Activating Google Seller Ratings for your Ads Account | GlowMetrics

Nov 17th 2021

Digital Marketing Insights

4 min read

Posted by Kyle Crooks

Activating Google Seller Ratings for your Ads Account

With an increase of under 1 Trillion dollars between 2019-2020 in the Global Ecommerce market and an expected rise to 6.3 Trillion dollars by 2024, the online marketplace is now...

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With an increase of under 1 Trillion dollars between 2019-2020 in the Global Ecommerce market and an expected rise to 6.3 Trillion dollars by 2024, the online marketplace is now filled with many new stores and options for consumers to buy from (Shopify, 2021). While this is good for consumers, it creates several challenges for sellers i.e. standing out from the crowd.

There are many different ways we can do this, though Google offers one free & simple solution – Seller Ratings. Seller ratings are an automated extension type that can be shown on Search Ads and Shopping Ads from the Google Ads platform. Using primarily the golden star metric, seller ratings can help validate and authenticate sellers in the eyes of viewers by illuminating the seller’s review star rating, the number of reviews the business has received and a qualifier (such as average delivery time, call wait time etc.) that’s relevant to the business’ rating.

Sample Seller Ratings Search Ad
In shopping ads, seller ratings take a more prominent role as the description text amount is limited to the product name, price, seller and CCS Partner.

Why use seller ratings?

As you can see from the examples, ads with seller ratings don’t just stand out, but they verify the product and seller to the viewer. While seller ratings have become an increasingly popular extension, it could be argued not having them could severely weaken your chances of converting a sale compared to the competition who all might already be running them. While back in 2017, Google has also stated, showing seller ratings on your text ads can boost your ads’ click-through rate by up to 10%.

How do they work and where do the ratings come from?

Google can gather seller ratings from several sources to give viewers an idea of your business’s overall customer experience. Ranging from, Google’s review system to independent reviews such as Trust Pilot, seller ratings are a non-chargeable extension and will be automatically shown if set up correctly, though seller ratings can also be removed if required.

It is also important to know that seller ratings are run on a country-to-country basis and will show in a country when the required criteria are met. Google also state that they won’t modify your ratings, though they do ‘calibrate’ ratings and filter out what they consider untrustworthy or questionable.

The list of independent review websites Google is also in partnership with includes:

  • Ausgezeichnet.org
  • Bazaarvoice
  • Bizrate Insights
  • eKomi
  • E-Komerco
  • Feedaty
  • Feedback Company
  • Feefo
  • Hardware.info
  • Heureka.cz
  • KiyOh
  • Klantenvertellen
  • kuchikomiking.jp
  • Poulpeo
  • PowerReviews
  • ProductReview.com.au
  • Reputation.com
  • ResellerRatings
  • Reviews.io
  • Reevoo
  • Shopper Approved
  • ShopVote.de
  • ShopAuskunft
  • Sitejabber
  • Trusted Shops
  • Trustpilot
  • Verified Reviews
  • Yopi.de
  • Yotpo

How does my business qualify for seller ratings?

Your business’s reviews must meet several criteria to be able to run seller reviews.

  1. Your website must be connected to one of the Google review sources or one of the independent reviewers and then verified by that source.
  2. Google has received enough reviews (around 100 reviews) for the country within the last 12 months across Google Customer Reviews/independent partner to calculate a seller rating.
  3. The reviews from users in a given country will only contribute to the business’s rating in that country.
  4. If you are using an independent reviewer – You must have a Google Merchant Centre set up for your business and connected to your independent reviewer. The domain name and site address should be identical in both the merchant centre account and the independent review account.
  5. Google and/or its partners have completed a research evaluation of your site.
  6. Average, composite, rating of 3.5 or more stars for Text Ads (Currently, Google can’t show seller ratings if the average rating is less than 3.5 stars).
  7. The ad’s visible URL domain must match the domain to which the ratings are matched.

Do I already have seller ratings?

If you meet the above criteria, Google will automatically set you up with a Google seller rating profile. You can find your profile here

https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/lookup?q={yourwebsite}.

Simply insert your website address instead of “{yourwebsite}”.

ie. https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/lookup?q=adidas.co.uk

Note: This page will be blank until you qualify for seller ratings.

Are my seller ratings showing?

While you could go searching for your ads, you can also use the Google Ads platform to check. Simply enter your ads account, select ‘Ads & Extensions’ and select ‘Extensions’. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select ‘Automated Extensions’ and a list of automated extensions will show.

Other things to take note of:

  • Google doesn’t guarantee that seller ratings are displayed, even if you meet all their guidelines. Google ‘doesn’t provide specific details regarding the algorithms that generate an advertiser’s seller ratings.’
  • Google won’t serve seller ratings for every single impression/search and will stop showing a seller rating if a user repeatedly triggers an ad without interacting.
  • Not all verified reviews will be displayed on your Google seller rating page, but they will still be counted towards your Google seller rating. 
  • Google does not accept incentivised reviews in their Seller Ratings feed.
  • Google does not backdate reviews, so it is best to ensure reviews are being tracked by Google from the start.

Sources

https://www.shopify.co.uk/enterprise/global-ecommerce-statistics

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/google-customer-reviews-receive-and/


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GlowMetrics

Posted by
Kyle Crooks

Kyle is a Digital Marketing Executive at GlowMetrics, working on digital marketing campaigns for a range of clients via Google Ads, Bing Ads, social media, and other platforms.
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