Fixing Elementor’s Star Rating Schema Issue

// === Elementor: add "Use Schema" toggle to Star Rating / Rating widgets ===
if ( defined( 'ELEMENTOR_VERSION' ) ) {

    // Helper to register the control on a given widget + section
    $__register_rating_toggle = function( $widget_slug, $section_id ) {
        add_action( "elementor/element/{$widget_slug}/{$section_id}/before_section_end", function( $element, $args ) {
            if ( method_exists( $element, 'add_control' ) && class_exists( '\Elementor\Controls_Manager' ) ) {
                if ( ! $element->get_controls( 'use_schema' ) ) {
                    $element->add_control(
                        'use_schema',
                        [
                            'type'         => \Elementor\Controls_Manager::SWITCHER,
                            'label'        => __( 'Use Schema', 'elementor' ),
                            'label_on'     => __( 'Enable', 'elementor' ),
                            'label_off'    => __( 'Disable', 'elementor' ),
                            'return_value' => 'yes',
                            'default'      => 'yes',
                        ]
                    );
                }
            }
        }, 10, 2 );
    };

    foreach ( [ 'star-rating', 'rating' ] as $slug ) {
        foreach ( [ 'section_rating', 'section_rating_style' ] as $section ) {
            $__register_rating_toggle( $slug, $section );
        }
    }

    // Strip schema when toggle is OFF
    add_filter( 'elementor/widget/render_content', function( $content, $widget ) {
        if ( is_admin() || ! is_string( $content ) || $content === '' ) {
            return $content;
        }
        if ( ! method_exists( $widget, 'get_name' ) ) {
            return $content;
        }
        $widget_name = $widget->get_name();
        if ( $widget_name !== 'star-rating' && $widget_name !== 'rating' ) {
            return $content;
        }

        $settings   = $widget->get_settings_for_display();
        $use_schema = isset( $settings['use_schema'] ) ? (bool) $settings['use_schema'] : true;
        if ( $use_schema ) {
            return $content;
        }

        // Remove microdata attributes + meta tags
        $content = preg_replace( '#\sitemscope(?:=\s*(["\']).*?\1)?#i', '', $content );
        $content = preg_replace( '#\sitemtype=("|\').*?\1#i', '', $content );
        $content = preg_replace( '#\sitemprop=("|\').*?\1#i', '', $content );
        $content = preg_replace( '#<meta[^>]+itemprop=("|\').*?\1[^>]*>\s*#i', '', $content );

        return $content;
    }, 10, 2 );
}

How to Use It

1. Add the code to your site (child theme or mu-plugin recommended).

2. Open Elementor and edit a page with a Rating or Star Rating widget.

3. You’ll now see a Use Schema toggle in the widget settings.

4. Flip it off when you don’t want schema.

Testing

• Run the page through Google’s Rich Results Test.

• Confirm that disabling schema removes AggregateRating or Rating data from the widget.

• Make sure your SEO plugin’s schema is still working as expected.

Why This Matters

Structured data is too important to leave messy. With this toggle, you can decide—per widget—whether to output schema or not. That means:

• No more duplicate or conflicting markup.

• Cleaner results in Google.

• Simpler, more consistent SEO management.

Final Word

This is a small but powerful fix for anyone running Elementor. It gives you control where Elementor didn’t and keeps your structured data strategy tidy.

At Hueston, we’re here to solve problems like this—quietly, effectively, and with the details handled.