An SEO Professional was perplexed regarding many changes occurring on German websites, and thought it may be due to the product reviews update.
They were curious about whether this issue could be due to the product reviews update rolling out or other updates that are happening.
They also asked whether the product reviews update would affect sites other than English sites, as was mentioned in Google’s original blog post announcing the update.
John said that he wasn’t sure regarding other languages. His assumption was that the product reviews update was global and across all languages.
He further expounded that they usually push the engineering team to make a solid decision on product rollout so they can properly document it in the blog posts.
He is not 100 percent sure if this happened with the product reviews update.
He does, however, believe that this is something that they could be doing and that the product reviews update wouldn’t be tied to just English.
Even if it were English, he continued, it’s something that is likely relevant across the board. And he believes that they should also try and find a way to roll this update out to other languages over time.
He wouldn’t be surprised that there are changes of this nature in Germany. But, he was also really cautious about saying for sure whether or not this was due to the product reviews update.
This happens at approximately the 13:48 mark in the video.
John Mueller Hangout Transcript
Hi, good morning, again, I was a little bit surprised to see that the webmaster hangouts taking place today. So thanks a lot for that. And then for all the other Hangouts as well. John, thank you. Yeah, I figured out the question. It’s about the product reviews update.
I was seeing that even if the update only affects English-speaking websites, so I was seeing some movements in German search as well. So I was wondering if there could also be an effect on websites and other languages by this product reviews update or any kind?
So because we have lots of movement and volatility in the last weeks. And so yeah, my question is, is it possible that product reviews update affects other sites as well?
John 14:50
I don’t know, like other languages? My assumption was this was global and across all languages, but I don’t know what we announced in the blog post specifically. But usually we try to push the the engineering team to make a decision on that so that we can document it properly in the blog post.
I don’t know if that happened with with the product reviews update. Don’t recall the complete blog post. But it’s it’s from from my point of view, it seems like something that we could be doing in multiple languages and wouldn’t be tied to just English. And even if it were English, initially, it feels like something that is relevant across the board.
And we should try to find ways to roll that out to other languages over time, as well. So I’m not particularly surprised that you see the changes in Germany. But I also don’t know what we actually announced with regards to the locations and languages that are involved.
SEO Professional 4 15:59
Yeah, I was just checking to be sure. And, yeah, the blog post said it’s only English websites, English language websites. So this was because I was so surprised. But yeah. Good to know anyway. And even if it’s only targeted on English-speaking websites, you say it could affect other sites as well, sooner or later? Ok.
John 16:29
Now, I mean, usually, usually, that’s the goal with these kinds of updates, where we try to get started with one language or one location and see, kind of like what we need to tweak. And then we expand from there. And I imagine with something that is more content related, usually it takes a bit longer to expand to different languages.
But I, I honestly don’t know what all they’re looking at here. But I, at the same time, I also wouldn’t expect to see this as being something that like over the Christmas holiday, we suddenly roll it out and 12 other languages kind of thing. Because the team that works on this also goes on holiday at some point.
And if they launched something briefly before they go on holidays, and it breaks, then they have to kind of cancel their holidays as well and fix it again. So we try to avoid that little bit.
SEO Professional 4 17:25
And it’s good to know so we can relax a little bit in the next few days.
John 17:30
I don’t know if you can relax. I find holidays really stressful just on their own. So whatever.
