Google’s done it again. What the latest update means for you.

As always, Google likes to keep us on our toes and make sure that we don’t get too comfortable with our rankings and ads. The latest update has caused widespread volatility and changes all over the search engine. Google’s “December 2021 Product Review Update (PRU)” has caused many tracking plugins to go kapult and rankings haywire.

So what does this mean for you?

The update has allowed Google to focus on three key areas

Pages that sell products will be rewarded if they include reviews. We are not talking 5 stars here. Google wants the review to be as user-friendly as possible so the more detail the better!
You’ll be rewarded if a product you are selling has multiple merchants. This allows the customer to choose the seller of their choice and Google is happy because the customer is happy.
Affiliate sites with the bare minimum of reviews will be marked as less valuable by Google and consequently, be pushed down the rankings.

Semrush compared Google’s December update with the one from April 2021.

As indicated above, the latest review was felt more so than the last one to occur in April. So, if your site was hit by the latest changes then you probably felt it in a big way. What can you do if you are feeling the sting? Google has offered some advice about how you can counter any negative changes that have occurred to your rankings. Reinforce your “expertise” on the product you are selling by linking to blogs/pages etc that show you know what you are talking about. You can also add images, visuals or audio that support your review and its authenticity.Link to multiple sellers to allow the customer to choose who they want to purchase the product from. The purpose of this update was to promote user-reviewed content and push it up the rankings. From this we can ascertain that Google is attempting to make the search process a better one for users by pushing down negatively-reviewed and poorly constructed products. Technically, Google’s latest review should only be impacting product review contact but if you have been hit with other content let us know!

Here’s Who Runs The Show: Paul Wagstaff

A website developer and a business owner since 2004. Cultivate Digital is a boutique web design studio located in Melbourne, Australia and is now a top 5 rated web design agency in Google.

Paul has a lifelong passion for building things online and applies a high quality ethic to every project he takes on.

He is also an incredibly dedicated business partner who loves helping small businesses get online in record time with a minimum of fuss. He works with his clients personally and the reviews prove how much his clients appreciate his down to earth, honest and transparent approach.

When Paul isn’t working, you may find him exploring the moon through his 12 inch Telescope, reading a good book, or listening to Dr Karl and other science podcasts.