April 2021 product reviews update: dates, what changed and what to do

What Google changed#

Google announced the update on 8 April 2021 in a Search Central post. It wrote that people “appreciate product reviews that share in-depth research, rather than thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products,” and called the change “an improvement to our ranking systems, which we call the product reviews update.”

The update “only involves English language reviews for now.” Google said it was separate from its core updates, but that its core update advice on quality content applied here too. It listed questions for reviewers, such as whether a review expresses expert knowledge, shows what the product is like physically or in use, and explains what sets it apart from competitors.

When it rolled out#

Google said the update was “going out today,” on 8 April 2021. It gave no end date in the post. On 22 April 2021 Google’s Danny Sullivan posted on X, as quoted by Search Engine Roundtable, that “it’s done,” with the caveat that some edge cases can linger, “But effectively done.” The account that posted it has since been deleted, so the outlet’s quote is the surviving record.

The Search Status Dashboard did not exist yet, so it has no entry for this update.

What is known about its impact#

Google gave no figure at launch. In its 2021 webspam report, Google said it made “two substantial updates to how we evaluate product reviews in 2021” that brought a significant reduction in low quality reviews. It did not give a number for either update, so treat any percentage you see attributed to this one as a third-party estimate.

What site owners should do#

The product reviews system became the reviews system, which Google’s ranking systems guide still lists. Its current review guidance says to:

• Evaluate from a user’s perspective and show you know what you are reviewing.
• Provide evidence such as visuals or audio of your own experience with the product.
• Share quantitative measurements and explain what sets a product apart from its competitors.
• Discuss benefits and drawbacks based on your own original research.
• Focus on the quality and originality of reviews, not their length.

How to check whether it affected you#

Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so its reports no longer cover April 2021. Use archived analytics exports for your review pages and compare a week before 8 April 2021 with a week after 22 April. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists the other updates of that spring, so you can rule them out before attributing a change to this one.

Related updates#

• The December 2021 product reviews update was the next product reviews update.
• The July 2021 link spam update asked review sites to qualify affiliate links.
• The June 2021 core update was the next confirmed update.