Google announced the release of its 5th version of Product Review Algorithm Update on 20 September, just days after announcing the release of the September core update. Google confirmed the update in a Twitter post with a link to the official post:
As we said earlier, this is the fifth product reviews update, and websites that publish low-quality reviews by simply summarizing product descriptions can experience a drop in their organic traffic and keyword rankings. However, the product reviews update is intended to promote review content that is user-friendly and full of valuable information.
Websites that do not publish or rely on the review content to generate organic traffic do not need to worry about the new review update. Historically, the Product Review Algorithm update has only impacted review websites.
According to the official Google Search Central account tweet, this review update is primarily for English language websites and will take 2 weeks to roll out completely.
For people who are witnessing a significant drop in their traffic, Google said:
“If you see a change and wonder if it’s related to the core update or the product reviews update:
- If you produce product reviews, then it’s probably related to that.
- If not, then it might be related to the core update.”
How To Write High-Quality Product Reviews?
You can safeguard your website from product review updates and other core algorithm changes by creating high-quality content.
But what is “high quality” content that everyone keeps talking about?
Google has also put out a well-defined document that explains what the search engine perceives as great content. You can click here to read the whole document or our summary below.
- Evaluate the product as if you are going to buy it.
- Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the product in the review.
- Add photos, videos, or audio to show the user that you actually used the product before writing a review on it.
- Share quantitative measurements. For example, if you are writing a review of the latest iPhone, talk about the battery life, the time to fully charge the battery, etc.
- Clearly explain how this product differs from all the other products in the same category.
- Based on your research, share the advantages and disadvantages of the product.
- Explain how the product has evolved over time and discuss any significant improvements and issues.
- Look for key decision-making factors for the product and explain how the product performs on each factor. For example, if you are reviewing a laptop, you must test the battery backup, storage space, speed, screen resolution, etc.
- If you are covering multiple products to make a listicle, make sure you add enough content about each product, and give your honest opinion on the best product overall, evidence to back your claim, and link multiple vendors to buy the product.
Try to follow as many points as you can to create a valuable piece of content. Do not worry about vanity metrics such as the total number of words and images in the content. This is the third major update in the month of September.
As a leading content marketing agency in Delhi, we are continuously analyzing the impact of each update to ensure our clients never have to deal with a drop in their organic traffic. If you want to work with professional content marketers, visit Finessse Digital today!