Google SDTT error: "The review has no reviewed item specified."

Question

I checked my website's Rich Snippets in the Google Rich Snippets Tool, and it had an error:

The review has no reviewed item specified.

How do I fix it?

The code is:

<div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
  <span itemprop="ratingValue">5</span> stars - based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">21</span> reviews
</div>

Answer 1

The error message is pretty self explanatory with one of the problems that you have, but that's not the only problem with the code you presented. The other problem is that you've used itemprop without an item that this is the property of.

AggregateRating requires an item that is being rated. You can't have an AggregateRating without specifying what it applies to. There's two ways to do this (do not do both):

1. Use a containing item and specify the AggregateRating as a property. You (kind of) suggested this is what you are trying by using itemprop without a containing item. If you wish to use this, you need to wrap your itemprop in a suitable item. Suitable items are: Product, Brand, Offer, Event, Organization, Place, Service, CreativeWork. These items specify an aggregateRating property which can contain an AggregateRating.

   <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
       <div itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
           <span itemprop="ratingValue">5</span> stars - based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">21</span> reviews
       </div>
       <!-- other Product properties -->
   </div>
   

2. Use the itemReviewed property of AggregateRating, specifying the Thing that the rating is regarding. Don't forget to remove the itemprop from the code in your question if you use this.

   <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating">
       <span itemprop="ratingValue">5</span> stars - based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">21</span> reviews
       <div itemprop="itemReviewed" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
           <!-- Product properties -->
       </div>
   </div>