If you publish reviews, “best of” lists or comparison pages, your rankings may move over the next few weeks. Google released the November 2023 reviews update on 8 November 2023. It applies to review content in 11 languages, and it lands while the November 2023 core update is still rolling out.
The biggest news is not the update itself. Google says this is the last reviews update it will announce. From now on, the reviews system will be improved on a regular, ongoing basis, without a named release you can point to.
Below I’ll explain what was released, what that “last announced” change means for you, how to tell this update apart from the core update, and what I would do with review pages right now.
What Is the November 2023 Reviews Update?
The November 2023 reviews update is a refresh of Google’s reviews system. That is the part of Google’s ranking that tries to reward high-quality reviews: ones with real analysis and original research, written by people who know the topic well.
Google posted the release on its Search Status Dashboard on the morning of 8 November 2023 (US Pacific time). The post said the update had been released, and that Google would no longer post about future reviews system updates on the dashboard. You can read it on the Search Status Dashboard incident page.
Google gave no rollout length in that post. It also did not publish new guidance for writing reviews. So, as with the last few rounds, this looks like a refresh of the same system with the same expectations.
A Quick History of Reviews Updates
This is the eighth confirmed update to the system since it launched in April 2021:
- April 2021: the first product reviews update, English only.
- December 2021: more advice on evidence of testing and linking to more than one seller.
- March 2022: more advice on ranked lists and “best” picks.
- July 2022 and September 2022: two refreshes, still English only.
- February 2023: expansion to 10 more languages.
- April 2023: “product” was dropped from the name, and the system began covering reviews of almost anything.
- November 2023: the update rolling out now, and the last one Google plans to announce.
If you want the detail on the April change, I covered it in the April 2023 reviews update and what “beyond product reviews” means.
What the Reviews System Looks at Now
Since April 2023, the system is no longer only about products. Google’s documentation says it looks at reviews of:
- Products, such as phones, mattresses or software.
- Services and businesses, such as hotels, restaurants or web hosts.
- Destinations, such as places to visit.
- Media, such as movies, games and books.
It covers single reviews, head-to-head comparisons and ranked lists like “Best Budget Laptops for Students”.
First-Party Reviews, Not Customer Reviews
This is a point I see confused a lot. The reviews system assesses reviews you write and publish yourself: articles, blog posts and pages that give advice or opinions.
It does not assess third-party reviews, such as the star ratings and comments customers leave on your product pages. So if you run an online shop, your customer review section is not the target here. Your buying guides and “best of” blog posts may well be.
Page Level, but Sometimes Site Wide
Google says the system mainly works page by page. But for sites with a lot of review content, any content on the site may be evaluated.
In plain terms: if reviews are a small corner of your site, a weak review page is mostly a problem for that page. If reviews are your whole business, weak reviews can weigh on the site as a whole. That is why I treat review quality as a site-level job on affiliate and review sites, not a page-by-page clean-up.
Which Languages Are Included
The system applies worldwide to reviews in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese and Polish. If you publish in one of these languages, this update can affect you, wherever your readers are.
Why Being the Last Announced Update Matters
Until now, reviews updates came in clear waves. Google named them, you saw rankings move, and you checked your pages against a known date. Many site owners also waited for the next named update to see if their fixes had worked.
That pattern ends here. Google says the reviews system will now be improved at a regular and ongoing pace, and it will not post about those changes. Three things follow from that:
- No more waiting for the next update. If you improve your reviews, the system can pick up the change over time. You don’t need a named release to get credit.
- Harder diagnosis. When rankings drop on review pages in future, there won’t be a dated announcement to match it to. You will need your own records of what changed and when.
- Review quality becomes a standing task. It is no longer something you fix after an update and then forget about.
My honest view: this is good news for sites doing the work and bad news for sites that improve only when an update hits. I’d plan review refreshes on a regular schedule, the same way you plan any other content upkeep.
The Core Update Overlap: How to Tell Them Apart
This update arrived only six days after the November 2023 core update started on 2 November. The core update was still rolling out when the reviews update was released. I wrote about that release in the November 2023 core update, the third in three months.
So if your traffic moved in early November, you have at least two possible causes. You can’t fully separate them, but you can narrow it down:
- Check the timing. Changes from 2 to 7 November point more to the core update. A fresh shift from 8 November onward, mainly on review pages, points more to the reviews update.
- Check which pages moved. If only reviews, comparisons and “best of” pages changed, the reviews system is a likely cause. If guides, category pages and news posts moved too, the core update is more likely.
- Check the page type, not just the topic. A “How to Clean a Coffee Grinder” guide is not a review. A “Best Coffee Grinders” list is.
Also keep in mind the busy autumn. The August, September and October changes, including the September 2023 helpful content update, all landed within a few months. A drop on review pages may have started earlier than you think.
How to Check If the November 2023 Reviews Update Affected Your Site
Here is the process I use. It works best if you wait until the rankings settle before you make big decisions.
- Wait before you act. Rankings tend to swing during a rollout. I’d note what you see now, but hold major changes until things settle.
- Group your review pages. In the Search Console Performance report, filter by page. Use a URL pattern if your reviews live in a folder like
/reviews/or/best/. If not, export the pages and tag the review pages in a spreadsheet. - Compare the right periods. Compare clicks, impressions and average position for review pages in the weeks before 2 November with the weeks after the rollouts. Do the same for non-review pages.
- Look for a split. If review pages dropped and other pages held steady, the reviews update is a strong suspect. If everything dropped, look at the core update and your wider site quality first.
- Rule out other causes. Check seasonality (November is a busy shopping month for many niches), tracking changes, recent site changes, and lost links.
- Read the results pages yourself. Search your main review keywords. Note which pages now rank above yours and what they offer that you don’t.
- Keep a change log. Write down every content change you make, with the date. With no future announcements, this log will be your best tool for diagnosis.
When I check a review site, the first thing I look at is the split between review and non-review pages. It answers more questions than any other single check.
What Google Wants From Reviews
Google has not added new advice with this update. Its published best practices for writing high-quality reviews still apply, and you can read the full list in Google’s guide to writing high-quality reviews.
Here is how I group that advice into what actually matters on the page.
Proof You Used It
Google asks for evidence of real experience. That means your own photos, video, audio, test results or other proof that you used the product, stayed at the hotel, or played the game.
Stock images and the maker’s product shots don’t show experience. In my experience, this is the gap that most often separates reviews that hold up from those that slip. It also fits Google’s December 2022 change from E-A-T to E-E-A-T, which added “Experience”.
Real Measurements and Comparisons
Good reviews share numbers where they help: battery life you measured, how long delivery took, load times on a web host. Then they compare against similar options and say which suits which person.
A sentence like “Option A is better for small kitchens, Option B for families” is more useful than a spec table copied from the box.
Honest Pros and Cons
Google asks you to discuss benefits and drawbacks based on your own research. A review with no real downsides reads like an advert.
I tell writers to name at least one real weakness for every product they recommend. If they can’t find one, they probably haven’t used it enough.
Clear Reasons for Each Pick
If you call something “best overall” or “best for beginners”, explain why, with first-hand evidence. Also explain what sets it apart from its rivals and which factors matter most for the decision.
Ranked Lists That Stand on Their Own
Many sites publish a “Top 10” list with two lines per product and a link to a separate full review. Google says ranked lists should have enough useful content to stand on their own.
That does not mean every list needs to be huge. It means each entry should say who it is for, why it made the list, and its main downside.
Helpful Links, Including More Than One Seller
Google suggests linking to other useful resources and, where it helps, to more than one seller so readers can choose where to buy. I see this as a reader-first habit, not a box to tick.
What I Would Do This Week
Whether you lost, gained or saw no change, here is how I would spend the next few weeks.
If Your Review Pages Dropped
- Start with your top pages. Pick the 10 to 20 review pages that lost the most clicks. Fixing these well beats lightly editing 200.
- Score each page honestly. Does it show first-hand use? Real comparisons? Real downsides? Clear reasons for each pick?
- Decide: improve, merge or remove. Pages you can’t add real experience to may be better merged into a stronger page or removed.
- Show who wrote it. Add a clear byline and a short author bio that explains why this person can judge the product.
- Don’t just make pages longer. Adding 1,000 words of filler does not add evidence. In my experience, a shorter page with real proof beats a long page without it.
If Your Review Pages Gained
Don’t relax. With ongoing updates, what worked this month needs to keep working. I’d use this time to note what your winning pages have in common, and apply that to the pages that are still weak.
If Nothing Changed
That is fine, and it is common. Many sites with a small number of reviews see little movement. Still, I’d set a regular review cycle, every few months, to check prices, models and claims are up to date. Outdated picks are one of the most common problems I see on review pages.
Common Mistakes I See on Review Pages
- Rewritten manufacturer specs. If your review only repeats the product listing, it adds nothing new.
- Lists of products nobody tested. A “Best 15” list where the writer clearly used none of them is exactly what this system is built to push down.
- Fake “testing” claims. Saying “we tested” without any proof does not help. Show the test.
- Old picks left in place. Recommending a product that has been replaced or discontinued tells readers the page is not looked after.
- Every product is a winner. If every item gets 4.5 stars and no drawbacks, readers and Google have little reason to trust the page.
- Chasing quick fixes after a drop. Changing titles, adding schema or swapping word counts rarely fixes a quality problem. Better evidence does.
How Long Recovery Can Take
Google’s documentation says that if you improve your content, affected pages may recover over time. It also says rankings depend on many factors and can change at any time.
In the past, many sites saw their biggest recovery around the next named reviews update. With no more named updates, that waiting game is over. The system can now pick up your improvements as it is refreshed, but nobody outside Google knows exactly how often that happens.
My advice is to think in months, not days. Make real improvements, log them, and judge the trend over the following months rather than week to week.
Conclusion: What the November 2023 Reviews Update Means for You
The November 2023 reviews update is a refresh of the same system, in the same 11 languages, with the same advice: show real experience, compare honestly, name the downsides and explain your picks. What’s new is that Google won’t announce future reviews updates, so review quality is now an ongoing job.
Your next step: wait for rankings to settle, then split your Search Console data into review and non-review pages to see which update affected you. If you are still unsure what Google is looking for, start with your 10 most important review pages and check each one against the points above.
