020 3282 3737Get in touchLinkedIn
amenu

What You Need To Know – New Google Seller Ratings By Country

Nov 16, 2018 | PPC

You may be aware that back in September, Google announced to advertisers that from October, they would start counting and displaying seller ratings by country. There’s been a bit of a delay, but it’s now happening. What does that mean for you?

Well, Seller Ratings are a means of building trust with consumers – they show as stars in ads on the Google Search Network and are fed in through an automated extension. They showcase advertisers with high ratings and can help to earn more qualified leads. But things are now changing and it could have a positive or negative impact on your ad campaigns. Read on to find out how…

 

What Are Seller Ratings on Google Ads?

The aggregate rating shown as an extension below text ads. They are free and don’t make a difference to the amount you pay per click. They appear when you have 150 reviews or more and a rating of 3.5 or more and when you are running a Search Network campaign. They might not appear on ads for products that do not directly relate to the product shown.

 

What’s Changed?

Rather than seller ratings appearing as a global aggregate, consumers can now choose to see what their country’s feedback is for the seller by using the dropdown box. Also, there only have to be 100 unique reviews for seller ratings to appear. It may be that some sellers find themselves ineligible for seller ratings to appear in certain countries. This could prove tricky for smaller businesses who ship internationally without a physical presence in some regions.

Why Do Seller Ratings Matter?

Google has said in the past that ads with seller ratings can see 10% higher clickthrough rates. Plus, Ad Rank factors in expected CTR and whether extensions will impact that – so ads with seller ratings should have lower CPCs and rank higher than those without. The switch to seller ratings by country will improve user experience and will make it easier for sellers within their own countries. But… you could see a negative impact in countries which will damage your campaign performance.

 

What Can I Do?

We recommend checking seller rating extension performance in the Automated Extensions report – you’ll find this under the Extensions tab in the Google Ads UI. To improve your chances of increasing seller rating eligibility, you can work with third party reviewers or Google Customer Reviews. If you’re a Broadplace customer, get in touch with your Account Manager today if you have any concerns that you’d like to go over. And even if you’re not, we’d be happy to advise you – email us today at contactus@broadplace.com

 

Where do the reviews come from on Google Ads?

Google doesn’t modify existing ratings. They do, however, filter out reviews that they think are untrustworthy or ‘questionable’ – this is to prevent advertisers from gaming the system with fake reviews, but also to protect them from any fake unfavourable reviews (for example, from competitors or disgruntled customers posting many fake reviews. Google gets the ratings from:

  • Google Customer Reviews, a free programme that collects post-purchase comments on behalf of advertisers.
  • StellaService, an independent company that analyses the quality of your customer service through the measurement of your customer care, delivery and returns. Some of the qualifiers may be sourced through this independent analysis.
  • Aggregated performance metrics from Google-led shopping research.
  • Ratings from Google Consumer Surveys, a market research platform
  • Shopping reviews for your store domain, which include comments from the various independent sources listed below.

Google also sources feedback from the following independent review websites, which is especially important to know for international retailers who wish to display seller ratings by country:

 

 

Contact Icon