How is a nonstandard employer rating scale declared?

Definition: A nonstandard employer rating scale is a numeric scale other than Google's default 5-point scale for EmployerAggregateRating. Declare the observed value in ratingValue, then state the scale's upper and lower bounds with bestRating and worstRating.

Key facts

• Google's Employer Rating documentation says the default numeric scale is 5 points, with 1 as the lowest value and 5 as the highest.
• If the site uses another scale, Google says to specify the best and worst ratings and says it scales that range to its 5-star system.
• ratingValue is a required property and accepts a number, fraction or percentage for an employer evaluation.
• bestRating and worstRating are recommended properties. If either is omitted, Google assumes 5 for bestRating and 1 for worstRating.
• The rating must be visible on the marked-up page, and the page must identify a specific hiring organization.

Which properties declare the scale?

ratingValue carries the aggregate employer evaluation. Google documents it as a required Number or Text property and gives "4", "60%" and "6 / 10" as examples of a number, percentage and fraction. Fractions and percentages contain their own scale, so Google can infer it from the value. A plain numeric value uses the default 5-point interpretation unless the markup also gives the bounds.

For a custom numeric range, bestRating is the highest allowed value and worstRating is the lowest allowed value. Schema.org defines both properties as Number or Text and describes them as the limits of the rating system. In JSON-LD, numeric bounds can therefore be written alongside the numeric aggregate value:

{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org/",
  "@type" : "EmployerAggregateRating",
  "itemReviewed" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "name" : "World's Best Coffee Shop",
    "sameAs" : "https://example.com"
  },
  "ratingValue": 91,
  "bestRating": 100,
  "worstRating": 1,
  "ratingCount" : "10561"
}

Google's example uses 91 as the aggregate value on a range from 1 to 100. It demonstrates the declaration of the range; the page says that Google scales a different scale to its 5-star system but gives no conversion formula.

What does Google require around the value?

Google lists ratingValue and either ratingCount or reviewCount among the required properties for this feature. ratingCount is the total number of ratings for the organization on the site. reviewCount counts people who provided a review, whether or not it included a rating. Schema.org describes EmployerAggregateRating as an aggregate rating of an organization in its role as an employer.

The rating content must be available to users on the page containing the markup and immediately obvious to them. The page must concern one specific hiring organization, rather than a category or list. Google also requires the site to host ratings that users can post, to report the actual number of ratings, and to derive the aggregate score accurately from those ratings.

How should you check a custom scale?

Read the displayed employer evaluation and compare it with the JSON-LD values. Confirm that ratingValue uses the same scale as the underlying ratings, that bestRating is the highest permitted value, and that worstRating is the lowest. Check that the organization in itemReviewed is the employer being evaluated and that the ratings are user-provided on the site.

Google's review-snippet documentation describes a rating as an evaluation on a numeric scale and directs sites with reviews about other employers to use EmployerAggregateRating. That documentation also says not to aggregate reviews or ratings from other websites. Validate the markup with Google's Rich Results Test after checking the page content.

Related terms

• Structured data
• JSON-LD
• AggregateRating structured data
• How do reviewCount and ratingCount differ in review markup?

FAQ

What happens if bestRating and worstRating are omitted?

Google assumes 5 as the highest value and 1 as the lowest value. A numeric ratingValue without custom bounds therefore uses Google's default 5-point interpretation.

Can ratingValue be a percentage?

Yes. Google documents a number, fraction or percentage as valid forms and says the scale for a percentage or fraction is implied by that form. A custom numeric range uses bestRating and worstRating.

Should ratings from another review website be combined?

No. Google's review-snippet guidance says not to aggregate reviews or ratings from other websites. The employer-rating guidance requires the site to host the user ratings and derive the aggregate from the ratings provided there.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Employer Rating (EmployerAggregateRating) Structured Data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "EmployerAggregateRating", 16 September 2026
3. Google Search Central, "Review Snippet (Review, AggregateRating) Structured Data", 8 September 2026

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