December 2021 Product Reviews Update, Completed!

The December 2021 Product Reviews update is now completed. What has changed and what to do if you have experienced drops in rank from it.
Marie Aquino
December 22, 2021

The December 2021 product reviews update started rolling out on December 1, 2021 and was expected to finish in 3 weeks. Google has now confirmed that the update is now complete. It took a total of 20 days to roll out and has finished in December 20.

Based on data, this product reviews update seem to not be a small update and is bigger than the product reviews update in April this year.

Google has provided two new best practices when it comes to product reviews for this update. These two best practices are:

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

With this December 2021 Product Reviews update, it seems like Google is cracking down on fake reviews and is promoting reviews that is more detailed and much better than the regular templated reviews that we often see on the web.

Google is not directly punishing low quality, generic type product reviews that have thin content and summarizes the products, however, they will be promoting reviews that have better content.

This can mean that if your site has low quality reviews, others that have better quality reviews may overtake you. Though it is not directly a punishment, it can serve to lower your rank.

Looks like we also need to take better consideration of the product reviews that we get. Think of it as a way of winning search and also winning your potential customers with great, non-generic, quality reviews that gives more insights on how great your product is.

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