Google Introduces New Ranking Format For Top-Rated Products
Shoppers love reading product and seller reviews. In fact, they rely on this type of information in order to decide if a product or brand is worth investing in. It makes perfect sense, then, that Google do all that they can to appease the needs of online shoppers.
Earlier this spring, the search engine giant announced two new updates to its Google Shopping experience. The first, a scrolling carousel, offers desktop shoppers a scrollable carousel of product listing ads (PLAs). Users will be able to click on an arrow at the right of the PLA results to scroll to the right (and then, back to the left again).
The second change/update comes in the form of a new ranking format, specifically for top-rated products.
How Searches For Top-Rated Products Will Be Altered On Google
With this latest update, whenever a shopper uses the words top or best in their search, Google will more than likely rank the PLAs with 1 – 5 (on mobile, rather than using gray circles and numbers, the results will be tagged with blue flags).
Here’s how the system works:
First, it’s important to differentiate between product ratings and seller ratings. Product ratings are representative of the actual product being shown. So, if you see a product rating of 5 stars for a blender, you know that the rating is specific to that product. A seller rating, however, is specific to the merchant who advertises the product.
The new layout for top-rated searches takes into account aggregated rating and review data for the product, compiled from multiple sources, including:
- Merchants
- Third-party aggregates
- Editorial sites
- Users
Products must have at least 3 reviews in order for their ratings to show on Google.com, and a merchant must have 50 reviews across all products in order to participate in the program.
If those elements are met, then the product may be ranked, following a specific search that includes the terms top or best (such as “what’s the best shoe for hiking in the snow?”
Google will display products ordered based on the highest user ratings.
The Importance Of Bolstering Your Reviews
Reviews are an effective way for brands to stand out from their competitors while building trust with consumers.
This trust-building organically helps increase clicks on your ad (particularly among qualified traffic), which can drive up Quality Score, which in turn increases Ad Rank while decreasing CPC. This, in turn, can give you better positioning for your ads, even for competitive keywords for the same or less cost.
In other words, by working on your online reputation for both your products and your merchant status, you can have tremendous impact on the effectiveness of your PPC strategies.
That’s why OperationROI works hard with our clients to manage and optimize their online reputation and reviews.
Google takes into account review data from multiple sources across the web, making it challenging for merchants to keep up. We can help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you not only manage your online reviews and reputation, but use that data to breathe new life into your PPC strategy.
Call us at 1-888-277-5429 or fill out our contact form to learn more.
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