How the multi-criteria review system appears on the frontend — the rating summary, individual review cards, and the review submission form.
Where it appears
| Any post or page → of the post type configured in Setup Reviews → Frontend view (what visitors see) |
⭐ Multi-Criteria Review System — Frontend Output #
After a Review Setup is published (Step 16), SchemaEngine AI automatically inserts three distinct sections at the bottom of every post of the configured post type — no shortcodes or template edits required for the default placement. The screenshot shows a multi-criteria review setup (Quality, Price, Service) with Pros & Cons enabled — one of the most feature-complete configurations. This document explains every element visible in the frontend output.
Three areas are output in order: ① Rating Summary → ② Review List → ③ Submission Form
Sections on This Page
1. Rating Summary #
The Rating Summary is the first section visitors see. It displays the aggregated score across all submitted reviews and, when multi-criteria is enabled, a breakdown bar for each individual rating criterion.
Left Panel — Overall Score #
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Score (4.7/5) | The aggregate average rating across all submitted reviews, displayed as a large bold number with the maximum score. Updates automatically with each new review. |
| Star display | Visual star rating matching the aggregate score. Partial stars are shown for decimal values (e.g. 4.7 shows 4 full stars + half star). |
| Based on N rating | The total count of submitted reviews. Updates automatically as new reviews are submitted. |
Right Panel — Per-Criteria Breakdown (Multi-Criteria only) #
When Multi-Criteria is selected in the Review Setup (Step 16, Tab 1 — Criteria), a progress bar breakdown appears for each rating criterion. In the example screenshot, three criteria are shown:
| Criterion | Example score & display |
|---|---|
| Quality | 100% — full blue progress bar. The highest rated criterion across all reviews. |
| Price | 80% — partial bar. The average of all Price ratings submitted. |
| Service | 100% — full bar. All reviewers rated Service at maximum. |
| ℹ️ Criteria names are set in the Review Setup configuration The criterion labels (Quality, Price, Service in this example) are defined when setting up the review criteria in Setup Reviews. You can create any criteria relevant to your content — for example: Performance, Design, Value, Support, Ease of Use, Documentation. |
“Reviewed by N user” bar #
Below the summary box, a slim bar shows the total reviewer count (e.g. “Reviewed by 1 user”). This updates in real time as new reviews are submitted and approved.
| { } Schema output — AggregateRating The Rating Summary feeds directly into the schema.org AggregateRating markup output by SchemaEngine AI. The aggregate score and review count become the ratingValue and reviewCount properties — these are what Google uses to display star ratings in search results and Google Shopping rich snippets. |
| ② | 💬 Review List & Cards Individual review cards · Pros & Cons · media · engagement |
2. Review List & Cards Individual review cards · Pros & Cons · media · engagement #
The Review List displays all submitted and approved reviews as individual cards. The layout style and visible fields depend on the configuration in Setup Reviews (Step 16). The screenshot shows a feature-complete card with all optional fields enabled.
Review Card — Meta Bar (top row) #
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Star rating display | The individual reviewer’s overall star rating shown as filled/half/empty stars at the top-left of the card. |
| Reviewer name | “by: Mamunur Rashid” — the name entered by the reviewer in the submission form. Displayed as a link if the reviewer provided a website URL. |
| Submission date | “1 minute ago” — shown in human-readable format by default (e.g. “2 days ago”, “3 weeks ago”). Can be switched to absolute date in Settings tab → Disable human readable time format. |
| Social share buttons | Facebook and Twitter share icons appear when Social share? is enabled in Settings tab. Allows visitors to share the individual review. |
Review Card — Content #
| Element | Description |
| Review title | The bold headline entered by the reviewer. Example: “Testing Schema Engine AI Multi Criteria Review & Rating”. Visible when the title field is enabled in the review form. |
| Review body text | The full written review content entered in the review textarea. |
Pros & Cons Section #
Visible when Allow pros cons? is enabled in the Settings tab. Displayed as two side-by-side columns with distinct icons and colour coding:
| 👍 PROS | 👎 CONS |
| Green teal background icon labelEach pro listed with a green ✔ checkmarkExample: Good 1, Good 2, Good 3Reviewers add pros in the submission form using “+ Add Field” | Red background icon labelEach con listed with a red ✖ crossExample: Bad 1, Bad 2, Bad 2Reviewers add cons in the submission form using “+ Add Field” |
Like & Dislike Buttons #
Appear at the bottom of each review card when Allow review like? and Allow review dislike? are enabled in the Settings tab. Visitors click to upvote or downvote a review as helpful or unhelpful. The count updates in real time (e.g. “👍 0 👎 0”).
| 💡 Review card appearance is controlled by Setup Reviews Which elements appear on each review card is determined entirely by the toggles in the Settings tab of the Review Setup (Step 16). If Pros & Cons, Social Share, Like/Dislike, or other features are not visible on your frontend, check that the corresponding toggle is enabled in the active Review Setup for that post type. |
3. Submission Form #
Review Submission Form Text fields · multi-criteria star ratings · media upload · Submit button
The review submission form appears below the review list. It is labelled “Leave feedback about this” and contains all the fields configured in the Review Setup. Visitors fill in the form and click Submit Review to post their review.
Text Input Fields #
| Field | Required? Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Optional — review headline. Placeholder: “Title”. Visible when Review title disable? is OFF in Settings tab. |
| Write your review | Required (*) — main review body text. Placeholder: “Write your review *”. Multi-line textarea. |
| Name | Required (*) — reviewer’s display name. Placeholder: “Name *”. |
| Required (*) — reviewer’s email address. Not displayed publicly. Placeholder: “Email *”. | |
| Website | Optional — reviewer’s website URL. Placeholder: “Website”. Visible when Review website url disable? is OFF. |
Multi-Criteria Star Rating Fields #
When Multi-Criteria is selected in the Review Setup, a separate interactive 5-star rating row appears for each criterion. The example shows three criteria rows:
| Criterion row | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Quality ★★★★★ | Five interactive amber star icons. Click to set the rating (1–5). Hovering shows the score before clicking. |
| Price ★★★★★ | Same star interaction for the Price criterion. |
| Service ★★★★★ | Same star interaction for the Service criterion. |
ℹ️ All criteria rows are required
In a multi-criteria setup, the reviewer must rate every criterion before submitting. Missing a criterion prevents form submission.
Pros & Cons Input Fields #
Shown when Allow pros cons? is enabled. Two side-by-side columns (PROS and CONS) each with a text input and an “+ Add Field” button for adding multiple entries:
- Each column starts with one empty text input field labelled “Write here!”
- Click “+ Add Field” to add additional pro or con entries — no limit on entries
- Click the ✕ button on any row to remove that entry
Image & Video Upload Fields #
Shown when Allow image review? and Allow video review? are enabled in the Settings tab. Each media field has two options in a dropdown:
| Media field | Upload options |
|---|---|
| Image | External Image URL — paste a publicly accessible image URL (e.g. https://example.com/image.jpg). Or: upload from device (if local upload is enabled in Media settings). |
| Video | External Video — paste a YouTube, Vimeo, or direct video URL (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…). Or: upload a video file directly. |
Anonymous Review & Submit #
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Review anonymously | A checkbox at the bottom of the form. When checked, the reviewer’s name is hidden from the public review display. Only visible when Allow anonymous review? is enabled in the Settings tab. |
| Submit Review button | The purple/branded button that submits the completed form. Disabled until all required fields are filled. On success, the page refreshes and the new review appears in the list. |
| 🛡️ reCAPTCHA is verified on Submit When Allow google recaptcha? is enabled in the Settings tab, Google reCAPTCHA v3 runs invisibly when the visitor clicks Submit Review. If the score is too low (bot-like behaviour), the submission is silently rejected without interrupting the user experience. |
4. Schema Markup Generated #
Every submitted review and the aggregate rating summary are automatically output as schema.org structured data in the page’s JSON-LD. This is the data Google uses to display star ratings in search results. Review Rating support category type product, courses, software, restaurant, and books.
AggregateRating — from the Rating Summary #
| JSON-LD Property | Example value | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| “@type” | “AggregateRating” | Declares this as an aggregate review score |
| “ratingValue” | “4.7” | The average score across all reviews (matches the 4.7/5 displayed) |
| “reviewCount” | “1” | Total number of submitted reviews (“Based on 1 rating”) |
| “bestRating” | “5” | Maximum possible score — always 5 in the SchemaEngine AI system |
| “worstRating” | “1” | Minimum possible score — always 1 |
Review — from each individual review card #
| JSON-LD Property | Example value | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| “@type” | “Review” | Declares this as an individual review |
| “author” | { “@type”: “Person”, “name”: “…” } | Reviewer name from the submission form |
| “datePublished” | “2026-05-13T…” | Submission date in ISO 8601 format |
| “reviewRating” | { “ratingValue”: “4.7”, … } | The individual reviewer’s overall score |
| “reviewBody” | “Testing Schema Engine AI…” | The written review body text |
| “name” | “Testing Schema Engine AI…” | The review title/headline |
| “positiveNotes” | { “@type”: “ItemList”, … } | Pros listed in the review (schema.org ItemList) |
| “negativeNotes” | { “@type”: “ItemList”, … } | Cons listed in the review (schema.org ItemList) |
🌟 Star ratings in Google search results
When AggregateRating and Review schema are present and valid, Google may display golden star ratings directly in the search snippet for this page. This significantly improves click-through rate — pages with star ratings in search results receive up to 30% more clicks than those without. The review system in SchemaEngine AI is designed specifically to meet Google’s structured data requirements for this feature.
