Google Shopping is strictly for eCommerce websites. Many websites sell on this comparison shopping engine. It’s an additional platform to sell beyond one’s own website, and from marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc. This blog post will talk about what Google Shopping Ratings are, where they display, how to get them, and what companies to choose if you’re going to work with a 3rd party review aggregator.
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Google Shopping reviews pop up in different areas of Google. We made snapshots of where all the ratings are shown in the PLA (Product Listing Ads), the Google Shopping organic section, as well as directly on the search engine results page (SERP).
Google Shopping Reviews. Here’s the Breakdown
Google Shopping only shows two types of reviews: Google Product Ratings and Google Shopping Seller Ratings (aka Google Seller Ratings).
Google Product Ratings
These images show Google Product Ratings directly on Google. Notice that these are all paid ads from Google Ads shopping campaigns. Ratings will show at the top and on the right-hand side of Google as well as Google Shopping.
Keep in mind that Product Reviews are strictly for the product on your site. Think about it like Amazon. Each product has its own reviews for that specific product.
FYI, click on any of the images to enlarge the images. You’ll be able to see the ratings in more detail.
Those are the 3 primary places where you’ll see Google Product ratings for your ads.
Google Shopping Seller Ratings
Seller Ratings on Google Shopping are different when compared to Product Ratings. Google Shopping Seller Ratings show on the organic part of Google Shopping. When you think of Seller Ratings, consider them as ratings for your website as a whole, not about a specific product. Seller Ratings generate reviews with comments like “Great customer service” or “The shipping was really fast”.
As you can see in the screenshots, Google calls them ‘store reviews’ or simply shows a yellow star with a rating between 1 – 5 rating.
We wrote a really good article about Google Seller Ratings that goes beyond Google Shopping ads. We show an example of how a search query like “PCs for gaming” shows both Google Seller Ratings on CPC text ads.
While Seller Ratings inform shoppers that you’re an authentic business with a good reputation, Product Ratings or Reviews provide vital information to online shoppers about a specific product. Product Ratings help shoppers make swift purchasing decisions. As an advertiser, these ratings help you drive better-qualified traffic to your business website.
How to Get Google Shopping Ratings & The Criteria
There are 3 ways to get your ratings into Google Shopping.
1) Google Merchant Center
This option will require you to do the work yourself. You’ll need to sign in to your Google Merchant Center account. You’ll need to have a validated product reviews XML file which must be hosted on your server. Basically, you’ll need a competent programmer to submit your XML feed into your Google Merchant Center.
If you want to set this up yourself, read the ‘Product Ratings feeds through Merchant Center‘. It’s free if you can do it yourself. Here’s what Google has to say about setting Google Merchant Center for Google Shopping Ratings.
May be difficult to create and submit XML feeds without help
Google
2) Google Customer Reviews
Google Customer Reviews is a free service that allows a company to collect both seller reviews and product reviews. Here’s what Google has to say about setting up Google Customer Reviews:
Prepare your team for technical integration
Google
3) Third-Party Reviews Aggregator
Google has approved 28 third-party reviews aggregators to manage the submission of your product reviews data into Google. It’s done via an XML feed. You can learn more about the 28 Google Product Review aggregators here.
Criteria for Google Shopping Ratings
Product Ratings are supported in every country where Shopping ads and free product listings are available. You can see a long list of supported countries here.
You need to have at least 50 reviews on all your products to qualify for the Product Ratings program. A product must have a minimum of 3 reviews to have star ratings shown in ads. It isn’t mandatory for you to have a Google Merchant account for your ads to be entitled to seller ratings.
Product Review Aggregators
Now that you know Google Shopping ratings consist of both Google Product Ratings and Google Shopping Seller Ratings (normally called Google Seller Ratings), now you need to syndicate your ratings and reviews into Google. As mentioned above, you can do it yourself via the Google Merchant Center or Google Customer Reviews. Or you can do it the easiest and cheapest way (you don’t need to pay a programmer) and choose a 3rd-party review aggregator.
At Planet Marketing, we believe choosing one of the 3rd party review aggregators is the least expensive solution and you don’t have to deal with the headaches of technical integrations.
Out of the 28 Product Review Aggregators, many of them are not in English, so we narrowed the list to 5 companies that only deal in English and that can do Seller Ratings and Product Ratings. We put Google Customer Reviews in the first column simply because it is free, but that’s if you’re a programmer. For the rest of you, here are 5 companies that handle Google Shopping Ratings.
Google Customer Reviews
You might end up spending $5,000-10,000 USD because you’ll need a team of programmers
$0/mo*
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Ratings
- For Enterprise Businesses
- For Ecommerce Companies Only
- Not for Service-Based Companies
OUR #1 PICK
Shopper Approved
30-Day FREE Trial
No Credit Card Needed
$199/mo
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Ratings
- Q&A (like Amazon’s Q&A section)
- Video Reviews
- Social Evidence
- Survey Destinations (Get reviews across the web)
- For Small/Medium Businesses
- For Service-Based Companies
- For Ecommerce Companies
- Unlimited Reviews for Locked-In Rate……
Verified Reviews
You only get UP TO 400 review “requests” per month. That doesn’t mean you will get 400 reviews.
30-Day FREE Trial
10% Discount
No Credit Card Needed
Pricing is based on # of orders.
If you cancel, your reviews will still show on Verified Reviews.
SEE MORE DETAILS
$99/mo
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Reviews
- For Small/Enterprise Businesses
- For Service-Based Companies
- For Ecommerce Companies
Yotpo
Pricing is mainly based on monthly orders.
SEE MORE DETAILS
$799/mo
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Reviews
- For Enterprise Businesses
- For Ecommerce Companies
- Not for Service-Based Companies
TrustPilot
$599/mo starting for Product Reviews.
Subscription must be paid annually.
Pricing is based on “# of Email Invitations” sent, not on actual reviews collected.
SEE DETAILS
$199/mo
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Reviews
- For Enterprise Businesses
- For Service-Based Companies
- For Ecommerce Companies
Feefo
Based in UK
You’re paying for SEO, CRO, Insights, Reviews, etc.
SEE DETAILS
£99/mo
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Ratings
- For Enterprise Businesses
- Google Seller Ratings
- Product Reviews
- For Enterprise Businesses
- For Service-Based Companies
- For Ecommerce Companies
Planet Marketing works with Shopper Approved & occasionally with Verified Reviews. We also send business to Yotpo and to TrustPilot.
Conclusion About Google Product Ratings
Product Ratings are, unquestionably a critical factor in gaining the trust of people who view your Google Shopping ads. This gives them the confidence that they need to try out your product and services. We have already noted that merchants who share their customer reviews with Google can see an increase in their PLA clicks.
This in turn will drive more sales for their businesses. Product Ratings are merely an extension for PLAs. Google Shopping Star Ratings give you the edge that you need to stay ahead of the competition. Online shoppers can view information on seller and product reviews through “Click-Type” reports. Therefore, positive reviews and ratings guarantee you more business.
If you’re going to choose a 3rd party review aggregator, you should look into one that does both Google Product Ratings as well as Google Seller Ratings.
A great option for eCommerce companies is to look into Shopper Approved and to Yotpo.
Shopper Approved is great for small to medium-sized businesses. The price range should be around $199/mo. Get a demo from them.
