Google has updated its review snippets structured data guidelines to clearly prohibit fake reviews and reviews that offer incentives without proper disclosure. The review was meant to increase transparency and help users know if an online review was authentic or not.
Google added a new guideline stating:
“Don't include fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews on your page or in your structured data markup.”
The change was introduced on Friday and appears to be the only major update made to the review snippets documentation.
Google Explains What Counts as Fake or Undisclosed Reviews
Google also provided examples to explain the types of reviews that should not be included on a webpage or in structured data markup.
These include:
- Reviews that are not based on a genuine experience with a product or service.
- Reviews written in exchange for benefits, such as money, discounts, vouchers or free products, without clearly and prominently disclosing the incentive.
- Ratings or review scores added to a website’s schema markup or code when no actual reviews are available or displayed on the webpage.
Google said the update was made “to improve user review transparency.”
Apart from this new guideline and the two examples, no other changes were identified on the page. The latest version of the documentation can also be compared with an older archived version to see the update. To stay updated, get in touch with Vybepop Media.