March 2022 product reviews update: dates and what to do

What Google changed#

Google announced the update on 23 March 2022 in its Search Central post, saying it builds on the past year’s work “to enhance our ability to identify high quality product reviews.” Google added that people prefer “detailed reviews with evidence of products actually being tested.”

The post also answered common questions about reviews covering several products:

• “Product review updates apply to all forms of review content,” including ranked lists and comparison reviews.
• A review naming a product the best overall or best for a purpose should say why, with first-hand supporting evidence.
• A ranked list can work alongside in-depth single-product reviews, if the list stands on its own.

When it rolled out#

Google said the update “may impact the rankings of English-language product reviews across many sites” and would roll out over a few weeks. The Search Status Dashboard records the rollout from 23 March 2022 to 6 April 2022, a total of 14 days, all times US/Pacific. The dashboard entry was added on 22 March 2023.

No other confirmed update overlapped it. The page experience update for desktop had finished on 3 March 2022, 20 days earlier.

What is known about its impact#

Google did not publish impact figures. It said it had “seen positive effects” of its earlier product review changes on the English-language ecosystem and planned to extend support to more languages, but gave no numbers. Treat any percentage you see attributed to this update as a third-party estimate.

What site owners should do#

Google’s review guidance sets out the practices this update rewards:

• Show first-hand evidence of testing, such as original images and pertinent results.
• In ranked lists, show expertise concisely and explain why each pick earns its place.
• Explain what sets a product apart and which option suits which use.
• Cover 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#

In Search Console, filter the Performance report to your review and best-of pages and compare clicks for the week before 23 March 2022 with the week starting 14 April 2022, a full week after completion. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists every confirmed update with its dates, so you can rule out overlapping rollouts before attributing a change to this one.

Related updates#

• The December 2021 product reviews update was the product reviews update before it.
• The July 2022 product reviews update was the next one.