Google is by far the most frequently used search engine in Europe. Countless consumers search for products using this service and decide on a suitable online shop based on the search results. Trusted Shops helps you to stand out from the crowd in this important channel. That’s why in this article, we will introduce two ways to present your collected reviews: with Google integration and your review profile.
When will my star ratings be displayed on Google?
Star ratings are a proven way to draw attention to your offer within Google search results. Google integration allows you to display your collected shop reviews in your Google Ads. Additionally, the reviews provided on Google Shopping are also used.
However, before your star ratings can be presented on Google, your shop must fulfil a few requirements:
- You must have booked Google integration for your shop. Google integration is an additional option to your Trusted Shops membership. Like all additional options, you can book this in Your Upgrade Centre.
- You will need an account for the Google Merchant Center and a Google Ads account. An account for the Google Merchant Center is a prerequisite for the Trusted Shops reviews to be transmitted to Google. In addition, you need this account and a Google Ads account to use the submitted reviews for your advertising campaigns.
- Your shop must have received a certain minimum number of reviews. Google will only show reviews for your shop if it has collected at least 100 reviews with an average rating of at least 3.5 stars in the past 12 months. For Product Reviews, your shop must have collected at least 50 reviews with comments across all products.
Once you have booked Google integration, Trusted Shops transfers your collected ratings to your Google Merchant Center daily via a direct interface. Nevertheless, it can then take between six and eight weeks for your reviews to appear on Google for the first time. Even after this initial delay, the publication date of new ratings on Google can lag up to ten days behind.
Please also note: Google itself decides on the basis of its algorithms whether and when star ratings are displayed in a Google Ads ad. Trusted Shops has no influence over this. With Google integration, however, you ensure that your star ratings are available to the search engine and that Google can display them.
When do collected reviews appear in my review profile?
As soon as your shop collects a shop review, this is added into your average score, which is displayed as star ratings in your Trustbadge, for example. After 24 hours at the latest, the review will also be published in your review profile, as well as other places. In this profile, interested customers can view all your collected shop reviews and get detailed information about your shop. The review profile is therefore the heart of your reviews on the web.
The review profile can be accessed via the Trustbadge. In addition, high-quality SEO content is created through authentic reviews. This makes the review profile an important touchpoint when customers search for your shop and reviews via Google. In order to make use of the full SEO potential of the profile and to offer your clientele the most helpful information possible, you should provide detailed information about your company in the review profile. You should also make sure that this information is always up to date.