Looking to increase your conversion rate and drive more traffic to your online store? Who isn’t? But where do you begin?
Improving your Google Seller Rating can help. Not every business has a Google Seller Rating or even knows what this number is. But for those that do, you can enjoy more visibility, more trust from consumers, and a higher click-through rate on Google Ads. Here’s what you need to know about Google Seller Ratings and how to boost yours.
What Are Google Seller Ratings?
Google Seller Ratings are a Google Ads extension that show the ratings and reviews of your online store. Your rating is aggregated automatically based on your online reviews, and it will show up on text ads and free listings.
Your seller rating will show:
- A star rating
- The total number of reviews and ratings you have received
- Sometimes a detail that demonstrates why you received the rating you did
How Google Seller Ratings Work
Google collects ratings from sources such as:
- Google Customer Reviews
- Performance metrics found via shopping research
- Third-party sites like Sitejabber
Google won’t modify existing seller ratings. Instead, Google calibrates ratings, removes spam reviews, and uses what’s left to calculate your seller rating score.
Why Your Google Seller Rating Is Important
Your seller rating is crucial because it’s a highly visible way to show your website’s ratings. These ratings are a valuable form of social proof that show up directly on Google. A good Google Seller Rating can increase customer trust and improve the performance of your Google Ads — by up to 17%. Your Google Seller Rating can also improve conversions, highlight your positive reputation, and bring more customers to your brand.
Do I Have A Google Seller Rating?
You can check to see if you have a seller rating by taking the following URL and replacing “{yourwebsite}” with the URL of your homepage:
For example, add the URL of a website that does have a rating — “https://www.maisonette.com/” — and you will see the following screen of information, with additional specific reviews shown under the cut:
On the other hand, this is what your result will look like if you do not have a Google Seller Rating, using “https://oldnavy.gap.com/” as an example:
Often, Google Seller Ratings appear automatically — with no action needed from you or your business. However, in other cases, you may need to enable seller ratings under “automated extensions” in your Google Ads dashboard.
You do not need to be a Shopping advertiser or have a Google Merchant Center account to receive a rating. And you also aren’t charged for seller ratings. If someone clicks on your ad that has a seller rating, you’ll simply be charged like normal for clicks on the ad.
Google is continually evolving its seller ratings, with more websites and stores being added over time. Google states that merchants who don’t have reviews for their store can contact Google Customer Reviews.
Problems with My Google Seller Rating
If you notice that your reviews aren’t showing up, don’t worry — there’s often a delay before new reviews appear. It’s helpful to make sure your store name and domain are the same in both your Google Merchant Center account and any third-party seller rating websites. For ratings to show up in some countries, your site needs to have 100+ unique, genuine, and recent (within the last 12 months) 3.5+ star reviews from that country.
Keep in mind, you can’t respond to reviews using the Google Merchant Center, nor will your responses show up there. You’ll need to respond to any reviews on the website where the review was written. If you think a certain rating is not correct, you’ll also need to go through the third-party site where the review lives.
How to Improve My Google Seller Rating
You can boost your Google Seller Rating by simply working to get more positive customer reviews! When determining your score, Google starts with Google Customer Reviews. This is where you should start, too. Post-purchase, your customers can take a survey about their experience with your store.
Google also uses information from third-party review platforms to calculate your rating, so you want to have as many good reviews as possible on websites like Sitejabber. Your reviews should also be recent (within the last 12 months) and genuine. Spam won’t help you here (or anywhere, for that matter) — you’re looking for authentic reviews from happy, real-life customers.
Consider setting up an email sequence to go out after a customer has bought or received an item. Ask them to leave a review on your website, Google, or on a third-party review site. To get as many reviews as possible, make the process quick, simple, and painless.
Your Google Seller Rating is a valuable way to grab the attention of potential customers. Do your best to source more online reviews — third-party review platforms like Sitejabber can help you automate it. Increasing your seller rating will help your web traffic, revenue, and overall business growth.
