Wednesday, March 23, 2022
We’ve regularly heard through user feedback that people prefer detailed reviews with evidence of products actually being tested. Over the past year, we’ve updated how Search ranks product reviews to prioritize in-depth and authentic content based on that feedback and our internal testing and evaluation processes. Today, we’re launching another update that builds on that work to enhance our ability to identify high quality product reviews. This will make it easier for us to get sound purchasing advice in front of users, and to reward creators who are earnest in being helpful.
The update will roll out over the next few weeks, and may impact the rankings of English-language product reviews across many sites.
We've seen positive effects of our initial changes on the English-language ecosystem and online shoppers, and we plan to open up product review support for more languages. If you create product reviews in any language we recommend that you follow our best practices for product reviews to help your content have the most impact.
Since launching our initial product reviews updates, we received a number of questions about reviews with multiple products that we’d like to address:
- Are product review updates relevant to ranked lists and comparison reviews? Yes. Product review updates apply to all forms of review content. The best practices we've shared also apply. However, due to the shorter nature of ranked lists, you may want to demonstrate expertise and reinforce authenticity in a more concise way. Citing pertinent results and including original images from tests you performed with the product can be good ways to do this.
- Are there any recommendations for reviews recommending “best” products? If you recommend a product as the best overall or the best for a certain purpose, be sure to share with the reader why you consider that product the best. What sets the product apart from others in the market? Why is the product particularly suited for its recommended purpose? Be sure to include supporting first-hand evidence.
- If I create a review that covers multiple products, should I still create reviews for the products individually? It can be effective to write a high quality ranked list of related products in combination with in-depth single-product reviews for each recommended product. If you write both, make sure there is enough useful content in the ranked list for it to stand on its own.
For additional information on the update, check out our Keyword blog Bringing more helpful product reviews to Search. For additional advice on product review best practices, check out Google Search Central’s documentation on how to write high quality product reviews, or post in the public forums.