Google Product Review Update – December 2021

Welcome to the busiest e-commerce shopping season of the year, how does Google decide to celebrate? Bam, algorithm update. In the past we’ve seen genuine sites lose authority and rankings on the back of algorithm updates through a lack of acclimatisation with the new imposed rule set. Luckily, Google has seen sense and rolled out an update that shouldn’t have a major impact on websites carrying out legitimate business practices. What’s Changing? Google have honed their focus on low-quality review content during this month’s update with the intention of cracking down on the amount of fake or bogus product/service reviews online. This update directly follows on from the Google product review update of April 2021 which looked to reward review content that ‘provides insightful analysis and original research, and is written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well’. The December update is of the same vein and implements more of the feedback they received gauging the quality of the review. Who Will Be Affected? The prime parties affected will be individual product reviewers and sites focusing on ranking products, if approached from a place of knowledge and reliability utilising a high quality of writing (akin to that you may find in an Odyssey blog) they are actually likely to observe higher SEO rankings. How Can We Meet the Criteria? Meeting the criteria necessary to experience SEO growth in the product review update is actually surprisingly simple and a fair portion can be met simply by writing content at a high level. As a part of the first product review update, Google has detailed some of the questions you may want to ask yourself ahead of submitting a review: ‘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?’ When Will It Be Implemented? As stated by Google, this update would take roughly 3 weeks to implement. When taking the date of the post (1st December) into account, the completion of the rollout should fall roughly on the 22nd making it a lovely early Christmas present (Exactly what I was hoping to find under my tree).

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