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Understanding the Product Ratings feed for Google Shopping

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The Product Ratings feed (or Reviews feed) lets you share your product reviews with platforms like Google in a structured, machine-readable format. It includes key attributes—such as ratings, review content, reviewer information, and verification signals—that help third-party platforms understand where your reviews come from and how they're collected.

In this article, we'll explain how the Product Ratings feed works, what each attribute means, and which settings affect the data included in the feed—so you can ensure your reviews meet platform requirements and are approved without issues.

Product Ratings feed versions

API feed vs XML feed

We provide 3 versions of the Product Ratings feed for Google Shopping. Each version differs in how reviews are sent to Google and how much setup is required.

  • API Product Ratings feed (recommended)

    This is the latest and most automated option. Instead of generating a file, Judge.me sends reviews directly to Google Merchant Center via Google's API. Reviews are uploaded automatically as they are collected, with regular background syncs.

  • New XML Product Ratings feed (legacy)
    This version generates an XML file containing your reviews, which you submit to Google Merchant Center. It was introduced to meet Google Shopping requirements when Judge.me became a pre-approved Google partner.

  • Old XML Product Ratings feed (deprecated)
    This is the original version and is no longer recommended. Like the new XML Product Ratings feed, it generates an XML file that you submit to Google. However, it uses minimal filtering and may not meet current Google requirements. It is kept for backward compatibility but may be phased out in the future.

All explanations, attributes, and settings described in this article apply to the API Product Ratings feed, unless stated otherwise.

Update your Product Ratings feed to the API version

If you're currently submitting the Product Ratings XML feed manually to Google Shopping, you can update your Product Ratings feed to the API version for reviews to sync automatically.

To update the Product Ratings feed to the API version:

  • Step 1: Update the feed version Judge.me

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Click the check box next to "I understand that I must delete my previous Google Shopping review after 10 days to avoid duplicate reviews and potential blocking of your feed".

    3. Click Upgrade.

  • Step 2: Wait for the reviews from the API Product Ratings feed to show

    • Once you click Upgrade, we'll start syncing your reviews to Google Shopping. This process typically takes around 10 days.

    • Currently, there's no way to check in Judge.me or Google Merchant Center whether reviews from the API feed have been successfully synced.

    • During this period, you may start seeing duplicate reviews in Google Shopping. This happens because:

      • Reviews from the new API feed are being added, while

      • Reviews from your existing XML feed are still active

    • Once you notice duplicate reviews, proceed to Step 3 to remove your old XML feed.
      ​

  • Step 3: Delete the Product Ratings XML feed in Google Shopping

    1. From your Google Merchant Center Next admin, on the left panel, go to Settings > Data sources.

    2. Go to the Product review sources tab.

    3. Find the XML feed from Judge.me that you submitted. It might be named "Product Reviews".

    4. Click the 3-dot icon on the right of that feed.

    5. Click Delete source.

Considerations

  • Updating your Product Ratings feed from the XML feed to the API version is not mandatory at this time, but will be required in the future — we recommend updating as soon as possible.

    • If you choose not to update yet, your existing XML feed will continue to work for now. However, the XML feed is no longer maintained and will not be supported once the update becomes required.

    • After updating to the API feed, your reviews will sync to Google Shopping automatically. However, the number of reviews shown in Google Shopping may increase or decrease, as only reviews that meet Google's requirements will be included. See the Which reviews are included in the Product Ratings feed section below for details.

    • If you are updating to the API feed from the old XML Product Ratings feed (as opposed to the new XML feed), please that imported reviews are not included in the API feed. If your old XML feed contained imported reviews, you may see a drop in the number of reviews shown in Google Shopping.

Which reviews are included in the Product Ratings feed

Reviews included in the feed

The following product reviews are included in the Product Ratings feed (API version) if they have written content, regardless of their status (published, hidden, or archived) and whether they are verified:

To see the reviews that are included in the Product Ratings feed (API version):

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Reviews.

  2. Click the Search and filter icon (🔍︎ᯤ) on the right.

  3. Click Add filter + on the left and select Source.

  4. Click the checkbox next to Google Shopping.

Reviews excluded from the feed

To ensure compliance for the Google Product Ratings program requirements, the following product reviews are not included in the Product Ratings feed (API version), even if they are verified:

Include or exclude specific review types

These settings let you further control which eligible reviews are included or excluded in the Product Ratings feed.

1. Reviews containing personal information

To control whether reviews that contain personal information are included in the Product Ratings feed:

  • If you're using the API feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Step 2: Setup reviews feed > Review settings section.

    3. For Include reviews containing personal information. We will replace personal information with asterisks:

      • Click the checkbox next to it to include reviews containing common types of personally identifiable information (PII)—including email addresses, phone numbers (including US toll-free numbers), credit card numbers, and person names, in the feed. The detected PII will be replaced with ****.

      • Unclick the checkbox to exclude them from the feed.

    4. Click Save.

  • If you're using the XML feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Review content section.

    3. For Include reviews containing personal information:

      • Click the checkbox next to it to include reviews containing common types of personally identifiable information (PII)—including email addresses, phone numbers (including US toll-free numbers), credit card numbers, and person names, in the feed. The detected PII will be replaced with ****.

      • Unclick the checkbox to exclude them from the feed.

    4. Click Save.

2. Reviews containing specific keywords

To exclude reviews that contain specific words ("shipped", "arrived", "support", "shipping", "company", "email", "shipment", "store", "package", "service", "business", "deliver", "order" from the Product Ratings feed:

  • If you're using the API feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Step 2: Setup reviews feed > Review settings section.

    3. Unclick the checkbox next to Include reviews containing specific keywords regarding store experience.

    4. Click Save.

  • If you're using the XML feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Review content section.

    3. Click the checkbox next to Exclude store reviews containing specific keywords.

    4. Click Save.

3. Reviews for out-of-store products

When Google reviews your Product Ratings feed, they may check the review URLs and product URLs included in the feed.

If a review is linked to a product that has been removed from your store, these links may no longer work. Including reviews for out-of-store products can lead to questions or issues during Google's review of your feed.

To avoid this, you can exclude reviews for out-of-store products from the Product Ratings feed:

  • If you're using the API feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Step 2: Setup reviews feed > Review settings section.

    3. Unclick the checkbox next to Include reviews for out-of-store products.

    4. Click Save.

  • If you're using the XML feed:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Advanced settings section at the bottom.

    3. Click the checkbox next to Exclude reviews for out-of-store products.

    4. Click Save.

Review-level attributes in the Product Ratings feed

1. <review_id>

This attribute is the unique ID for the review. It uses Judge.me review UUID so it's stable and unique.

2. <reviewer> / <name>

This attribute provides the reviewer's name in the Product Ratings feed.

To change how the name appears in the feed:

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

  2. Scroll down to the Review content section.

  3. Open the Reviewer name format dropdown.

  4. Select one of the following options:

    • using initials after the first name, e.g. – displays the reviewer's first name followed by the initial of their last name (for example, "John D.").

      <reviewer>
          <name>John D.</name>
      </reviewer>

    • using initials for the entire reviewer name, e.g. – displays only the initials of the reviewer's first and last name (for example, "J.D.").

      <reviewer>
          <name>J. D.</name>
      </reviewer>

    • as Anonymous – displays the reviewer name as "Anonymous".

      <reviewer>
          <name>Anonymous</name>
      </reviewer>

  5. Click Save.

3. <title>, <content>, <ratings>, and <review_timestamp>

Attribute

What it is

<title>

Title of the review

<content>

Main body of the review

<ratings>

The star rating of the review (1 to 5)

<review_timestamp>

The date and time when the review was created, formatted according to ISO 8601 (including timezone).

For example: (e.g. 2025-06-04T10:35:14+00:00).

4. <review_url>

This attribute specifies the URL where the review can be accessed.

The <review_url> is made up of:

  • The product URL

  • The judgeme_review_uuid parameter

For example: https://www.example.com/products/example-product?judgeme_review_uuid=12345678-abcd-1234-efgh-1234567890ab

To control whether the product and review URLs in the feed use HTTP or HTTPS:

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

  2. Scroll down to the Advanced settings section at the bottom.

  3. Select one of the following options:

    • Use http for product and reviews URLs – All product and review URLs in the feed will start with http://.

    • Use https for product and reviews URLs – All product and review URLs in the feed will start with https://.

  4. Click Save.

5. <reviewer_images>

This attribute contains the URLs of the images attached to the review.

To control whether to include this attribute in your Product Ratings feed:

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

  2. Scroll down to the Review content section.

  3. Click the checkbox next to Include review photos.

  4. Click Save.

6. <products>

This attribute contains all products associated with a review.

  • When a review applies to a single product, the <products> attribute includes one <product> node.

  • Reviews are associated at the product level, not the variant level. If a product has multiple variants, all variant reviews are grouped under the same <product> node, rather than being split by variant.

  • When a review applies to multiple products (for example, through product groups), the <products> container can include multiple <product> nodes—one for each product.

To control whether reviews that are part of product groups are included in the Product Ratings feed:

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

  2. Scroll down to the Review content section.

  3. Select one of the following options:

    1. Include reviews part of product groups – The feed may contain multiple <product> nodes for a single review.

    2. Don't include product groups reviews – The feed only contains one <product> node for each review.

  4. Click Save.

Including reviews from product groups can significantly increase the size of your Product Ratings feed, especially if your product groups contain many products.

7. <is_spam>

This attribute indicates whether a review is considered spam in the Product Ratings feed.

If <is_spam>true</is_spam>, the review will appear in Google Merchant Center as Spam (marked by the publisher) and will not be shown on Google Shopping.

How this value is determined depends on the Product Ratings feed version you're using:

  • API Product Ratings feed (recommended)

    • In the API feed, all reviews are automatically checked for profanity before being sent to Google.

    • If profanity is detected, the review is also marked as <is_spam>true</is_spam> in the Product Ratings feed, even if it might appear normal in the Judge.me Reviews dashboard.

    • To censor the affected words in the review's title or content with **** in the feed:

      1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

      2. Scroll down to the Step 2: Setup reviews feed > Review settings section.

      3. Click the checkbox next to Apply profanity filter to reviews. We will replace profanity with asterisks.

      4. Click Save.

  • New XML Product Ratings feed (legacy):

    • In the new XML feed, all reviews are automatically checked for profanity before being sent to Google.

    • If profanity is detected, the affected words in the review's title or content are replaced with **** in the feed. When this happens, the review is also marked as <is_spam>true</is_spam> in the Product Ratings feed, even if it might appear normal in the Judge.me Reviews dashboard.

    • At this time, this behavior cannot be changed or edited.

  • Old XML Product Ratings feed (deprecated):

    • In the old XML feed, a review is marked as spam if it is not published in Judge.me.

    • That means, all hidden, archived, and pending reviews are marked as <is_spam>true</is_spam>.

8. <collection_method>

This attribute indicates how the review was collected. The value is either one of the following:

  • post_fulfillment – for example, via a review request email

  • unsolicited – for example, submitted directly on the product page

9. <is_incentivized_review>

This attribute indicates whether the customer received a reward such as a discount, gift card, points, or any other benefit when submitting their review.

  • <is_incentivized_review>false</is_incentivized_review>
    The reviewer did not receive any incentive for leaving the review.

  • <is_incentivized_review>true</is_incentivized_review>
    The reviewer did receive an incentive for submitting the review.

When a review is incentivized, we automatically tag it with the is_incentivized_review attribute in the Product Ratings feed. This is regardless of whether the incentive is disclosed or mentioned beforehand (for example, in the review request).

This attribute cannot be edited or removed, helping ensure transparency and compliance with Google's requirements.

10. <is_verified_purchase>

This attribute indicates whether the review is linked to a verified order from your store.

Product-level attributes in the Product Ratings feed

Google states that ratings and reviews are matched to products based on a number of factors, the most important being globally unique product identifiers that appear in both:

  • the Product Ratings feed, and

  • the Products feed (in Google Merchant Center).

We automatically include the following product identifiers for each product in the Product Ratings feed to support this matching process:

  • Product URL (<product_url>)

  • Product name (<product_name>)

  • Shopify product IDs (<skus>)

You can enhance the matching by adding the following product identifiers in the Product Ratings feed as well:

  • Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) (<gtins>)

  • Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs) (<mpns>) and Brand name (<brands>)

Note:

  • Even if reviews are correctly matched to products, Google will only display star ratings when it determines that the information is accurate and relevant to customers.

1. <gtins>

This attribute includes a list of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), such as UPC or EAN codes. GTINs help Google match the reviews in your Product Ratings feed with the correct products in your Products feed.

To use GTIN, you'll first need to register your GTINs with GS1.

Once registered, to ensure proper product matching, the same GTIN values must exist in both feeds.

  • To add GTINs to the Products feed, you can add a barcode value to your products in Shopify:

    1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

    2. Open the product you want.

    3. Scroll down to the Inventory section.

    4. In the Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN, etc.) field, enter the registered GTIN for your product.

    5. Click Save.

  • Then, you can include them in the Product Ratings feed, using the GTIN values already saved on your products:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Advanced settings section at the bottom.

    3. Click the checkbox next to Add GTIN in the feed (Default).

    4. Click Save.

2. <mpns>

This attribute includes a list of Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs) associated with the product. MPNs help Google match reviews in the Product Ratings feed with the correct products in your Products feed.

To ensure proper product matching, the same MPN values must exist in both feeds.

  • To add MPNs to the Products feed, you can add SKUs to your products in Shopify:

    1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

    2. Open the product you want.

    3. Scroll down to the Inventory section.

    4. In the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) field, enter your MPN for the product.

    5. Click Save.

  • Then, you can include them in the Product Ratings feed, using the SKUs values already saved on your products:

    1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

    2. Scroll down to the Advanced settings section at the bottom.

    3. Click the checkbox next to Add MPN in the feed.

    4. Click Save.

3. <skus>

This attribute contains a single Shopify product ID (not the merchant-defined product's SKU). We include it the Product Ratings feed automatically following a fixed format: shopify_{country}_{shopify_product_id}.

This format matches the Product ID format used by Google for Shopify-based Products feeds, allowing Google to reliably match reviews in the Product Ratings feed with the corresponding products in your Products feed.

4. <brands>

This attribute contains the product's brand name. Brand information helps Google match reviews in the Product Ratings feed with the correct products in your Products feed.

To ensure proper product matching, the same brand values should exist in both feeds.

  • To add brand names to your Products feed by adding Vendor to your products in Shopify:

    1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

    2. Open the product you want.

    3. On the right menu, scroll down to the Product organization section.

    4. In the Vendor field, enter the brand name for the product.

    5. Click Save.

  • When brand values are available on your products, we automatically include them in the Product Ratings feed. No additional setup is required.

5. <product_name>

This attribute contains the title of the product. We automatically include the product names in the Product Ratings feed. No additional setup is required.

6. <product_url>

This attribute contains the URL of the product page associated with the review. We automatically include the product URLs in the Product Ratings feed.

To control whether the product and review URLs in the feed use HTTP or HTTPS:

  1. From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Google and SEO > Google Shopping.

  2. Scroll down to the Advanced settings section at the bottom.

  3. Select one of the following options:

    • Use http for product and reviews URLs – All product and review URLs in the feed will start with http://.

    • Use https for product and reviews URLs – All product and review URLs in the feed will start with https://.

  4. Click Save.

Related Articles
Understanding the review issues in Google Merchant Center
Syncing reviews with Shop app
Displaying product ratings in Google Search Results
Syncing verified product reviews from Judge.me to TikTok Shop
Syncing product reviews to Google Shopping
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