Add Star Ratings to Your .NET Website with JSON-LD

If you’re building a music, download, or content platform with ASP.NET Core, adding structured star ratings (via JSON-LD) helps your content stand out in search results. Not only do ratings improve your credibility — they boost visibility and click-through rate (CTR) on Google.

Here’s how to do it properly, and why you might want a production-ready solution that saves time.

🔹 What Are Star Ratings in Search Results?

Star ratings are part of Google Rich Results. When you add the correct Schema.org AggregateRating to your JSON-LD, Google can display ⭐️ directly in the SERPs.

This makes your listing more eye-catching and trustworthy, especially for:

Music tracks or albums
File downloads
Blog posts or tutorials
Product pages
Educational content

✅ Step-by-Step: Add `AggregateRating` to JSON-LD in ASP.NET Core

1️⃣ Update Your `Download` Model

public class Download
{
    public int DownloadID { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public string Slug { get; set; }
    public DateTime DateCreated { get; set; }
    public string Genre { get; set; }
    public string Author { get; set; }
    public string RelatedPage { get; set; }

    // Add rating properties
    public int RatingCount { get; set; } = 0;
    public double RatingValue { get; set; } = 0.0;
}

2️⃣ Update Your `GetJsonLd()` Method

Include this logic in your Details action or view component:

private string GetJsonLd(Download download)
{
    var jsonLd = new Dictionary<string, object>
    {
        ["@context"] = "https://schema.org",
        ["@type"] = "MusicRecording",
        ["name"] = download.Name,
        ["description"] = download.Description,
        ["url"] = GetCanonicalUrl(id: download.DownloadID, slug: download.Slug),
        ["datePublished"] = download.DateCreated.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"),
        ["genre"] = download.Genre,
        ["author"] = new Dictionary<string, string>
        {
            ["@type"] = "Person",
            ["name"] = download.Author
        },
        ["inAlbum"] = new Dictionary<string, string>
        {
            ["@type"] = "MusicAlbum",
            ["name"] = download.RelatedPage
        }
    };

    if (download.RatingCount > 0)
    {
        jsonLd["aggregateRating"] = new Dictionary<string, object>
        {
            ["@type"] = "AggregateRating",
            ["ratingValue"] = Math.Clamp(download.RatingValue, 1.0, 5.0),
            ["ratingCount"] = download.RatingCount,
            ["bestRating"] = 5,
            ["worstRating"] = 1
        };
    }

    return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(jsonLd);
}

📌 Example Output

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "MusicRecording",
  "name": "Amazing Song",
  "description": "This is a fantastic jazz track.",
  "url": "https://bennysutton.com/Downloads/123-amazing-song",
  "datePublished": "2024-02-01",
  "genre": "Jazz",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Benny Sutton"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": 4.7,
    "ratingCount": 5,
    "bestRating": 5,
    "worstRating": 1
  }
}

Google now has everything it needs to render ⭐️ in your snippet.

🔍 Why Ratings Matter

✅ Improve CTR by making your pages more clickable
✅ Establish trust and authority
✅ Surface higher in Google Image or Music results
✅ Support SEO without altering visible content

💡 Pro Tip from Experience

It took a lot of trial and error to get this working cleanly with ASP.NET Core, especially without introducing validation issues or bloat.

Now it’s built into my DevStack platform — so you don’t have to wrestle with schema edge cases, SEO flags, or missing data. Just plug it in and go.

🎯 Demo It in Action

Check out this voting page with live ratings — a real-world use case built with the exact logic above.

🧠 Business Tip

You don’t just need code — you need to understand the business value of features like this.

I once added structured metadata to a download catalog that led to a 15% increase in organic traffic — and over $25,000 in additional revenue.

Learn more about how I combine business strategy and .NET execution at my consulting overview.

✅ TL;DR

Feature	Benefit
`AggregateRating`	Google stars in search results
`ratingCount > 0`	Avoids empty or invalid JSON-LD
Full integration	Built into DevStack
SEO-friendly	Passes all schema validators

Want to skip the hassle and get this done right?

Request access to DevStack or contact me to explore how I can help accelerate your project.