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.
- After your Merchant Center account is enabled for Product Ratings data sources, you can upload your product reviews data source. To do so, navigate to “Products” then 'Product reviews” in your Merchant Center account. From there you can create and upload a new data source. Ensure your data source includes unique product identifiers like GTIN, or Brand + MPN.
- For detailed information on the XML feed format and setup in Merchant Center, refer to the developer site. Note that it can take 2-4 weeks for reviews to go live after the review process. You may also be required to submit your data source monthly to remain eligible for the program.
Eligibility requirements
- If you or an aggregator are 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 to maintain eligibility.
- The domains in the <
product_url> of the review data source must match the registered domain in your Merchant Center account. - Your data source will undergo a data quality and policy review by Google specialists. This process can take a few weeks, and reviews typically go live 2 to 4 weeks after a successful review.
- Your data source must be onboarded into the program. This onboarding process involves a data quality and policy review and typically takes 2 to 4 weeks for reviews to go live on Google Shopping.
- You must use a standalone Merchant Center account or a sub-account, not a Multi-Client Account (MCA), and have administrative access to it.
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 2 to 4 weeks of the onboarding process. During the initial onboarding phase, your account status may show as “inactive” for approximately 3–4 days while the system synchronizes. After your store is onboarded, your data source passes data quality and policy reviews, and is active in the program, the status will display as “active”. Product ratings and reviews usually appear live on Google within 2-4 weeks after a successful review and approval.
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.
Disapproved products: If you have products disapproved due to policy violations such as Healthcare and Medicine policies, you must correct these issues and then request a review for those specific products. Ensure all products comply with Google’s Merchant Center policies.
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.