Whose reviews show on your Google Shopping listing? Not always yours
The stars on a Google Shopping product listing are not necessarily your customers’ reviews. Google compiles product ratings from merchants, review aggregators, review sites and Google users, and matches them to products using identifiers such as GTIN, MPN and brand. So for a branded product that many shops sell, the rating is likely to reflect the product, not your shop. The stars that are only about you are your store rating.
What this comes down to
- Google compiles product ratings from merchants, review aggregators, review sites and Google users, not only from the seller.
- Google ties ratings to product data such as GTINs, so a branded product’s stars likely reflect the product, not one shop.
- Reviews you send Google must be ones you collected and own; Google does not accept reviews syndicated from other sources.
- Your store rating is the one set of stars about your business alone, and it comes from separate sources.
Where product stars come from
Google says product ratings come from merchants, review aggregators, review sites, and Google users
. That is four kinds of source, and only one of them is you. The stars and review count a shopper sees on your listing can include reviews written on other sites, by people who bought somewhere else.
Google also says whether ratings display depends on the accuracy of your product data, including GTINs, MPNs and brand names. That suggests identifiers are how a review written elsewhere is recognised as being about the same product you sell.
On a branded product, the stars belong to the product. Only the store rating belongs to you.
Branded products and your own products behave differently
Google does not publish exactly how it pools reviews across shops. The practical reading of the two facts above is this:
| You sell | Whose reviews are likely behind the stars | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| A brand many shops stock | Buyers from many shops and review sites | The rating is shared; your part of it is small |
| Your own brand, sold only by you | Mostly your own customers | The rating is yours, so how you collect reviews decides it |
For a reseller, that cuts both ways. Your careful service is unlikely to lift a product’s stars much, and a competitor’s complaints about the same product can sit on your listing. For an own-brand seller, the stars are close to a direct measure of your own customers.
Which reviews you are allowed to send
If you join Product Ratings and send your own reviews, Google’s policy sets limits:
- You must
collect and own
the reviews you share. Google says it does not accept reviews syndicated from other sources. - Reviews given in return for an incentive are allowed only if the incentive does not depend on the review’s sentiment, and they must be marked with
is_incentivized_review. - Reviews with a conflict of interest, such as those written by employees, are removed.
Joining also takes at least 50 reviews across all your products and a review feed uploaded at least once a month; the product and store ratings guide has the full requirements.
The stars that are only about you
Store ratings describe your business, not a product. Google builds them from Google Customer Reviews, partner review sites and its own shopping research, and generally needs 100 eligible, unique reviews before one shows. For a reseller of branded goods, this is the rating your service can actually move, so it is often the better place to put effort.
What to do with this
- Get identifiers right. Correct GTINs and brands are how reviews find the right product; the identifiers guide explains whose number each one is.
- If you sell your own brand, collect reviews from every customer and consider joining Product Ratings once you have 50.
- If you resell brands, put your review effort into your store rating.
- Read the reviews themselves, wherever they are, for what customers say about the product. The Review Analyzer sorts pasted reviews by topic, free for up to 30.
Questions
Where do the star ratings on Google Shopping come from?
Google says product ratings come from merchants, review aggregators, review sites and Google users. It matches reviews to products using data such as GTINs, MPNs and brand names.
Why do other stores’ reviews appear on my Google Shopping listing?
Product ratings describe the product, not the shop, and Google compiles them from several kinds of source. For a branded product sold by many shops, reviews from other buyers can be part of the rating.
Can I send Google reviews I copied from Amazon or another site?
No. Google’s product ratings policy says you must collect and own the reviews you share, and that it does not accept reviews syndicated from other sources.
Read next
Product ratings vs store ratings on Google: what is the difference?
Google shows two kinds of stars. Where product ratings and store ratings come from, how many reviews each needs, and why product stars often fail to appear.
GTIN, MPN and SKU: whose number is each, and who may create it
The GTIN and MPN belong to the manufacturer, the SKU belongs to you. Which ones you may create, where each goes in a Google feed, and when to set none.
When to ask customers for a review, and the rules on how to ask
Ask after the customer has used the product, not at checkout. Timing by product type, why you must ask everyone, and Amazon’s 5 to 30 day window.