Is Google against review blogs?

[Norman_drey]

A blog that solely focus on products and site reviews a good niche to start?

I noticed that Google is not friendly with review blogs, how true?
My offline friend has a review blog and he's pulling more traffic every month, this is his 3rd month and no sign or issue with Google update.

 

[tiiberius]

Yes, these types of blogs are getting hammered these days.

You should have larger portion of content informational, not commercial.

 

[kalpana007]

They had an entire update targeting these type of websites. You should mix the content with informational articles.

 

[MKSKS]

No they aren't but they have some specific guidelines for webmasters to follow.

Read more here: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-april-2023-reviews-update/484503/

 

[AliceInSEOLand]

In my many years of doing SEO...

They ARE against such sites, especially since those reviews updates and HCU to their algo. Against in the sense that Google wants to reduce your organic traffic and not let you piggyback on them.

If you ever google for reviews now, they've intentionally flooded the search results with YouTube videos, paid ads, PAA and all the other distracting elements.

 

[laur.laurix]

G is against everything that don't make them money

 

[sislovavaleria1]

Yes, google blocks these types of blog.

 

[sageshark]

If you have a blog that ONLY talks about product reviews then of course Google will hammer it.

You should build informational content, a lot of it, and then slowly and gradually insert the affiliate links and product reviews in it in such a way that should look natural.

Also make sure that the ratio of products/ reviews vs informational posts should be in favor of informational posts.

 

[Black Belt Spodermen]

I noticed that Google is not friendly with review blogs, how true?

I don't think that's the case. I still get views on my several year old product reviews posts. You can go for it.

 

[KHer0]

Google hate seo as a whole. It thinka of us as leechers who are making money without paying for it.

This is why, the more commercial the keyword it, the harsher they are toward you.

It only make sense, and dealing with it as part of the business will help you during planning and doing seo as general

 

[Rulingseo]

Yeah, I am also heard about it, those blogs are harmed nowadays,

so Google blocks them.

 

[CmD55]

In my view, the best thing to use these days are "how to do" blogs.
I write a lot of useful content and guides there, and I usually include a commercial link at the end.

 

[netizenwizard]

It is true that Google has been cracking down on review blogs in recent years. But I've seen some people succeeding in this niche when they did their SEO right. and there is a lot of demand for product reviews.

 

[Enteryme]

G is against everything that don't make them money

Absolutely, they want marketers to pay for Ads

 

[HustleTong]

Major competition for Google's own product listing at the top
Tough call for a new site

 

[Agency Viser]

yeah harshly truth it is . that also seemed to me .

 

[blogmen]

Google doesn't hate them per se. It's just that the competition is high and you need a lot of authority to get traffic.

 

[roydan]

It's a spammy industry where 90% of the reviewers never tried any products, rewriting product descriptions and adding affiliate links.

Google recently changed their state of mind from "innocent until proven guilty" to "suspicious until proven innocent". To prove that you are organic traffic worthy you need to post unique pictures of the products and your personal view of it, in a way that shows that you used it yourself.

You can fake it, but it became very hard.

 

[Nikolaos]

Yes they are against them.

 

[Branroot]

google is not against review blog but it does have a specific guidelines and expectation for website that publish reviews