Review schema incomplete: add author, itemReviewed & reviewRating

What it means

A standalone Review block is present but missing a field Google requires for star ratings: author (a Person or Organization with a name — required since 15 Jan 2025), itemReviewed (the thing being reviewed, with a name), or reviewRating (a Rating with a ratingValue). Recommended fields reviewBody and datePublished add quality signals.

Why it matters

Star ratings in search results come from validated Review/AggregateRating markup and lift click-through for product, recipe, software, and local-business listings. When a required field is absent Google drops the rich result entirely — the page appears as a plain link next to competitors showing stars. The January 2025 update made author.name explicitly required for standalone Review blocks; sites that relied on the old grace period now lose the rich result rather than getting a Search Console warning. itemReviewed can be omitted only when the Review is nested under the reviewed entity (Google infers it from the parent).

How to fix it

1. Add author as a Person or Organization with a name (required as of Jan 2025).
2. Add itemReviewed with the reviewed entity's @type and name, using a Google-supported type (Product, Recipe, Movie, SoftwareApplication, LocalBusiness, …).
3. Add reviewRating as a Rating with a numeric ratingValue (period decimal, not a comma).
4. Add reviewBody and datePublished to strengthen the block.
5. If the review belongs to an entity already on the page, nest it under that entity's review property and omit itemReviewed.
6. Ensure the review text is visible in the rendered HTML, then validate with the Rich Results Test.

Example

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Review",
  "reviewRating": {"@type":"Rating","ratingValue":"4.5"}
}

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Review",
  "itemReviewed": {"@type":"Product","name":"Aeron Chair"},
  "author": {"@type":"Person","name":"Dana Reyes"},
  "reviewRating": {"@type":"Rating","ratingValue":"4.5","bestRating":"5"}
}

author became required in Jan 2025. itemReviewed is required for a standalone Review; when the Review is nested inside the reviewed item it can be inferred.

When it's not a problem

A Review nested inside a supported parent entity (Product, Recipe) may correctly omit itemReviewed — Google infers it — so a flag there can be a false positive; verify the parent is properly typed. Self-serving reviews on your own Organization/LocalBusiness page are a Google spam-policy risk regardless of completeness, and aggregating third-party ratings without a license can trigger a manual action. It is separate from schema.invalid.

How Crawlinx detects it

We validate every Review (and AggregateRating) block for author, itemReviewed and reviewRating. A Review nested under a parent's review property has itemReviewed inferred from the parent, so it isn't falsely flagged.

How common is it?

7 audited sites in our corpus currently show this issue. The breakdowns below show which platforms, gatekeepers, verticals and countries are most exposed.

FAQ

Why is author now required on reviews?

Google made author mandatory on 15 Jan 2025 to combat fake and anonymous reviews. A Review without a named author (Person or Organization) no longer earns a star rating.

Can the author be the same as the site?

For editorial reviews, an Organization author is fine. For user reviews, use a Person. Never use the reviewed item or a generic "Admin" — Google treats self-serving reviews as ineligible.

Do I need itemReviewed if the Review is inside a Product?

No. When the Review sits in a Product's review property, itemReviewed is inferred from the parent. Standalone Review blocks must state itemReviewed explicitly.