Google’s April 2023 Reviews Update: What To Know

On the 12^th of April, 2023, around noon ET, Google announced its latest update. Although not a core algorithm update, this one significantly impacted publishers and still is causing problems for many. The April 2023 reviews update took 13 days to fully roll out, finishing on the 25^th of April. With such an impact on so many, we felt it was important to address this latest update, detailing more about what it involved, how it might have affected you, and, most importantly, what you can do to overcome any adverse effects.

What Is The Update, And How Does It Work?

Google released their first ever Product Reviews Update in April 2021, and over the 2 years, they have developed it, expanding into new languages and fine-tuning elements of the system to improve the user experience for searchers. However, as of 2023, the biggest development occurred, which involved dropping part of the update’s name: product.

Dropping product and changing it to Reviews Update might not have seemed like a huge deal then, but this was far from reality. The system now no longer only assesses content considered a product review. As part of the new Reviews System algorithm, it also evaluates articles, blog posts, and standalone content written in recommendation form. This could be an opinion piece and an analysis. They want to reward high quality reviews – reviews that are insightful with original research, written by experts and enthusiasts – and limit thin content that doesn’t provide as much value. It is important to note that the system will not consider third-party reviews (made by your users).

Any reviewable topic was affected by this when it rolled out and will continue to if not to their standards, whether on services or businesses, games, movies, products, or destinations and for several languages. German, French, Italian, Indonesian, Russian, Vietnamese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and English are all languages it applies to. The update generally comes back to E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) – something Google introduced in December 2022 – to ensure more focus is on helpful content for searchers.

The review system works on a page-by-page basis. However, for websites that are made up entirely of reviews, they can conduct a whole-site assessment.

Are You Affected?

If you are only just finding out about the April Review update, you may be wondering if you were affected by it. Even if you knew about it when it came out, you may still wonder whether your content is considered a review. It would be wise to check your rankings and traffic. Although Google does not penalize those who do not meet the standards they expect, it will promote those that provide original research and insightful analysis. However, note that although it is not a penalty, you can still see impacts on rankings and Google Discover traffic. You may have stayed the same or seen traffic improvements because of it, but you may be one of many that have seen declines. The only way to know if you are affected is to check your traffic using one of the traffic-checking tools– there are both free and paid versions.

Research has shown that there were a lot of complaints about this update, with many seeing huge drops after working hard to bounce back after the difficult March core update. It was towards week 2 of the update that people saw the most impact.

For websites with content primarily focused on reviews, there is a chance you had a whole-site evaluation and could be affected more than others. Take the time to check to see the effect his update has had on you. Knowing means you can act on it.

What To Do Now?

If you have found that you have had an increase in traffic, you can remain confident that you are already doing a fantastic job on any review content. However, for those that have remained the same, or worse, dropped, you need to know how to come back from this. The whole point of the update is to encourage more websites to show more evidence that they have experience in the topics they are discussing and that they will prove to be most helpful to users.

So if you have seen a drop, this is what you need to be doing now:

Focus On Improving Your Content Quality

You will need to assess which of your reviews are negatively impacting you after this update and look at improving the quality, following Google’s advice. It can be a good idea to get a full assessment of all the content on your site and improve it all, and not only look at the obvious review content. Remember, they also evaluate blog content that is in recommendation form. When you have discovered which content needs work, you should get yourself in touch with Blog Writing experts. Doing so could help you see huge improvements in your traffic when the next Review Update comes about.

Demonstrate You Are An Expert

You need to show Google you are highly knowledgeable in what you are reviewing, demonstrating your expert status. To do this, you should look to back up your reviews with evidence. Whether you focus on video proof or audio or provide linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. that detail your experience, these will help further support your high-quality review.

Original Research

Google is looking for reviews that contain original research, and from this, you can then discuss the benefits and drawbacks of said product, service, movie, game, etc. You should include any links you have to your research in the review.

If you can’t conduct original research for every review, including helpful resources and links from other sites can still work in your favor. Note if you use affiliate links, you must follow Google’s guidelines.

Be Helpful

The point of the review is to be as helpful to users as much as possible, so you should consider reviewing several products, games, or services from different sellers. If you can highlight all the unique features and cover the more difficult decision-making areas buyers struggle with, you are assisting the buyer and could be rewarded by Google in time.

Conclusion

Like with all the updates, Google will inevitably do another update to this one. It is better to start recovering from this update sooner rather than later, so if you need any help checking your traffic or improving your content, contact us today.