Key Takeaways
- Google Customer Reviews is a mechanism for collecting reviews after a purchase, where the request for feedback is sent by Google rather than the store. This increases trust in the ratings.
- The service works through Google Merchant Center, which means you need a GMC account and a correctly configured order data transfer process.
- Reviews can appear not only on the website, but also in search results and ads — and this directly affects how you are perceived compared to your competitors.
- The key technical step is to insert the survey code into the order confirmation page, with dynamic values (email, order number, delivery date, etc.).
- Without filling in the products block, product reviews will not be collected, even if reviews about the store in general are working.
- The Merchant Center feed is the foundation for the Google ecosystem (Shopping/Reviews/Ads): one mistake in the attributes or format, and some of the features simply won't work.
- The best results come not from a «set it and forget it» approach, but from systematic customer incentives: the more real reviews you have, the stronger your seller rating will be, and the easier it will be for users to choose you.
Google Customer Reviews is one of the simplest yet powerful marketing tools you can use to your advantage to win over your competitors.
Nearly 70% of people trust online reviews more than advertising. Real reviews from people are gaining more and more credibility, so getting as many reviews as possible from your customers is one of the best things you can do for your business. In order for such technical processes to work correctly and not affect the visibility of the site in search, businesses often need professional SEO services that help set up indexing and site operation without errors.
What is Google Customer Reviews
Google Customer Reviews is a service that helps companies collect reviews on their website. To use it, you need a Google Merchant account.
Google Merchant Center is a digital platform where online retailers upload product data for use in Google Shopping Ads, Google Manufacturer Center. In Merchant Center, you also provide information about your online store, shipping, or taxes.
Basically, after a purchase, Google sends your customers an email asking if they want to leave a review about their experience with your brand. If the user agrees, they receive a short questionnaire to fill out.
Reviews and ratings can be displayed on your website and other marketing platforms.
How Google Customer Reviews works
Google itself invites your customers to leave a review
When a customer buys something from you, Google sends them an email on the day the customer is supposed to receive their purchase. The goal is to invite the customer to complete a survey about their shopping experience on the site.
Customers complete a survey
Customers who wish to leave feedback will be redirected to the survey page. There they can rate it from 1 to 5 and write additional comments.
Google combines reviews and data
Once the survey information is submitted, Google combines it to form a rating for your business. Reviews appear on your website, as well as in organic and paid search results.
How users opt in to Google Customer Reviews
As a merchant, you can add a survey module to your order confirmation page during the checkout process. Add the opt-in code snippet to both the desktop and mobile versions of your page, if they are different. Here you will find a complete integration guide with step-by-step setup instructions:
https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7106244?hl=en&ref_topic=7105160
When a buyer agrees to participate, Google Customer Reviews collects the following information about them and their order:
Order number;
Customer email;
Google Account information associated with this email address;
country;
order delivery date;
International Trade System identification numbers for all items ordered.
It is also important to take into account user behavior in different regions, so it is additionally worth using GEO promotion to increase visibility and relevance in specific cities or countries.
How do I add my store?
If your store previously participated in the Google Trusted Stores program, you were automatically transferred to Google Customer Reviews after it closed. New members must register.
1. Go to Google Merchant Center, sign up, or select a program
https://www.google.com/intl/en/retail/solutions/merchant-center/
If you don't have an account with the service, you need to create one. Registration takes a few minutes.
2. Choose Customer Reviews
There are several other apps for your business, such as Shopping Ads, Product Reviews, Dynamic Remarketing, and more.
We suggest you check it out. However, in order for this to be available for your site, you must click «Enable» in the «Customer Reviews» section.
3. Read and agree
Before you continue, you will see the Customer Reviews Program Agreement. Be sure to read it, it contains a lot of important information.
Then select that you have read and agreed to the document. Click on the «Save» and «Continue» buttons.
4. Place the survey on your website
You will then receive a code to integrate into your website.
Google will help you place this code correctly. It is designed to display survey reminders for customers who may want to leave feedback.
How to place a survey module
It is described in detail here https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7106244?hl=ru#update
To insert the module code into the order confirmation page, follow these steps:
Specify the DOCTYPE version.
You can place a survey module only if the order confirmation pages support the HTML5 DOCTYPE. The opening tag of this element looks like this:
Add the module code
1. Paste the following snippet into the HTML code of the order confirmation page:
2. Replace the variables with dynamic values. Detailed information about each of the parameters is presented in the table at the link above.
To set the language of the survey module, add the following snippet to the code:
If you do not specify a lang value, the survey module will be displayed in the user's browser language.
How to include the ability to collect product reviews in the survey module
The «products» fields are listed in Google Help as optional, but without this, the service will not collect product reviews.
In order for reviews to be collected. Fields must be filled in
Where GTIN1 — Numeric values GTIN.
How to find the GTIN of your products, read the article.
5. Show your icon
If you are accepted, Google provides a Google Customer Reviews badge that you can embed on your website. Regardless of whether you are accepted or not, you will receive an email.
If you have not been verified, check that you have correctly integrated the code in the Help.
To place the badge on your website, you need to add this fragment to the page code:
The snippet must be inserted into the page code before the . tag
As for the survey module HTML snippet, it can be placed in any order.
Follow the instructions in the Google Customer Reviews Technical Integration Guide https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/7106244 to add the subscription module snippet (and, optionally, a new icon snippet) to your site.
How to create a feed for Merchant Center
A feed is a table that contains all the parameters and necessary product information for GMC.
Step 1.
In your Merchant Center account, select the «Products» section on the left, and in the «View all methods» subsection, click «Create feed».
Step 2
Specify the country where the online store operates and the language.
Step 3
Give a name for the feed and choose how to create it:
Google Sheets,
Scheduled,
Upload
Content API
On this page you can familiarize yourself with a description of each method.
Step 4
Click «Create Feed». Once it appears on the GMC page, you can work with it.
Feed design requirements
You can use any spreadsheet tool to create a feed:
Google Sheets,
Microsoft Excel,
Apple Numbers and others.
GMC only works with files in XML or TXT format. Therefore, after filling in the table, it will be necessary to convert it to the required format.
Please note that each column must contain one attribute, and each row must describe one product, otherwise the feed will not work. The attributes in the table must be written in the language used in the targeted country.
Feed attributes
Google Merchant Center settings are inextricably linked to attributes. If you make a mistake when entering data or skip filling in one of the required attributes, the ad may not be displayed.
Required attributes:
identifier (id) — a unique identifier of the product up to 50 characters;
title — the name of the product, up to 150 characters;
description — a description of the product, up to 5000 characters;
link — a direct link to the page product;
image_link – link to the main image of the product;
availability – availability of the product in the store.
price – cost of the product, the number must be written according to the ISO 4217 standard.
brand – brand of the product, up to 70 characters;
gtin or mpn – international product codes.
Conclusion
Reviews are one of the key ways to evaluate the quality of products today. Although Google Customer Reviews is an initiative of Google, it benefits you as a seller. This module helps to collect product reviews after a user has purchased something on the site.
With the simple instructions we provided above, you can easily integrate a reviews module into your site.
Try to encourage your customers to participate as much as possible. This way, you get more reviews. And the more reviews, the higher the seller rating (the average Google rating for your store).
This, in turn, encourages people to shop on your website.
FAQ
1. How does Google Customer Reviews differ from Google Business Profile reviews? Customer Reviews are reviews specifically about a purchase/delivery/in-store experience and are linked to Merchant Center. Business Profile reviews are reviews about a company/location/service on Google Maps. These are different systems, and they can exist in parallel.
2. Where exactly is the survey module code placed? On the «Thank you for your order» / order confirmation page (checkout success page). It is important that the page supports HTML5 DOCTYPE and that real order data is substituted into the code.
3. Why might product reviews not be collected, even if there are reviews about the store? The most common reason is that the products block (product identifiers) is not filled in or is incorrectly transmitted. Without it, Google will not be able to link the review to a specific product.
4. How long does it take to review/activate, and what should I do if the badge does not appear? If the badge does not appear, the problem is usually with the integration: the code is not inserted in the right place, dynamic values are not substituted, or there are errors in Merchant Center. The best tactic is to check the implementation against the official instructions and verify that the order confirmation page is working correctly.
