Website Optimization

Google Review Schema and Self-Serving Reviews: What Changed and What Still Applies

Last updated: November 7, 2026 Quick answer: Since September 2019, Google won’t show review stars for “self-serving” reviews, meaning reviews a business collects and displays about itself on its own website, when they’re marked up as LocalBusiness or Organization. That still applies today, including reviews shown through third-party review widgets. Product, recipe, course and other

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Understanding Google Penalties: Manual Actions vs. Algorithmic Drops

Last updated: November 7, 2026 Quick answer: A Google “penalty” is either a manual action, where a Google reviewer finds a spam-policy violation and reports it in Search Console’s Manual actions report, or an algorithmic demotion from automated systems that detect spam. To recover from a manual action, fix the issue and submit a reconsideration

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