Google Clarifies Best Practices for Product Reviews

Google updated its best practices on how to write product reviews to include examples of different types of product reviewers and to narrow the documentation’s focus with more precise wording.

Three deletions were made from the original document (out of 21 lines).

There were also seven additions to the document, for a total of 24 lines.

Product Review Writing Best Practices

Google’s Search Central documentation on how to write product reviews is intended to guide product review publishers and merchants on what constitutes high-quality product reviews.

The documentation’s goal is to list specific best practices for product reviews so that consumers can find those pages in Google Search.

Product Reviewer Examples

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The documentation has been updated to clarify which types of publishers the best practices are intended for.

Google provides three examples.

The documentation provides three examples of product review publishers.

The addition to the page does not mention who the best practices are restricted to.

These are only three examples of product review publishers.

Here are three examples:

“An expert staff member of a merchant that guides shoppers between competing products.

A blogger that provides independent opinions of products.

An editorial staff member at a news or other publishing site.”

Product Review Pages

The second modification to the product review best practices is to emphasize that these best practices apply to product review pages, not just product reviews.

It’s a seemingly insignificant distinction that adds clarity.

Best Practices for Product Reviews: A List of Changes

1. Changed the word “reviews” to “product review pages.”

Before:

“Publishing high quality product reviews on your ecommerce or product review site…”

After:

“Publishing high quality product review pages on your ecommerce or product review site…”

2. Cut out 20 words. Everything following the phrase “for example” was deleted.

Before:

“For example, reviews can guide shoppers between competing products, helping shoppers pick the best make or model for their needs and budget.”

After:

“For example, you could create a product review page as:

An expert staff member of a merchant that guides shoppers between competing products.

A blogger that provides independent opinions of products.

An editorial staff member at the news or other publishing site.”

3. The word “reviews” was changed to “review pages.”

Before:

“To help shoppers discover your product reviews in Google Search and on other Google surfaces, follow these best practices:”

After:

“To help shoppers discover your product review pages in Google Search and on other Google surfaces, follow these best practices:”

It is now clear who the best practices are for

The update to the best practices for product reviews clarifies that the documentation is intended for product review pages and does not include user-generated product reviews.

This is emphasized further by the examples of who is writing the product reviews: merchant staff, a blogger, or a writer at the news or another type of publishing entity.

So, while it may appear to be a minor change, it clarifies who the best practices documentation is intended for.

EverRanks has compiled information about Google Product Review Best Practices. I hope you found this information useful in improving the efficiency of your business.

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