On December 1, Google launched a new product review update, the December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update. It’s the second product review update this year. The previous one took place during the month of April. If your website was affected by the April 2021 Google Product Reviews Update and you made the changes recommended by Google, it is very possible that you will see improvements with this new update.

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update

These updates to the product review algorithm are intended to reward content related to high-level reviews, leaving out thin content reviews.

 

Highlihts of the December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update

In short, these are the keys to this new Google update:

  • Name: December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update (Actualización de Reseñas de Productos de Google de Diciembre 2021)
  • Launch: December 1, 2021 around 12:30 p.m. ET
  • Deployment: Deployment will take approximately three weeks to complete
  • Objectives: analyze the content of product reviews.
  • Penalty: it is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards “deep analysis and original research”.
  • English Only: Although this is a global release, it only affects English content at the moment.
  • Impact: Google has not yet reported what percentage of queries or searches would be affected by this update.
  • Discover: This update may affect the performance of websites on Google Discover.
  • Recovery: If a website has been affected by this update, you will need to review its content and see if you can do better with the advice from Google below.
  • Updates: Google will periodically update this algorithm, but may not communicate these updates in the future. In fact, this is the first update that Google makes of this algorithm and that it does communicate.

 

Google tips and good practices

Google has offered some tips to act if a website is affected by this December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update. These tips are based on “user feedback on what kind of review content is considered trustworthy and useful, which motivates us to provide additional guidance on product reviews.” Google indicates that users trust reviews with product evidence They have really been tested and prefer to have more options to buy the product.

For that reason, they add two new best practices:

  • Provide evidence, such as images, audio, or other links from your own experience with the product, to support your experience and reinforce the authenticity of your review.
  • Include links to multiple sellers to give the reader the option to buy from the merchant of their choice.

In this way, the Google document with tips on how to write quality reviews looks like this:

  • Evaluate the product from the user’s perspective.
  • Express an expert knowledge about the products.
  • Provide evidence, such as images, audio, or other links from your own experience with the product, to support your experience and reinforce the authenticity of your review.
  • Show how the product is physically or how it is used, with unique content beyond that provided by the manufacturer.
  • Provide quantitative measurements of how the product performs in different performance categories.
  • Explain what distinguishes the product from its competitors.
  • Cover comparable products to consider or explain what other products might be better for certain uses or circumstances.
  • Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a particular product, based on its research.
  • Describe how the product has evolved from previous models or versions to provide enhancements, address issues, or help users make a purchasing decision.
  • Identify the key decision-making factors for the product category and how the product performs in those areas.
  • Describe key product design options and their effect on users beyond manufacturer’s directions.
  • Include links to other useful resources (your own or from other sites) to help the reader make a decision.
  • Consider including links to multiple sellers to give the reader the option to buy from the merchant of their choice.

 

Effects of the December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update

Given that, at the moment, the implementation of this update only affects sites in English, in our country great changes have been noticed. But globally, its first effects have been verified. The various tools for monitoring the variability of the algorithm indicate its important impact:

Semrush Sensor:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update semrush sensor

SERPMetrics:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update serpmetrics

RankRanger:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update rankranger

Accuranker:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update accuranker

Cognitive SEO:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update cognitive seo

Advanced Web Rankings:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update advanced web rankings

Algoroo:

December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update algoroo

 

The December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update is underway. It will take three weeks and will only affect English sites at the moment. But it will not only affect affiliate sites, it can have a significant impact on the entire eCommerce sector. From Sinapsis we will carefully follow its evolution.

Francesc es el responsable de Content Marketing de Sinapsis. Con más de diez años de dedicación al copywriting ha acumulado una gran experiencia en diversos temas aunque su mayor pasión sigue siendo el marketing online. Friky de corazón, ha encontrado en el SEO una nueva forma de seguir "jugando".