Google Bans Fake and Undisclosed Incentivized Reviews in Review Snippet Structured Data

Google updated its review snippet structured data markup documentation with a new guideline:

"Don't include fake or undisclosed incentivized reviews on your page or in your structured data markup."

A review snippet is a short excerpt of a review or rating from a review site, usually an average of combined scores from many reviewers. Review snippets may appear in rich results or Google Knowledge Panels.

The examples Google gave

The guideline is somewhat obvious, but Google supplied concrete examples of fake or undisclosed reviews:

• Reviews that aren't based on a genuine experience of a product or service
• Reviews written in exchange for a benefit (money, discounts, vouchers, free products) that don't clearly and prominently disclose the incentivization

The second is where practice breaks. The problem is not receiving a benefit — it is not disclosing it.

Why now

To remain eligible for review snippets in Google Search, you have to keep following the guidelines.

The reading offered in the source: Google does not add documentation for no reason. It is likely seeing these techniques used to obtain fake reviews. So reviews acquired that way — or in breach of other guidelines — should be removed.

What to audit

1. Are sponsored reviews inside your structured data — if they are mixed into aggregateRating, the whole property is exposed
2. Is disclosure "clear and prominent" — small print at the bottom of a page may not meet the bar
3. Is there a verification step for whether reviews reflect genuine experience

If you want your review markup reviewed before it is crawled, get in touch.