, but currently you see more and more website owners using reviews. I also applaud the fact that more and more websites are using stars in Google. After all, reviews are becoming increasingly important in the world of online marketing. What does the neighbor or acquaintance think of the product or service? This is obviously much more reliable than an advertisement promising that a party is the cheapest or fastest. In addition, someone is also more likely to click on a search result with a review than without one. So this ensures a higher click-through rate (CTR). Below is an example of the stars in Google when I search for "printer."

How do stars and reviews work in Google?

Of course, the next question is how this now works and how you yourself can get stars in Google. There is a lot of confusion about the stars in Google. In addition, Google itself is constantly adjusting their criteria. Here are all the answers to your questions about the stars in Google.

How do you boost stars in search results?

Internet users with a Gmail address or Google account can rate any website. So you don't have to do anything for this except that a Google account is required. You may want to ask your contacts to rate your website. This can be done simply in Google's own search results (see Figure 2). This is completely free and at 30 to 40 reviews Google can show the stars in the search results. The disadvantage is that this takes a long time and not every relation has a Gmail address.

It is notable that Google has determined that your company listing in Google (Rich snippet) will only display Google recency. I personally find this to be a major drawback. So it may now be the case that in Google you see a reviewer's rating on the left and Google's on the right. In the most disadvantageous case you may have 5 stars on the left and 1 star on the right. You can see an example of this below. Suppose you have 100 reviews at a review party and only a few in Google you still always see Google's stars here.

Besides the stars from Google itself, you can also join a review website approved by Google. A list of these websites can be found here.
Advantage: this ensures that everything is automatically taken care of for you!
You pay a monthly fee to use your review account (prices vary by provider). You can then arrange for every customer to automatically receive an e-mail asking them to rate your service or product. You can also choose the option to send such an e-mail to whom you want. The list includes several Dutch parties such as KiYoh, Klantenvertellen.nl and The Feedback Company.
Once you have an account and arrange to get reviews, it is important that you also let Google know. This is because otherwise the reviews and stars will not be displayed in the search results.

Stars in paid search results (Google Ads)

Stars and reviews are shown in paid search results if you have joined a review website approved by Google. As mentioned earlier, Google is constantly updating the criteria. Currently, these are the requirements according to Google.co.uk.

"Only certain ads are suitable for display in conjunction with seller reviews. If you meet the following conditions, your ads are suitable for display with seller reviews on search results pages and search partner pages of Google.

The campaign type must be "Search Network with Display Select," "Search and Display Network," or "Search Network Only."
The customer must search on Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.de, Google.fr or Google.co.uk.
In most cases, your business must have at least 30 unique reviews (all from the past 12 months) and an average rating of 3.5 stars or higher. However, reviews from sellers with fewer than 30 reviews can also be displayed, provided we have sufficient data from other sources to provide an accurate rating. At least 10 of those reviews must be written in the language of the customer's Google interface.
You do not need a Google Merchant Center account to display seller reviews with your listings."

Source Article from https://support.google.com/goo...

A question I often get: but how do I get stars in Google Ads? This "sort of" happens by itself. You just have to make sure that you actually have Google Ads campaigns. In addition, you must meet the above requirements.

Stars in organic (non-paid) search results

Unlike paid search results, you can only incentivize the stars in organic search results (see Figure 3), but it is not guaranteed that the stars will be shown. So what can you do to encourage this?

Through Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools), make sure you indicate that there is a review widget on your website. You do this by highlighting data.
(Recommended by Laméco) Make sure that with a technical change you highlight the reviews. You make sure your web developer retrieves the reviews from the review website and displays them in your own style on the website. Then you can also indicate what each element means. So Google sees who is the author of the review, but also what the score is and what the average score is. This option is preferable since Google sees everything immediately and new reviews and therefore new content are continuously posted on the website. So how exactly can your developer add these? That works with so-called "Rich Snippets." With this you specify in the program code of your website that it is about reviews. Below is an example of both the program code and the front end of your website:
Program Code:

Front website:

More developer information can be found here: https://developers.google.com/structured-data/rich-snippets/reviews

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