Google announced the new release product review update for the English language on September 20. This is the fifth update of Google’s product reviews, one month after the last update.
As Google mentioned, the September 2022 product reviews update is the fifth update to the search ranking algorithm for product reviews, which aims to rank the web pages with the most valuable and helpful material for searchers.
The Google product reviews update seeks to highlight review content superior to much of the pre-written data you encounter online. According to Google, it will prioritize these product reviews in the order of search results. In other words, Google is trying to maintain higher results on sites with more insightful review content.
This update impacts product review content, and it might be the cause of the site’s recent traffic decline. The good part is that Google rewards sites with more insightful review content with rankings, so many see this update as an opportunity to grow. However, is hard not to mention that Google’s timing for releasing new updates is rather unusual.
Anne Marie Maita – SEO specialist at TUYA Digital – SEO & Digital Marketing
For the duration of this rollout, Google said that the September 2022 core is expected to be fully complete within a week, and it will share the updates when it is done.
To help shoppers discover your product reviews in Google Search and on other Google surfaces, Google recommends certain practices such as:
- Evaluate the product from a user’s perspective.
- Demonstrate that you are knowledgeable about the products reviewed – show you are an expert.
- Provide evidence, such as visuals, audio, or other links of your experience with the product, to support your expertise and reinforce the authenticity of your review.
- Share quantitative measurements about how a product measures up in various performance categories.
- Explain what sets a product apart from its competitors.
- Cover comparable products to consider, or explain which products might be best for specific uses or circumstances.
- Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a particular product based on your original research.
- Describe how a product has evolved from previous models or releases to provide improvements, address issues, or help users make a purchase decision.
- Identify key decision-making factors for the product’s category and how the product performs in those areas (for example, a car review might determine that fuel economy, safety, and handling are key decision-making factors and rate performance in those areas).
- Describe critical choices in how a product has been designed and their effect on the users beyond what the manufacturer says.
- Include links to other valuable resources (your own or from other sites) to help a reader decide.
- Consider including links to multiple sellers to give the reader the option to purchase from their merchant of choice.
- When recommending a product as the best overall or for a particular purpose, including why you consider that product the best, with first-hand supporting evidence.
- Ensure there is enough helpful content in your ranked lists for them to stand independently, even if you write separate in-depth single product reviews for each recommended product.