How SuperProf uses review schema to dominate local lesson searches

How SuperProf turns reviews into SEO clicks

If you’ve ever searched for a local lesson like "math tutor in Dallas" or "piano teacher in Chicago" you've probably seen SuperProf sitting pretty near the top of Google. And they're not just ranking…they’re winning the click before the searcher even thinks about scrolling.

Why? Gold review stars. Those stars aren't random. They're the result of a deliberate structured data play:

• Every category/location page starts with a bold, visible trust signal: “Excellent (4.7) and 1.5M student reviews”

• The schema on the page matches that number exactly and is tied to the page topic.

• The tutor list below is marked up with ItemList schema, reinforcing that the aggregate comes from real rated profiles.

It's simple, it's scalable, and it works because Google trusts the markup enough to reward it with review snippets in the SERPs. Meanwhile, most startups and marketplaces leave their reviews locked away on individual profile pages. Their browse/location pages (the ones that actually rank for money searches) are plain, starless blue links.

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Why this matters even more after Google's latest update

Google didn't drop a new "Review Schema Algo Update" in the last month, but their most recent core updates (June & July 2025) doubled down on structured content and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). That means:

• Properly implemented review schema is now part of how Google measures trust and relevance.

• If your category/location pages have visible ratings and matching aggregateRating markup, you're eligible for review snippets AND aligning with the exact signals Google just boosted in the algorithm.

In plain English: The stars make people click. The structured markup makes Google want to show you in the first place. This is one of those "compound win" plays by boosting CTR and strengthening your organic rankings over time.

The playbook

If you want the same SERP dominance SuperProf enjoys, the first move is to put the right page in the spotlight. Right now, most marketplaces hide their real inventory behind ugly parameter-filled URLs like:

/coaches?radius=50&page=0&sport=field-hockey...

Those URLs might work for your internal filters, but they're SEO poison. You want Google indexing and ranking something clean and descriptive, like:

/browse/field-hockey/scotch-plains

That's the page people should land on when they search "field hockey lessons in Scotch Plains." Make it your canonical, indexable page and build everything around it.

Once you’ve got the right URL, give people a reason to trust it instantly. That means putting a bold, visible trust signal right at the top. SuperProf does this with:

"Excellent (4.7) — 1.5M student reviews"

It's important that number isn't some vague site-wide score. It needs to be calculated from the inventory shown on that page. Google is looking for alignment between what you say and what's in your structured data.

Speaking of structured data, here's where most founders drop the ball. You can't just slap schema on your homepage and expect stars everywhere. You need aggregateRating tied to the topic of that specific page. For a category/location page, that's usually @type: Service or @type: LocalBusiness. Not Organization and definitely not Person.

And don't stop at the page-level rating. Reinforce it with an ItemList schema for the individual listings. Each listing in your grid should have their own rating marked up, linking back to its detail page. That redundancy tells Google: "This aggregate isn't a made-up number. It's built from real rated entities we can verify."

Finally, test like crazy. Run the page through Google's Rich Results Test until it's clean. Then submit it in Search Console and keep an eye on the Review Snippets report. That's where you'll see your coverage and whether those gold stars are starting to appear.

Founders TL;DR

• Gold stars = free CTR lift without touching your ad budget

• You already have the raw material (reviews) so put them to good use

• Google's latest updates reward this exact move: structured, trustworthy content tied to the page topic

💡 Pro Tip for Startups: If your review count is still small, start with your highest-volume market. Even a few dozen reviews, displayed and marked up correctly, can be enough for Google to show stars and for you to start winning clicks from bigger players.

Scaling plays like this with the Growth Marketing OS

Winning a SERP feature like review stars is just one example of a high-leverage growth play. But the real challenge isn't finding one tactic. Rather, it's building a repeatable system for spotting, validating, and executing these plays over and over.

That’s exactly what the Growth Marketing OS is built for.

Inside, you'll find:

• Opportunity filters to rank growth ideas by impact, confidence, and ease

• A testing framework for validating changes before scaling them across your site

• Execution checklists for plays like this review schema rollout so nothing gets lost between idea and implementation

If you're a founder or startup operator, the Growth Marketing OS turns moments like this into a machine so the next time Google changes its algorithm or a competitor starts winning clicks, you've got a framework for firing back fast.

Until next week,

Adam

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