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What is Review Schema?

What is Review Schema?

Review schema is structured data markup (JSON-LD format) that tells search engines how to interpret and display patient ratings and reviews from your website in search results. When implemented correctly, it enables rich snippets — the star ratings that appear directly under your listing in Google search — which increase click-through rates and provide social proof before a patient ever visits your site. For healthcare practices, review schema is one of the highest-impact structured data implementations available.

What Review Schema Looks Like in Search Results

✕ Without Review Schema
Atlanta Dental Group — Home
https://atlantadentalgroup.com
Providing comprehensive dental care for the Atlanta area including implants, cleanings, and cosmetic services. New patients welcome.
✓ With Review Schema
Atlanta Dental Group — Home
https://atlantadentalgroup.com
★★★★★ 4.9 · 312 reviews
Providing comprehensive dental care for the Atlanta area including implants, cleanings, and cosmetic services. New patients welcome.
Star ratings in organic results are controlled by review schema markup on your website — not pulled from Google Business Profile

Review Schema Types for Healthcare

The schema type you implement determines how Google categorizes and displays the review data. For healthcare practices, the correct types depend on what you’re reviewing:

MedicalOrganization
For the practice itself — hospitals, clinics, dental offices, therapy practices. Includes AggregateRating for overall practice reviews.
Physician
For individual provider bio pages. Allows reviews of a specific doctor, dentist, or specialist.
LocalBusiness
Broader type that works when MedicalOrganization isn’t specific enough. Use for wellness clinics, non-clinical health businesses, and practices that serve general consumers.
âš  Product / Service
Google’s guidelines explicitly prohibit review schema on pages where the business is reviewing itself or its own services. Only first-party reviews on appropriate review-type pages qualify. Product schema reviews are for e-commerce products — not healthcare services.

JSON-LD Implementation Example

Google’s preferred format for structured data is JSON-LD, placed in the <head> of the page or using a plugin like Rank Math. Here’s a correct implementation for a dental practice:

JSON-LD — MedicalOrganization with AggregateRating
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "name": "Atlanta Dental Group",
  "url": "https://atlantadentalgroup.com",
  "telephone": "+1-404-555-0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "1234 Medical Center Drive",
    "addressLocality": "Atlanta",
    "addressRegion": "GA",
    "postalCode": "30303"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.9",
    "reviewCount": "312",
    "bestRating": "5",
    "worstRating": "1"
  }
}

Google’s Rules for Review Schema

✓
Reviews must reflect the genuine experience of real patients or customers — not fabricated or incentivized reviews
✓
The page must contain at least one visible, human-readable review — not just the schema markup
✓
AggregateRating reviewCount must match the actual number of reviews displayed or accessible on the page
✕
Self-serving reviews — businesses reviewing themselves, testimonials written by the business, or staff reviews — violate Google’s guidelines and can result in rich snippet penalties
✕
Placing review schema on pages that don’t actually display reviews — Google will detect the mismatch and ignore or penalize the markup

Review schema is one component of a complete healthcare structured data strategy. For the full picture on schema types that matter for healthcare practices — including Physician, LocalBusiness, and FAQPage schema — see Direction’s guide to healthcare SEO.

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