Google Product Reviews Update (21 February 2023): What Changed and How to Recover

The Google February 2023 product reviews update was released around 5pm ET on 21 February 2023 and marked complete on 7 March 2023, a 14-day rollout. It was the sixth product reviews update and the first to go beyond English, applying the product reviews system globally in 11 languages. If you publish reviews in Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese or Polish, this was the first time this system judged your pages.

See where it fits in my full list of Google algorithm updates.

What the February 2023 product reviews update changed

The guidance for good product reviews did not change. What changed was who it applied to. Until this update, the product reviews system only assessed English-language content. In February 2023 Google expanded it to 11 languages and said the update “applies to these languages globally.”

“Globally” means the language matters, not the country. A Portuguese review site is in scope whether its readers are in Brazil or Portugal; a Spanish site whether its audience is in Mexico or Spain.

The practical effect was that the same standard English review sites had been held to since April 2021 (evidence of use, original insight, comparisons, clear verdicts) now applied to review content in those languages too. Many non-English affiliate sites had been built on the patterns that earlier updates had already pushed down in English results, such as translated spec sheets and “top 10” lists with no testing.

Timeline

There is a recorded discrepancy over the end date. The dashboard-based record says 7 March, while Search Engine Journal’s algorithm history lists 18 March. I go with the dashboard, as it is Google’s own log, but if you see a different date elsewhere, that is why. It was also the first update recorded in the ranking history of the then-new Search Status Dashboard.

Who was affected

Industry observers reported that non-English review and affiliate sites were affected for the first time. I have not found reliable published figures on how large the movements were, so I will not estimate them.

Based on what the system assesses, the sites most exposed were:

• affiliate sites in the newly covered languages built from translated or rewritten English reviews
• multilingual publishers who rolled out the same review template across several language versions
• comparison sites with “best” lists generated from product feeds

How to tell if the February 2023 product reviews update hit your site

The language angle gives you a useful test that most reviews updates do not.

1. Segment by language. If you run a multilingual site, compare English review pages with review pages in the other ten languages. If English held steady and the others dropped, that fits this update closely, because English sites had already been through five rounds.
2. Use a tight window. In Search Console, compare 7 to 20 February 2023 with 8 to 14 March 2023. The later window ends before the March 2023 core update started on 15 March.
3. Filter to review URLs. Compare review pages against informational pages in the same language. Reviews system effects tend to stay on review content.
4. Check by country. If you serve one language in several countries, a drop across all of them points to this update, not a local issue.
5. Rule out other causes. Check for any hreflang changes, translation plugin updates or template changes made in February 2023.

How to recover from the February 2023 product reviews update

Google’s advice was the same as before: apply its product review best practices. The difference is that you need to apply them in every language you publish in.

1. Stop treating translations as reviews

A translated review is only as good as the original, and a translated spec list is not a review at all. Each language version should show evidence relevant to that market: products actually available there, local prices and retailers, and plugs, sizes or regulations that differ by country.

2. Add evidence of use

Your own photos, measurements, test notes and time with the product. If you have not used it, say how you researched it, and do not pretend otherwise.

3. Compare, do not just describe

Explain how a product compares with alternatives, and who should choose which. This is often the missing piece on templated sites.

4. Use local writers or reviewers

A native speaker who knows the market will notice when something reads like a translation. My international SEO service covers language-version audits and hreflang, which often turn up thin translated sections.

5. Remove thin review pages you cannot improve

If a language version has hundreds of review pages and no one to test anything, cut it down to the products you can genuinely cover.

6. Wait for re-evaluation

Improvements are generally reassessed when the reviews system next updates.

Is it still relevant today?

Yes. The 11-language coverage set here carried forward when Google broadened the system in April 2023 into the reviews system, covering services, businesses, destinations and media too. Non-English review sites have been held to the same standard ever since.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Search Status Dashboard
• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Journal: Google algorithm history
• Keywords Everywhere

If your non-English review pages lost traffic in late February or early March 2023, request a free audit. My SEO audit service reviews each language version separately, so you know exactly which pages to rewrite.