---
title: "Self-Serving Review Schema: 19.9% of Local Homepages"
url: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/self-serving-review-schema
description: "19.9% of 16,721 top-1M local business homepages carry AggregateRating markup and 15.8% have no Product markup. Website builders: 8.3%."
lang: en
---
Data Study ยท On-Page SEO
# 1 in 5 Local Business Homepages Hide Star Ratings in Their Code
19.9% of top-1M local business homepages with schema (3,331 of 16,721) include AggregateRating markup, the kind of self-serving rating Google says it won't show as stars, and 15.8% carry it with no Product markup on the page.
- 16,721 local business homepages
- HTTP Archive, Sept 2026
Matt Suffoletto: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/author/matt-suffoletto
Founder, PageSpeed Matters Published Oct. 19, 2026 6 min read
## Key Findings
1. **19.9%** of 16,721 top-1M homepages typed as a local business (3,331) also carry AggregateRating markup, and the rate is **21.9%** (2,202 of 10,034) for homepages typed LocalBusiness itself. Copy stat
2. **15.8%** of local business homepages with schema (2,641) carry AggregateRating with no Product markup at all, so the rating can only describe the business or the page. Copy stat
3. Local business homepages are about **2.6 times** as likely to carry AggregateRating as homepages with schema overall (19.9% against **7.6%** of 326,935). Copy stat
4. Website builder homepages (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and similar) do this far less: **8.3%** of 923, against 19.3% of 3,224 WordPress, **21.7%** of 752 Shopify and 20.9% of 11,822 other or custom local business homepages. Copy stat
5. By business type, restaurants, cafes and hotels lead at **20.7%** of 2,257, followed by medical at 18.4% of 873, legal, finance and other professional services at 17.5% of 1,797, and home services and auto at **15.5%** of 1,329. Copy stat
6. More popular local sites do it slightly less: **17.3%** of 838 in the top 100K, against **20.1%** of 15,883 below that. Copy stat
Local business homepages with AggregateRating, by platform
Shopify 21.7%
Other or custom 20.9%
WordPress 19.3%
Website builders 8.3%
Source: PageSpeed Matters. HTTP Archive crawl, Sept 2026, mobile, top 1M local business homepages with schema.
Types on the same homepage, not nesting, so not every rating is proven to describe the business.
In this study
## Local business homepages with AggregateRating, by business type
| Business type | With AggregateRating | Homepages |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Generic LocalBusiness | 21.4% | 9,758 |
| Restaurants, cafes, hotels | 20.7% | 2,257 |
| Medical and dental | 18.4% | 873 |
| Legal, finance, professional | 17.5% | 1,797 |
| Beauty and fitness | 15.8% | 222 |
| Home services and auto | 15.5% | 1,329 |
| Other local types | 12.2% | 485 |
| All local business | 19.9% | 16,721 |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Sept 2026. Business type is the most specific listed local subtype on the homepage; Store types excluded.
## Summary
Star ratings in search results are tempting, and many local businesses add AggregateRating markup to their homepage hoping to get them. Google's review snippet guidelines say it will not show stars for self-serving reviews, meaning ratings a business publishes about itself on its own site.
We checked how common this is among the most visited local business sites. 19.9% of top-1M local business homepages with schema (3,331 of 16,721) include AggregateRating markup, and 15.8% carry it with no Product markup on the page at all.
## What we measured
We used the HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites by Chrome traffic from September 2026, on mobile, and kept homepages with any structured data.
A homepage counts as a local business when it carries the LocalBusiness type or one of 57 listed schema.org local subtypes for restaurants, medical practices, professional services, home services and similar businesses. We left out Store and its subtypes because online shops use them too. A homepage counts as having a rating when the AggregateRating type appears anywhere on it. Business type is the most specific listed subtype on the page.
One limit matters most. We measure which types appear on the same homepage, not how they nest, so we cannot prove that each rating is attached to the business itself.
## One in five local business homepages carries a rating
Of 16,721 top-1M homepages typed as a local business, 3,331 also carry AggregateRating markup, or 19.9%. For homepages typed LocalBusiness itself the rate is 21.9% (2,202 of 10,034).
Most of these ratings are not about products. 15.8% of local business homepages with schema (2,641) carry AggregateRating with no Product markup at all. With no product on the page, the rating can only describe the business or the page, which is most likely the self-serving case Google says it will not show as stars.
Local businesses do this far more than the average site. Local business homepages are about 2.6 times as likely to carry AggregateRating as homepages with schema overall: 19.9% against 7.6% of 326,935.
19.9%
Share of 16,721 top-1M local business homepages with schema that also carry AggregateRating markup.
## Website builders carry ratings far less often
Platform makes a clear difference. Homepages on website builders such as Wix, Squarespace and Webflow carry AggregateRating far less often: 8.3% of 923 local business homepages. That compares with 19.3% of 3,224 WordPress, 21.7% of 752 Shopify and 20.9% of 11,822 other or custom local business homepages.
Builders give site owners less direct control over structured data, which likely makes it harder to add a rating by hand. On WordPress and custom builds, review plugins, widgets and SEO tools can add AggregateRating markup to the homepage with little effort.
## Restaurants and hotels lead the specific business types
Every type of local business does it, but some more than others. Among specific business types, restaurants, cafes and hotels lead at 20.7% of 2,257 homepages, followed by medical and dental at 18.4% of 873, legal, finance and other professional services at 17.5% of 1,797, and home services and auto at 15.5% of 1,329. Homepages with no more specific type than LocalBusiness sit slightly higher still, at 21.4% of 9,758.
Popularity changes the rate only a little. 17.3% of 838 local business homepages in the top 100K carry AggregateRating, against 20.1% of 15,883 below that. Larger local brands may be slightly more likely to follow Google's guidelines, but the gap is small.
## What this means for your site
If your homepage marks up your own star rating, it is unlikely to earn stars in Google results. The markup is not the way to get them.
- Run your homepage through Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator and look for AggregateRating or Review markup alongside your LocalBusiness or Organization type.
- If the rating describes your business, consider removing it, or check which plugin or widget adds it and switch that output off.
- If you sell products, put AggregateRating on the Product markup of the product page, based on reviews customers can see on that page.
- Put your review effort into your Google Business Profile. That is where the star ratings in local results come from.
- Keep showing real customer reviews on your site for visitors. They can help people decide even without markup.
## Sources
- HTTP Archive crawl, September 2026, mobile, top 1M sites by Chrome traffic
- Google Search Central, Review snippet (Review, AggregateRating) structured data: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippet
- Schema.org, AggregateRating type: https://schema.org/AggregateRating
## Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.
Source: 1 in 5 Local Business Homepages Hide Star Ratings in Their Code - PageSpeed Matters
## Frequently asked questions
### What is a self-serving review in schema markup?
It is a rating or review a business publishes about itself on its own site, marked up with AggregateRating or Review. Google says it will not show these as stars. In our crawl, 19.9% of 16,721 top-1M local business homepages with schema carry AggregateRating markup.
### Can a local business get star ratings from its own schema?
Not for ratings of the business itself, according to Google's review snippet guidelines. Even so, 15.8% of local business homepages with schema carry AggregateRating with no Product markup on the page.
### Which local businesses mark up their own ratings most?
Restaurants, cafes and hotels lead at 20.7% of 2,257 homepages, followed by medical and dental at 18.4% and legal, finance and professional services at 17.5%. Home services and auto sit at 15.5%.
Self-serving rating markup is usually one plugin or widget setting, and the effort is better spent on markup and reviews that can actually show up in search. Need help with this? See our on-page SEO services (https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/services/on-page-seo).
Share
How we measured
## Methodology & Source
Data source
HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites by Chrome traffic: schema types on homepages with structured data
Collection date
September 2026
Sample
16,721 local business homepages
Release
HTTP Archive, Sept 2026
Mobile crawl, homepages with any structured data. Local business means LocalBusiness or one of 57 listed schema.org local subtypes, with Store and its subtypes left out because online shops use them. AggregateRating counts when the type appears anywhere on the homepage. This measures types appearing on the same homepage, not nesting, so we cannot prove each rating is attached to the business itself.
Using this data?
## Cite this study
Link back to the study when you cite it.
APA
Matt Suffoletto. (2026). 1 in 5 Local Business Homepages Hide Star Ratings in Their Code. PageSpeed Matters. https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/self-serving-review-schema
Plain link
1 in 5 Local Business Homepages Hide Star Ratings in Their Code - PageSpeed Matters - https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/self-serving-review-schema
## Related studies
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- On-Page SEO Article Schema Authors: 1 in 4 Article Pages Name No Real Person: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/article-schema-authors
- On-Page SEO VideoObject Schema 2026: Missing on 95.8% of Video Pages: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/videoobject-schema
- Local Local Business Website Speed: 52.2% of 'Near Me' Winners Pass Core Web Vitals: https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/near-me-local-business-speed
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