Google adds product ratings to search ads in Europe

Product ratings on Google Shopping are now also available for shoppers in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Last year, the product ratings on Product Listing Ads were introduced in the United States, but now select Google users in Europe are also able to make better purchase decisions when shopping online.

Google announced this addition at its Inside AdWords blog. There, it also explains how product ratings on Google Shopping work. They appear in the form of stars and review counts on Product Listing Ads across Google.com, Google.com/Shopping and their equivalents in the UK, France and Germany. The whole ratings system is based on data compiled from sources like merchants’ sites, third-party aggregators, editorials sites and users.

5% CTR increase since launch
According to the search giant, product ratings help consumers make better purchase decisions before they click, which lead to participating retailers getting more qualified traffic. Since the launch in the US in July 2014, Google has seen an average click-through rate increase of 5% on Product Listing Ads that had product ratings.

Google also quotes Dave Abbott, vice president of online marketing for The Home Depot, saying that customers look for product validation through reviews and ratings. So, providing such info is valuable to their customers and provides the company with a competitive advantage on Google.

How to enable product ratings
Online merchants who want to enable product ratings on their Product Listing Ads, must share all of their product review content with Google. This can be done directly or through one of the approved third-party aggregators, such as eKomi, Yotpo and Trustpilot.