Since November 2018, online merchants are trying to decode the mystery behind their Google Seller Ratings (GSR) not showing up or rather appearing as “No Rating Available”. Unlike the other updates by Google this year and their associated Da Vinci like encryption, GSR not showing up for websites, is related to a simple yet significant change to Google’s Seller Ratings policy.
GSR, as you might already know, is a free program by Google, that allows online sellers to collect customer feedback. The reviews and ratings collected here are displayed on your text/ shopping ads as ratings and are a great influencer to evoke customer trust in your store.
Image: Shows how seller ratings are displayed in your ads.
According to Google, ads supplemented with a good customer rating on average get up to 10% higher CTR than the same ads without ratings. Hence, if properly utilized, they can help you increase traffic to your store, decrease your PPC spend and increase conversions (this does depend on several other aspects of your website as well).
What do I need to do to ensure that I adhere to the latest criteria by Google?
You need to ensure that the following eligibility criteria is met:
You have more than 100 reviews from a country. However, it must be noted that reviews are now country specific, i.e.,
a) visitor from a country will only see reviews from their country
b) for your reviews to appear for a country, you must have at least 100 reviews, in the last 12 months, from customers in that particular country
Note: To check if you have ratings in a particular country go to the URL – https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/metrics?q=example.com&v=2&c=xx.
This will show a 400 error. Replace “example.com” with your domain name. For e.g. if your domain is abc then replace by abc.com (without www). Also, replace “xx” by the initials for the country you want to check. For e.g if you are checking this for USA, replace “xx” by US.
You have at least 10 reviews in the language of the Google Domain you are using.
For e.g. if your domain is .uk, you should have at least 10 reviews in English.
You have an average rating of 3.5 and above.
Earlier | Now | |
Minimum unique reviews required | 150 global reviews/ last 12 months | 100 country-specific reviews/ last 12 months |
Average rating | 3.5 + | 3.5 + |
Location criteria for reviews | Country-specific reviews not required | Country-specific reviews required to be eligible for GSR |
What Google wants to achieve with these changes?
With these changes, particularly country-specific reviews, Google is trying to be as precise as possible in reflecting the expected quality of your products, services and customer experience for a population from a particular country.
These changes will help companies with good customer experience to stand out. Also, it will increase the chances of smaller companies, operating in a single country to be eligible for Google seller ratings.
Need help with implementing the review collection system for your store? Write to us at sales@cueblocks.com.
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