Over the course of 2021, 2022, and into 2023, Google ran a series of updates specifically targeting review content. Collectively referred to as the Reviews Update, these refreshes changed how Google evaluated pages dedicated to reviewing products, services, and businesses, with significant implications for anyone publishing that kind of content.
Why Google focused on reviews
Reviews are among the most searched-for content on the internet. Before making a purchase or choosing a service provider, people routinely turn to Google to find out what others think. This makes review content enormously valuable, and where there is value, there is inevitably an incentive to produce low-quality content to capture it.
By the early 2020s, a large amount of review content online was thin, generic, and often written by people with no genuine experience of the product or service in question. Articles listing the best options in a category, written without any real testing or first-hand knowledge, had become commonplace. Google’s users were noticing that this content wasn’t particularly useful, and the Reviews Update was designed to address that.
What the update rewarded
Google was unusually specific about what it was looking for in high-quality review content when it communicated around these updates. Pages that demonstrated genuine first-hand experience with the subject being reviewed were favoured. This meant showing evidence of actual use, discussing specific features or aspects in meaningful detail, and providing the kind of insight that only comes from real engagement with a product or service.
Quantitative measurements, original visuals, and comparisons with similar alternatives were all cited as signals of genuine review content. The key question Google was asking was whether the person writing the review had actually used what they were writing about.
The broader implication for expertise and experience
The Reviews Update aligned closely with an expansion Google made to its quality rater guidelines around the same time. The original E-A-T framework, covering Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, was expanded to E-E-A-T, with an additional E added for Experience. This recognised that first-hand experience of a topic is a form of credibility in its own right, distinct from formal expertise.
A plumber writing about common boiler problems has a form of credibility that comes from years of hands-on experience, even if they don’t hold a formal academic qualification in the subject. The Reviews Update and the E-E-A-T framework both reflect Google’s attempt to surface content written by people who genuinely know what they’re talking about.
What this means for your business
If your business publishes any form of review or comparison content, the standard has been raised. Generic roundups written without genuine engagement with the subject are increasingly unlikely to perform well.
More broadly, the expansion to E-E-A-T is a prompt for every business to think about how they demonstrate real-world experience through their website. Case studies, testimonials backed by verifiable detail, content that draws on your team’s actual day-to-day knowledge, and an honest and specific account of what you do and how you do it all contribute to the signals Google is looking for.
