Recipe & review sites
What is the best comment system for a recipe or review site?
On a recipe, book or product review page, readers do two things: say whether it worked for them, and ask a question before they commit. A comment system for these sites should collect both, show the ratings on the page, and describe them in structured data a search engine can read. Here is what to look for, and what no comment system can promise.
Short answer
A good comment system for a recipe or review site lets readers leave a 1 to 5 star rating with their comment, shows the page's average and breakdown, and adds schema.org AggregateRating and Review markup to the recipe or product the page already describes. EchoThread does this on the Starter plan ($50 a year), counting approved ratings only, alongside a one-question reader poll per page. Whether a search engine shows stars in its results is that search engine's decision; no comment system can guarantee it.
Who EchoThread fits, and who should choose something else
A good fit
- Food bloggers whose readers report back on how a recipe turned out.
- Book, product, course and software review sites that want reader ratings next to their own verdict.
- Sites that already publish Recipe or Product structured data through a plugin or theme.
- Publishers who cannot show ads or third-party trackers next to their content.
Choose an alternative
- Marketplaces that need verified-purchase reviews tied to orders: use your store's review app.
- Anyone who needs a guarantee of stars in search results: no tool can promise that.
- Ratings from anonymous readers: on EchoThread a rating needs a signed-in commenter, which keeps them harder to stuff.
What to look for
- 1
Ratings that come with a reason
A bare star count invites drive-by ratings. A rating attached to a comment tells the next reader why.
In EchoThread: signed-in readers add 1 to 5 stars to a top-level comment, and the widget shows the average and star breakdown. See the docs.
- 2
Markup on the item the page is about
Review markup only helps when it is attached to the recipe or product the page describes, not floating on its own.
In EchoThread: AggregateRating and Review markup is added to the page's own item, counting approved ratings only. See the docs.
- 3
A quick question for readers who will not comment
Most readers never type a comment. A one-tap question still tells you what they think.
In EchoThread: one reader poll per page, voted on without signing in, one vote per reader. See the docs.
- 4
Photos of the result
On a recipe site, a reader's photo of their bake is worth more than the comment under it.
In EchoThread: image uploads and GIFs are on every plan. See the docs.
- 5
Light enough for content pages
Recipe pages are already heavy with images. The comment widget should not add to the problem.
In EchoThread: the widget is under 65 KB gzipped and loads no ads or trackers. See the docs.
How the review markup works
- Your page already describes the item. Recipe plugins and most themes publish a schema.org Recipe, Product, Book, Course or similar block for the page. EchoThread looks for that block on the page.
- Ratings are added to it, not beside it. The widget adds an AggregateRating and Review entries to that same item, built from approved ratings only, so the markup describes the thing the page is about.
- Search engines decide what to show. Google lists the item types it shows review stars for and can read markup added by JavaScript. Eligible markup is a requirement, not a guarantee; check yours with the Rich Results Test.
Questions
- What is the best comment system for a recipe site?
- One that lets readers rate the recipe with their comment, shows the average on the page, and adds review markup to the Recipe structured data your recipe plugin already publishes. EchoThread does this on Starter ($50 a year) and adds a reader poll per page and photo uploads.
- Will EchoThread get my recipes star ratings in Google?
- It adds eligible AggregateRating and Review markup to your page's Recipe or Product item. Whether stars appear in search results is decided by the search engine, and no comment system can guarantee it. Use Google's Rich Results Test to check your page.
- Can anonymous readers leave a rating?
- No. A rating needs a signed-in commenter (Google, GitHub, X, Facebook, Discord, Bluesky, Mastodon or email). Guests can still comment if you allow it, and anyone can vote in a poll.
- Do star ratings cost extra?
- Star ratings are part of Starter at $50 a year or $5 a month, along with polls, footer removal and email moderation. New accounts can try Starter features free for 14 days.