Star rating
Also called: review stars, google star rating, star ratings
A star rating is the 1-to-5 score Google displays for a business or product, calculated as the average of all published ratings (5 is highest). It shows up in the local pack, Google Maps, and organic rich results, backed by review data or AggregateRating structured data.
Google builds a business star rating by averaging every review published on your Google Business Profile, on a fixed 1-to-5 scale where 5 is the top score. Each review counts, and a new one can take up to two weeks to move the number. That profile average drives the stars people see in the local pack and on Google Maps.
Where your stars come from
Stars in plain organic (blue-link) results come from a different source: Review or AggregateRating structured data on your own pages. Google reads the average from ratingValue plus a ratingCount or reviewCount, and defaults to a 5-point scale unless you declare bestRating and worstRating. One hard rule from Google: do not aggregate ratings pulled from other websites. Only feedback collected on your own property qualifies.
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "4.7",
"reviewCount": "213"
}Ranking-wise the two surfaces behave differently. John Mueller has said star ratings do not feed normal web search ranking. For local search, Google’s own guidance is the opposite: review count and review score factor into local ranking, so more positive reviews can lift where you sit in the map pack. That split is why a strong star rating pays off most in local and Maps, not generic organic listings.
How it affects your traffic
Stars are one of the few SERP elements that signal quality before a click, so they tend to lift click-through wherever they appear. In local search the effect compounds: Google treats review count and score as a local ranking factor, so a healthy rating both moves you up the map pack and wins more of the clicks once you are there. Getting reviews flowing, keeping the average high, and wiring correct schema is core Local SEO work, which is exactly where our Local SEO service focuses.
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