Seeing Google Stars On Product Listings
How to harness the power of product reviews in your Google product ads
5-star rating, Michelin stars, Hollywood stars — let’s face it, collecting stars is a good thing, and having them show up on your product listing ads can be a subtle game-changer for your click-through rates.
Here’s how to make it happen.
I’m not a huge fan of makeup. Nothing against those who are, but I just like the ease of a hassle-free au naturelle look. That being said, when I go out, I will add a little sumthin’ sumthin’.
A dash of mascara on the lashes and a bit foundation on the cheeks to even out my skin tone can make all the difference. I look visibly more put-together and there’s a bit of emphasis on the eyes.
So why do you care about my no-fuss makeup routine? You don’t. This is still a marketing blog and you haven’t stumbled over to a mommy bloggers how-to.
But my point is, that just like a few touches can change the way I present myself, a few visual cues can change how your online storefront and products are presented.
The Bottom Line
Unlike my unquantifiable mini-makeovers, the effect of Google stars, rich snippets, and Google ratings can be tracked. Just A/B test two Google shopping campaigns and review your CTRs with and without Google stars attached.
Psychologically, shoppers are much more inclined to click through to a product that has 4 and 5 star reviews.
And according to Sidecar commerce,
Products with an average rating of five stars get 126% more orders than four star products. — [Click to tweet]
Unsure on how to get a bunch of good ratings? Check out our top 5+1 best practices right her’.
Seller and product rating stars generally increase your CTR which can positively impact your overall Quality Score and lower your CPC. According to Google,
Getting star ratings on your listing increases your CTR by 17%.
Cha-ching!
These are the breaks
The process to acquire your stars has simplified enormously. In order to show a product rating,
- Your product must have at least 3 reviews
- You as a merchant need 50 reviews across all of your products to participate in the program
You can also enable Google stars to show up easily in your product listing ads with product review tools. Rivio has been selected as one of Google’s few approved reviews aggregators, and our premium features include adding stars to PLAs.
If you’ve got it, flaunt it
Google indexes product reviews that are structured properly and can be indexed by their bots. If you’re interested in showing Product Ratings and reviews on your Google Shopping ads (which, according to the above, you definitely should be!) you can get in touch with Google here to get more info on how they can best collect reviews for your products.
You can also enrich all of your reviews with Google mark-up here to help Google’s bots index your content.
If you’re taking this route, make sure you read all of the fine-print. According to Google’s Review data guidelines, you must:
- Mark up the review as an aggregate rating
- Refer clearly to a specific product or service
- Make sure the reviews and ratings you makr up are readily available to users
- Provide review and/or rating information about a specific item, notabout a category or a list o fitems
- Avoid adult-related products or serices
- Provide a valid single reviewer name (“50% off until Saturday” is not a valid name)
- Use a 5-point scale rating (with 5 as the best and 1 as the worst)
If you are using a professional review and rating tool like Rivio, the reviews will automatically be structured and marked-up properly for Google to index and understand your content. In Rivio’s case, they ensure that your product will appear as a rich snippet within search results, including stars and summary.
Neeeeeext!
Don’t be afraid to cake the social proof on. According to Search Engine Land,
88% of retail shoppers trust online reviews when they’re shopping — [click to tweet]
so unlike applying make-up, you can’t go too far here.
Once you’ve made the most of your product ratings, take it one step further and become a Google trusted store if you’re located in the US. You can start that process right here.
If, on the other hand, you’re struggling to get reviews in the first place, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t tell you about Rivio’s FusionFilter technology. Our accredited network of reviews gives webshops a boost by providing reviews and showing them on Google right away.
Thanks for your attention this week ladies and gents, again we’d love to hear your side of the story and above all your big questions! Check in with Mike the product review guru over at marketing@getrivio.com with any little thing that pops into your mind — we’re all ears!
Last but not least, scratch that itch! By scratch I mean click, and by itch I mean the green heart. 💚.
