The English language version of Google’s Product Reviews update has been announced. There was no mention of whether or when it would be available in other languages. Mueller responded to a question about whether it is being expanded to other languages.
Google Product Reviews Update for December 2021
Google announced on Twitter on December 1, 2021, that a Product Review update focusing on English language web pages would be released.
The update’s primary goal was to improve the quality of reviews displayed in Google search, with a particular emphasis on review sites.
A Googler tweeted a description of the types of sites that would be targeted for search ranking demotion:
“Mainly relevant to sites that post articles reviewing products.
Think of sites like “best TVs under $200″.com.
Goal is to improve the quality and usefulness of reviews we show users.”
Google also published a blog post with additional information on the product review update, which included the introduction of two new best practices that Google’s algorithm would be looking for.
The first best practice was requiring proof that a product had been handled and reviewed.
The second best practice was to provide links to multiple places where a user could buy the product.
According to the Twitter announcement, the feature was being rolled out to English-language websites. The blog post did not specify which languages were being rolled out, nor did it state that the product review update was only available in English.
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Is a Product Review Update Coming to More Languages?
The person who asked the question correctly assumed that the product review update only affected English language search results.
However, he claimed to be witnessing search volatility in the German language, which he believes is related to Google’s December 2021 Product Review Update.
This is his question:
“I was seeing some movements in German search as well.
So I was wondering if there could also be an effect on websites in other languages by this product reviews update… because we had lots of movement and volatility in the last weeks.
…My question is, is it possible that the product reviews update affects other sites as well?”
John Mueller answered:
“I don’t know… like other languages?
My assumption was this was global and and across all languages.
But I don’t know what we announced in the blog post specifically.
But usually we try to push the engineering team to make a decision on that so that we can document it properly in the blog post.
I don’t know if that happened with the product reviews update. I don’t recall the complete blog post.
But it’s… from my point of view it seems like something that we could be doing in multiple languages and wouldn’t be tied to English.
And even if it were English initially, it feels like something that is relevant across the board, and we should try to find ways to roll that out to other languages over time as well.
So I’m not particularly surprised that you see changes in Germany.
But I also don’t know what we actually announced with regards to the locations and languages that are involved.”
Does the Update to Product Reviews Affect More Languages?
While the tweeted announcement stated that the product reviews update was only available in English, the official blog post made no such claim.
According to Google’s John Mueller, the product reviews update is something that Google could do in multiple languages.
One has to wonder if the tweet was intended to communicate that the update would be released first in English and then in other languages.
It’s unclear whether the product reviews update was rolled out to more languages globally. Google, hopefully, will clarify this soon.
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