Google has announced a new algorithm update that rewards product reviews which provide in-depth information, insights and advice for potential buyers.
The search giant says consumers “appreciate product reviews that share in-depth research, rather than thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products,” and the new algorithm update caters for this.
The update rolled out on April 8 for English language reviews and will roll out for other languages over the coming months.
What is Google’s product reviews update?
Google is calling this latest algorithm update the “product review update” in an announcement published on Google Search Central.
To clarify, this update affects content reviewing products, rather than customer reviews left on platforms like Google Reviews and Google My Business. So, we’re talking about websites and publishers that review products to help people make purchase decisions – for example, software review websites or affiliate marketing sites.
Product reviews briefly summarising multiple products will be the be most affected by this update.
As cited above, Google will reward “product reviews that share in-depth research” over “thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products.”
To help publishers deal with the product reviews algorithm update, Google lists nine questions to ask about content of this nature. 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 developed 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 a product’s design and their effect on users beyond what the manufacturer says?
You can find more information about how to write product reviews and other articles aimed at helping consumers make purchase decisions by reading this post from Google.
How does this algorithm update affect us?
If you publish product reviews as part of your content strategy, the first thing you’ll need to do is check whether any of your content has dropped in the SERPs or suddenly generates less traffic.
This update has already rolled out so you should see any impact in your reports.
If your review content is negatively affected, you’ll want to put a timeline together for updating and improving the impacted pages to add more depth.
Use the questions listed above as a guide, optimising your content to make it more valuable to potential buyers.
Techradar publishes articles, such as the best 15 laptops in 2021 with pricing, summaries, pros and cons, while linking to the full reviews of each individual product.
Alternatively (or additionally), you could create a new batch of reviews for individual products. This allows you to go into much more detail and you can link to these separate reviews in your existing content.
So, instead of publishing articles like 10 Best Social Media Automation Tools with basic summaries of each product, Google wants to see in-depth reviews of each product. You might be better off publishing ten separate articles, such as Buffer Review: Is This The Best Social Media Automation App?
This update isn’t only going to affect product review content negatively, though.
Reviews that meet Google’s expectations should see a ranking boost over those that don’t. Look for review content that’s ranking higher or generating more traffic since the update. Use these pages as a template to update other content that provides less information, or older reviews where the copy might be less relevant.
Help people make buying decisions
Above all, Google wants your content to be useful. Summary reviews offering little more than brief descriptions of different products don’t help people make purchase decisions.
People read reviews because they want to buy products with confidence, and they’re often overwhelmed by choice or concerned about spending money on sub-par products.
If you’re publishing product reviews, your content should provide meaningful information that helps them make these decisions. This includes whether the product meets their needs, how it compares to similarly priced alternatives and what they can expect for their money.
If you meet these criteria, you shouldn’t have any problems with Google’s new product reviews update.
If you’re still concerned about this update, the quality of your content or any other search marketing issues, you can speak to our search experts by calling 01618 702 580 or you can reach out to us on Twitter via @hot_click.