{"id":5507,"date":"2022-08-10T13:49:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T13:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T13:49:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T13:49:18","slug":"google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers\/","title":{"rendered":"Google July 2022 product reviews update had very little ranking volatility, say data providers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On July 27th, Google released its fourth product reviews update named the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-releases-july-2022-product-reviews-update-386763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">July 2022 product reviews update<\/a>. That update took a short and sweet six days to roll out and was <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-is-finished-rolling-out-386949\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">completed on August 2nd<\/a>. In short, this July update was almost none existent to most of the data providers we asked, where in aggregate, there were very few signs of any real Google update during that six-day time period.<\/p>\n<p>Let me add the caveat that if a site was hit by this update, it 100% felt like a major update, where the site can see traffic changes upwards of 80%. Plenty of sites were hit hard and if your site was one of them, this story is not to diminish that in any way.  This story just says that it was not as widespread as previous product review updates or core updates. But in the aggregate, it seemed this update was pretty minor across Google\u2019s search results, as a whole.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers\/#Data_providers_show_the_July_update_was_minor\" >Data providers show the July update was minor<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers\/#More_on_the_July_2022_product_reviews_update\" >More on the July 2022 product reviews update<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Data_providers_show_the_July_update_was_minor\"><\/span>Data providers show the July update was minor<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Semrush.\u00a0<\/strong>Semrush data showed that the July product reviews update was \u201cincredibly mild,\u201d Mordy Oberstein, Semrush\u2019s communications advisor said. <\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0change in rank volatility between the July 2022 product reviews update and the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/googles-march-2022-product-reviews-update-was-smaller-than-the-december-2021-product-reviews-update-say-data-providers-383374\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 2022 product reviews update<\/a>, the data shows that the increases are minimal. Some niches \u201cdidn\u2019t even crack a full point increase, the highest fluctuation rate the Semrush Sensor recorded during the update,\u201d Mordy Oberstein added. <\/p>\n<p>This charge shows a comparison between the July and March 2022 product reviews updates, showing July was almost insignificant compared to March:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/semrush-pru-july-compare.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387063\" width=\"800\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>This also works when you just isolate the peak changes, the most volatile snapshot in time during the update, you really cannot compare the two. It is like the July update was nothing compared to the March update.<\/p>\n<p>Here is another interesting chart showing the newly ranked URLs after each update and also the URLs not previously in the top 20. Click on each chart to expand:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/semrush-pru-july-compare-new-urls.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"417\" height=\"600\" data-id=\"387064\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/semrush-pru-july-compare-new-urls-417x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387064\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/semrush-pru-july-compare-new-urls-not.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"417\" height=\"600\" data-id=\"387066\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/semrush-pru-july-compare-new-urls-not-417x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387066\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Just one note, around June 15th, Semrush updated its Sensor to adjust the levels of sensitivity it used down.  Semrush confirmed this with us today but also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/semrush\/status\/1537511269665841153\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">posted<\/a> about it on Twitter some time ago, which is why we asked for confirmation on this story.  That being said, the other tools showed similar findings, which was very little volatility related to this update.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RankRanger\/Similarweb.\u00a0<\/strong>RankRanger, a company of Similarweb, showed similar results, where RankRanger data \u201cdidn\u2019t see any unusual rank fluctuations,\u201d according to Shay Harel from the company. \u201cThe latest Product Review update was pretty uneventful,\u201d Shay Harel added. This is based on both RankRanger and SimilarWeb, <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/similarweb-rank-ranger-acquisition-seo-386111\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RankRanger\u2019s new parent company<\/a>, data where both traffic data and rank fluctuation data show lower levels of fluctuations.<\/p>\n<p>This chart below shows that the fluctuations and volatility during the period of time of the July 2022 product reviews update were limited, to say the least:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/rankranger-fluct-800x467.jpg\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387068\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>Now that RankRanger has Similarweb, they can now also compare traffic from Google Search to compare on that level. And that also showed that the December update was larger than the July update:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Dec-vs-July-Core-Update-800x403.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387069\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>RankRanger compared this July update with the December update, not the March one. So keep that in mind, since Semrush compared it to the March update, which was the most recent one we had prior to this July update.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Average-position-Change-Comparison_Dec-2-728x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387070\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>Now broken down by position, you see a similar picture:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Average-position-Change-Comparison_Dec-728x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387071\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>RankRanger also showed the volatility by niche for this last update:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Average-position-Change-Comparison_Dec-1-728x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387072\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p>Here are some top winners and losers from Similarweb\u2019s data:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-Top-10-Traffic-Gains.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"600\" data-id=\"387074\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-Top-10-Traffic-Gains-728x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387074\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-Top-10-Traffic-Declines.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"600\" data-id=\"387073\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-Top-10-Traffic-Declines-728x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387073\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-2022-vs-Dec-2021-Top-10-Traffic-Gains.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-2022-vs-Dec-2021-Top-10-Traffic-Gains-800x366.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387075\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-2022-vs-Dec-2021-Top-10-Traffic-Declines.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/July-2022-vs-Dec-2021-Top-10-Traffic-Declines-800x366.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387076\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Sistrix. <\/strong>Again, the data shows the same story, \u201cafter an initial analysis it\u2019s clear that this update did not have a major impact on SERPs,\u201d Steve Paine from Sistrix told us. Sistrix sent us a few examples of sites that did see movement both up and down after this update:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/US-example-winning-domains-percent.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/US-example-winning-domains-percent-800x339.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387077\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/US-example-losing-domains-percent.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/US-example-losing-domains-percent-800x339.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387078\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p><strong>seoClarity and Moz. <\/strong>Both of those toolset providers told us they saw very little, just like the toolsets above.  \u201cOur internal tools are showing minimal changes,\u201d Mitul Gandhi from seoClarity told us. He added that it is \u201chard to tell in a quick view\u00a0anything\u00a0more than standard fluctuations.\u201d Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz also told me that he was unable to pin down a lot on this last update, saying there is not much to see with this update.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"More_on_the_July_2022_product_reviews_update\"><\/span>More on the July 2022 product reviews update<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Google product reviews update.\u00a0<\/strong>The Google product reviews update aims to promote review content that is above and beyond much of the templated information you see on the web. Google said it will promote these types of product reviews in its search results rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Google is not directly punishing lower-quality product reviews that have \u201cthin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products.\u201d However, if you provide such content and find your rankings demoted because other content is promoted above yours, it will definitely feel like a penalty. Technically, according to Google, this is not a penalty against your content, Google is just rewarding sites with more insightful review content with rankings above yours.<\/p>\n<p>Technically, this update should only impact product review content and not other types of content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>July 27 to August 6.\u00a0<\/strong>This\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-releases-july-2022-product-reviews-update-386763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">July 2022 product reviews update<\/a>\u00a0only took six days to fully roll out and to be honest, that is surprising. We saw very\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/july-2022-google-product-reviews-update-friday-33842.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">limited changes<\/a>\u00a0from the tracking tools and honestly, while some sites seemed to get hard by this update, it does not seem there was a lot of SEO community chatter around ranking changes due to this update. In fact, we saw a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/tracking-tools-google-product-reviews-update-volatility-33859.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spike on August 3rd<\/a>\u00a0but clearly, that was after this update was complete.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to do if you are hit.\u00a0<\/strong>Google has\u00a0given advice\u00a0on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by this product reviews update. We posted that advice in our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-product-reviews-algorithm-update-347568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">original story over here<\/a>. In addition, Google provided two new best practices around this update, one saying to provide more multimedia around your product reviews and the second is to provide links to multiple sellers, not just one. Google posted these two items:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide evidence such as visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience with the product, to support your expertise and reinforce the authenticity of your review.<\/li>\n<li>Include links to multiple sellers to give the reader the option to purchase from their merchant of choice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google added the following criteria for what matters with the March 2022 product reviews update:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs, or how the product differs from previous versions<\/li>\n<li>Come from people who have actually used the products, and show what the product is physically like or how it\u2019s used<\/li>\n<li>Include unique information beyond what the manufacturer provides \u2014 like visuals, audio or links to other content detailing the reviewer\u2019s experience<\/li>\n<li>Cover comparable products, or explain what sets a product apart from its competitors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google added three new points of new advice for this third release of the products reviews update:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are product review updates relevant to ranked lists and comparison reviews? Yes. Product review updates apply to all forms of review content. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/advanced\/ecommerce\/write-high-quality-product-reviews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">best practices<\/a>\u00a0we\u2019ve shared also apply. However, due to the shorter nature of ranked lists, you may want to demonstrate expertise and reinforce authenticity in a more concise way. Citing pertinent results and including original images from tests you performed with the product can be good ways to do this.<\/li>\n<li>Are there any recommendations for reviews recommending \u201cbest\u201d products? If you recommend a product as the best overall or the best for a certain purpose, be sure to share with the reader why you consider that product the best. What sets the product apart from others in the market? Why is the product particularly suited for its recommended purpose? Be sure to include supporting first-hand evidence.<\/li>\n<li>If I create a review that covers multiple products, should I still create reviews for the products individually? It can be effective to write a high-quality ranked list of related products in combination with in-depth single-product reviews for each recommended product.\u00a0 If you write both, make sure there is enough useful content in the ranked list for it to stand on its own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why we care.\u00a0<\/strong>If your website offers product review content, you will want to check your rankings to see if you were impacted. Did your Google organic traffic improve, decline, or stay the same? Long term, you are going to want to ensure that going forward, you put a lot more detail and effort into your product review content so that it is unique and stands out from the competition on the web.<\/p>\n<p>We hope you, your company, and your clients did well with this update.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-july-2022-product-reviews-update-had-very-little-ranking-volatility-say-data-providers-387061\" target=\"_blank\">Google July 2022 product reviews update had very little ranking volatility, say data providers<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On July 27th, Google released its fourth product reviews update named the July 2022 product reviews update. That update took a short and sweet six days to roll out and was completed on August 2nd. In short, this July update was almost none existent to most of the data providers we asked, where in aggregate, there were very few signs of any real Google update during that six-day time period. Let me add the caveat that if a site was hit by this update, it 100% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}