Google has dropped the last “informed” November 2023 Reviews Update this year. Recently Google announced it in its latest November 2023 Core Update. After this, we can expect any update in the search engine’s review assessment system anytime without any prior notification.
Let’s see what can be expected after this roll out.
What Is Google November 2023 Reviews Update?
| Name: | Google November 2023 Reviews Update |
| Roll Out: | 8th November, 2023 |
| Purpose: | To improve the review analysis |
| Penalty: | There isn’t any specific penalty but the sites which don’t comply with Google Review Guidelines can get a hit |
| Core Update: | This update is a not core update |
| What To Do: | Utilize structured data or schema markup for better review listings |
Be Ready For Unannounced Changes:
Google has made it crystal clear that from now onwards, its Reviews System will be updating every now and then. It stated in the recent November 2023 Core Update, “We’ll no longer be giving periodic notifications of improvements to our reviews system, because they will be happening at a regular and ongoing pace.”
This means site owners who host review-based data in abundance need to keep an open eye on-site analysis. It also means that you should focus on the authenticity, utility, and insightfulness of your content or reviews because search platforms are getting more advanced day in and day out. Furthermore, rankings and traffic can be affected drastically, so start preparing for improvements as soon as possible.
How Google’s Reviews System Works?
As per Google, its Reviews System, “evaluates articles, blog posts, pages or similar first-party standalone content written with the purpose of providing a recommendation, giving an opinion, or providing analysis.”
This means it assesses website content, blogs, web pages, and review-based sites for the quality and originality of its content. Moreover, any information provided would be analyzed for ‘insightfulness.’
Google says, reviews can be about anything:
- A list of recommendations
- Comparison-based list
- Or even a particular thing/place
To elaborate further, it says that reviews assessment applies to “laptops or winter jackets, pieces of media such as movies or video games, or services and businesses such as restaurants or fashion brands.” This is to say that evaluation will apply to comparisons of different products/services offering similar utility or a particular product/service.
Languages Impacted
As for which languages the reviews system applies to, refer to the table below:
| S. NO. | LANGUAGES |
| 1 | Dutch |
| 2 | English |
| 3 | French |
| 4 | German |
| 5 | Indonesian |
| 6 | Italian |
| 7 | Spanish |
| 8 | Portuguese |
| 9 | Russian |
| 10 | Polish |
| 11 | Vietnamese |
How Long Will It Take To Recover?
Sites that host plenty of reviews-based content might be adversely affected if they don’t comply with Google’s review-based guidelines. Nevertheless, improving site content and structure can help improve the rankings back up, but Google doesn’t talk about how long it will actually take.
However, Google says review assessment is one of the many important factors that affect its SERP ranks and is not a ‘sole’ consideration. This is to say that maintaining a good SEO score, content relevancy, user-first information, and technical issues also have a key role in this play.
How To Beat Low Rankings After Reviews System Update?
On this, Google suggests a handful of techniques that can make your review content get the desired limelight:
- Write reviews from users’ perspective: Provide the details/information that people are interested to know about.
- Add visual power: Adding links, videos, audio, or any other evidence supporting your claim.
- Give quantitative analysis: Provide quantitative analysis which can help people reach a decision, wherever needed.
- Talk about plus/minus sides: Reviews that are unbiased and explain a product’s drawbacks and benefits stand a chance to outshine others, depending on relevancy.
- Tell about USPs: It’s always good to write about what makes a product stand out from others.
- Go into detailed analysis: Offer insights on the utility and functionality of a product/place. It’s better to review it in depth rather than just listing the already listed features by the manufacturer.
- Experience will count: Search engines and customers are both smart enough to reckon which review is based on personal use and experience and which is just for writing.
- Provide choices: If required, adding various sources of product/resource procurement can be pretty effective and useful.
- Authenticity will matter: Google says even if your reviews or list includes things that are separate from what others have listed, it’ll rank better if it complies with the platform’s review guidelines.
How To Improve Product Reviews?
Google suggests that adding the product price and availability can help sellers get better ranks in merchant listings. In addition, product ratings, shipping, price drops, returns, pros and cons, and images can make your product reviews stand out in search results. This can make your product review appear with rich snippets and thus be eligible for better rankings. To get your product reviews to appear with rich snippets, read here how to add structured data.
Conclusion
From now onwards, Google will be updating its Reviews Systems regularly without any notifications. Sites that host content related to recommendations, lists, and comparisons can see an impact on their search engine rankings. There is only one way to cope with it: to hold tight to Google’s review guidance policies and suggestions. Moreover, adding structured data for product reviews can also help.
