Another tidbit I wanted to pull out of my larger story on the Google Product Reviews update was that when Google does refreshes or updates to this algorithm, Google may not announce those updates or even confirm the update has been made.
Danny Sullivan of Google on Twitter "unlike with core updates, we might not always post when a refresh happens given the more limited nature of content involved here." In short, Google does not want to be on the hook to give updates to this update and tell us new things that roll out specific to this update. Google has not always given us updates to smaller core update refreshes as well - so this is not really a new thing for just the product reviews update.
Danny added that since they might not give updates with this algorithm, it is important for us to "keep working" towards the advice Google gave on this and core updates, to stay ahead of future updates - confirmed or unconfirmed.
Here are those tweets:
At the moment, there's a periodic refresh. Unlike with core updates, we might not always post when a refresh happens given the more limited nature of content involved here. So overall, sites should consider the advice & keep working to it (true of core updates as well!).
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) April 9, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
