Google announced that it is rolling out a new consumer ratings annotations format for search ads, which gives users “detailed” consumer opinion data. Don’t worry. They highlight the good ratings.
Specifically, Google says the ads will highlight one or more strongly rated aspects of your business as part of the ad. Here’s what they look like:
The data comes from Google Consumer Surveys, which Google launched two years ago.
Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of these things for Google to draw from. The new ad format could offer businesses greater incentive to take advantage of them.
“Google Consumer Surveys provides a controlled platform for sampling consumer opinion, helping to avoid some of the potential biases and risks with other types of open-to-everyone review platforms,” says product manager Shreyas Doshi. “Each rating is based on at least hundreds of completed surveys, with the average above 1000. We plan to regularly refresh the survey data to keep the ratings current.”
“Whether users are searching for clothes, car insurance, or a holiday, they have never had so much choice,” Doshi says. “And as users increasingly rely on the opinions and experiences of others to help them choose, a brand’s reputation matters more than ever before. That’s why we’ve developed ways to show ratings, reviews and social endorsements for your business as part of your search ads on Google. This kind of information makes your ads more useful to potential customers and can improve ad performance.”
Last fall, Google updated its terms and services to enable the “social endorsements,” which put users’ names and faces in ads, so other users can see when their friends have recommended services.
Google also launched survey ads for display and video campaigns last year. These are powered by the Consumer Surveys product as well.
According to the company, based on tests with beta advertisers, the new search ad format can increase click-through rates by 10% on average.
Image via Google