Google Starts Categorizing User Reviews by Type of Reviewer
When a business receives enough reviews on Google, users examining those reviews will start to see keywords available to filter feedback by topic. This section is called “Place Topics”. The top of a business’s review section will show commonly mentioned features such as customer service, individual products, or other unique aspects of the business. Along with this type of filtration, Google is taking a step further to add potential context.
Context is immensely helpful when looking at a company’s reviews and as such, Google will specify what type of user is leaving feedback on their experience. For example, a tourist attraction may see the reviewer categorized as a solo vacationer, a couple, or a family. This additional information will be greatly helpful for similar travelers who, while not finding the information provided by families invalid, is not looking for content provided by that type of traveler. Google is adding other types of user categorization as well, such as a mentioning if a user is known to regularly review a specific business category. Someone who regularly reviews pubs may see the label “reviews X pubs” next to their name, indicating they are experienced with that type of environment.
The exact user categories available are not public information but may be in the future when this feature is fully implemented. In the interim, the user categories that are live will be useful in providing extra context that could make Google reviews even more helpful to users.
