Apr 21
9
Google announced the introduction of an algorithm update designed to reward original and informative product reviews earlier today. According to the Google Developers Blog, the Product Review algo-update is designed to promote “… product reviews that share in-depth research, rather than thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products.”
Google is telling online retailers and influencers they need to provide a more useful experience for consumers, one informed by expertise and actual utility. Websites that offer consumer or product reviews will need to present the web with researched content and analysis, “… written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well”, rather than the thin and often repetitive content found on many reviews.
In its Developers blog, Google lays out a series of questions that should be considered when writing or publishing product reviews.
Do your reviews:
Express expert knowledge about products where appropriate?
Show what the product is like physically, or how it is used, with unique content beyond what’s provided by the manufacturer?
Provide quantitative measurements about how a product measures up in various categories of performance?
Explain what sets a product apart from its competitors?
Cover comparable products to consider, or explain which products might be best for certain uses or circumstances?
Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a particular product, based on research into it?
Describe how a product has evolved from previous models or releases to provide improvements, address issues, or otherwise help users in making 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 key choices in how a product has been designed and their effect on the users beyond what the manufacturer says?
Today is too early to see how this algorithm change affects impressions, rankings, and page or site traffic. If you have a site featuring product reviews, this would be a really good time to clear up any errors or warnings reported in Google Search Console. Sunday would be a good time to start closely monitoring sites featuring product reviews. Watch the number of impressions on a page-by-page level. If you’re due to experience a loss in traffic you’re likely to first notice decreases there.
Google has long suggested web content should tend towards information that expressed expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT). In the Quality Raters Handbook it publishes for employees hired to monitor the quality of search results Google instructs its QA people to look kindly on web rankings that promoted sites or pages with expert, authoritative, and trust worthy content. For webmasters, that’s a fairly significant signal of the kind of content Google expects, the kind it would want to promote to its users.
Here’s the bottom line. Google just said it is going to reward demonstrably strong, helpful content in product reviews. In the zero-sum-game of organic search, that means it will effectively punish reviews featuring thin or repetitive content. If your website is competing for organic search traffic, which side of the divide do you want to be on? If you start to see a sudden loss of traffic, check those reviews.
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Jim Hedger
Jim Hedger is an organic SEO and digital marketing specialist. Jim has been involved in the online marketing industry since 1998 and a SEO since 1999. Best known as a broadcaster, interviewer, content writer and search industry commentator, Jim is a frequent conference speaker and organizer. He hosts the search focused radio show Webcology on WebmasterRadio.FM and is a WebmasterRadio.FM conference interviewer. Jim brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, passion and creative thinking to each project. Preferring a teamwork approach, Jim strives to inform and train his clients and their staff to run and maintain their own search and social media efforts.
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