Google announced today (Wednesday, December 1, 2021) that it will launch an English-language product review update. Product review pages that have been improved since the last product review update may be reflected in the new update.
The update is called December 201 Product Review Update And it will take three weeks to fully launch.
This update was preceded by a spam update in early November and a core algorithm update that was completed at the end of November.
Although some people may think that Google’s updates during the busiest shopping season are untimely or caustic, so far these updates have not been particularly disruptive.
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However, it would be the most unfortunate if a legitimate product review site inadvertently loses its ranking during this critical period of the year.
Tweet from Google Search Center Announce:
“Our December 2021 product review update is now available for English pages. It will take approximately three weeks to complete.”
Alan Kent, Google Developer Advocate Tweet:
“This is one of many ranking signals, but of course the goal is to reward real, high-quality reviews. The documentation page lists our recommendations for good reviews.”
Allen Twitter clarification What types of websites will be affected by product review updates:
“Mainly related to sites that publish product review articles. Think of a site like “Best TV under $200″.com. The goal is to improve the quality and usefulness of the reviews we show to users.”
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Responses on Twitter usually respond greatly to this announcement:
bring it on… pic.twitter.com/yn4B38AjvV
-Technical review (@besttechreview) December 1, 2021
Product review page ranking evaluation
Google’s announcement mentions “automatic evaluation” specifically for product reviews. It also pointed out that product review pages will also be ranked according to other ranking factors common to other web pages.
“…Please note that our automatic evaluation of product review content is only one of the many factors used to rank content, so it may change at any time due to various reasons.”
Best Practices for New Product Review
Google also warned in advance that they will introduce two new product review requirements, which are clearly aimed at fake product reviews.
The first requirement is that the product review provides page evidence that the product has actually been processed and reviewed.
Many low-quality reviews are obviously affiliated sites, and the false reviews posted are closer to rewritten versions of product specifications.
The second requirement is that product reviews provide multiple purchase options.
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Google’s product review update states:
“Users tell us that they believe there are reviews that the product has actually been tested, and are more willing to have more choices to purchase the product.
Provide evidence such as visual, audio, or other links to your own product experience to support your expertise and strengthen the authenticity of your reviews.
Include links to multiple sellers, so readers can choose to buy from the merchants of their choice. “
Google did not refer to these best practices as ranking factors, but said that these “best practices” will be incorporated into future product review updates.
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So these two best practices can probably be considered as ranking factors.
The new document is called, Write high-quality product reviews.
The best practices page highlights requirements designed to facilitate actual reviews and eliminate fake reviews.
This is an example:
- Share quantitative measurements on how products measure various performance categories.
- Describe how the product has evolved from previous models or versions to provide improvements, solve problems, or otherwise help users make purchasing decisions.
- Describing the key choices in the way a product is designed and their impact on users is beyond what the manufacturer says.
- Include links to other useful resources (your own or from other websites) to help readers make decisions.
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Promote quality product reviews
Many products are expensive to review, such as kayaks, which is why there are so many false reviews without the original image of the product, because there are actually no reviews of kayaks.
People have to wonder whether these new requirements will cause fake review sites to respond by adding false, hands-on evaluation content and images, which is counterproductive.
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Product review update announcement
Product review updates and your website
