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Google now requires more reviews for Seller Ratings to show in ads

The higher threshold will put added pressure on smaller businesses to gather reviews.

Ginny Marvin on August 25, 2016 at 12:17 pm

Google hasn’t made it official, but the company has been telling some customers that there is a new minimum for Seller Ratings extensions to display in AdWords ads. Businesses must accumulate at least 150 reviews in the past 12 months, up from just 30.

AdWords Seller Ratings extensions show automatically in ads when certain criteria are met.

Seller Ratings extensions show automatically in AdWords ads when certain criteria are met.

The policy has not been updated online yet, but according to at least one agency, the change is already affecting customers in many markets, including the UK, US and EU.

This is how the policy currently reads:

Google’s seller ratings policy still shows 30 reviews are required for Seller Ratings. The minimum will change to 150 reviews.

With the update, 30 unique reviews will change to 150 unique reviews when the change is formalized. The composite rating requirement of at least 3.5 stars is not changing. At least 10 reviews need to be in the users’ Google interface language to show.

Reviews.co.uk first reported the change. They note this update will make it more challenging for smaller retailers and brands to accumulate enough reviews to be eligible for Seller Ratings extensions to display in their AdWords ads.

Those not meeting the new requirements may find that they are no longer eligible to show Seller Ratings or may see a change in their overall ratings score.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Editor-in-Chief, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all of our publications. Ginny writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, she has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.