Number of reviews removed from AdWords seller ratings extensions

I noticed that the seller rating extensions in Google AdWords recently got updated. Instead of showing the number reviews collected during the last 12 months, now the review average on a scale from 1-5 is displayed. Typically stars show up when they are gathered by review providers that have agreement with Google (the list can be found here), the average is 3.5 and above and a mimumum of 30 reviews were gathered over a 12 months period. It can only be guessed why this was updated, it looks like a drive towards the quality of the advertiser rather than the quantity of reviews collected. It would make sense though to increase the number of reviews that are necessary to show them.

Zenni Optical Ad

Update to Google Seller Rating Extensions by mid January

The seller ratings extensions appearing as golden stars in Google AdWords and Google Shopping, will see a major update by January 15th. The number of providers from which consumer reviews are sourced will be limited, in an effort to increase the ratings quality. Only providers having formal agreements with Google will be considered going forward.

This is definitely a good change for consumers, as they can now trust the displayed reviews even more. It also strengthens the value reviews have for consumers to make the best choices. Business' taking a proactive approach to gathering genuine consumer reviews are at an advantage and will continue to benefit from the increased CTR's ads with stars have. On the other hand some advertisers will see their stars disappear, if they rely on consumer portals like ciao to have consumer reviews displayed in AdWords.

If you do not collect reviews proactively yet, now is definitely a good time to look into proactively collecting reviews from your customers.You can contact me for free advice on how to effectively collect reviews.

The the post by Google and the list of accredited review sources can be found on the AdWords help page:
Show seller ratings with your ads