Those of you who actively utilize Google Shopping probably noticed that some of your search results look a bit different today. Those of you browsing Google within the United States will see product ratings appear in the form of stars and review counts on Product Listing Ads. This 5-star rating system represents aggregated rating and review data for the product your searching for, compiled from multiple sources including merchants, third party aggregators, editorial sites and users.
Product ratings are available to all merchants who are targeting the United States and choose to share all of their product review content with Google. Take note here that Google is offering a grace period from late July through October, 2014. During this grace period, Google will allow product ratings to be shown across all Product Listing Ads where product review data is available. After the grace period ratings and reviews will only be shown for those merchants who have opted to share their reviews with Google.
Take note that product ratings are merely an extension of a Product Listing Ad – and as such it may not always appear. If you would like to enable product ratings on your Product Listing Ads, please begin the process of submitting your review content to Google by completing the product ratings form. Feel free to read more about the new extension here.