Google displays aggregate product reviews compiled from multiple sources on ads and free listings. Participating in the Product Ratings program allows you to become eligible to have aggregated star ratings displayed on your Shopping ads. To become eligible to display Product Rating star ratings on your ads, you must share your product reviews with Google.
How to participate and gain eligibility
There are ways to participate in the Product Ratings program and gain eligibility to show product reviews on your Shopping ads:
- If you work with a supported reviews aggregator, you can have them submit your product reviews to Google for you. View the list of supported reviews aggregators. These data sources are submitted through an integration with Google outside of the Merchant Center.
- If you don’t work with a supported reviews aggregator, you can sign up for Product Ratings and submit your product reviews through Merchant Center.
Eligibility requirements
- If you or an aggregator is submitting your reviews data source:
- You must have a minimum of 50 reviews across all of your products. If you have less than 50 reviews, your product ratings will not show on Google Shopping or Google Ads.
- Your product review data source must be uploaded at least once a month and must contain updated reviews.
- The domains in the <
product_url> of the review data source must match the registered domain in your Merchant Center account. - Your data source must be onboarded into the program. This process can take a few weeks.
Eligibility status
For merchants submitting product reviews data sources in Merchant Center, your account will display a Product Ratings eligibility status for the Product Ratings program.
If submitting data sources, the eligibility status in Merchant Center will show a status of ‘inactive’ during the onboarding process. After your store is onboarded and active in the program, the status will display as ‘active’.
For merchants sharing reviews solely through a supported reviews aggregators, your Merchant Center account will not have a section that displays Product Ratings eligibility status. Eligibility can be confirmed by verifying Product Ratings are appearing on your Shopping ads.
Troubleshooting eligibility issues
- Didn’t complete onboarding
- Data source errors or data source no longer processing
- Mismatched domain
- Eligible, but reviews aren’t matching
Keep in mind
Ratings and reviews are matched to products based on a number of factors, the more important being globally unique product identifiers such as GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers). Without GTIN data, Google will attempt to match a review through other information such as SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), Brand + MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) pairs, and product URLs. However, these identifiers generally don't offer as good a match as GTINs, which can lead to reviews not being matched to products. Without GTINs, Google may not be able to match all of your reviews to products. Learn more about unique product identifiers.
Reviews and star ratings may not always show. Google will display star ratings when the system determines that the information is accurate and relevant for customers’ needs.
Availability
Product Ratings can be used in countries where Shopping ads and free product listings are available. To be eligible for displaying star ratings on ads and listings, you must adhere to the Product Ratings policies.