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Bazaarvoice teams up with Google™ to bring product reviews to Google search and ads

Industry-first partnership allows retailers and manufacturers to share existing consumer ratings and reviews with Google

UK - April 22, 2010

Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced at the Social Commerce Summit 2010 that it has partnered with Google to share high-quality product review content from Bazaarvoice client sites on Google Web Search, Google Product Search, and Google AdWord Ads.

Now, retailers and manufacturers using Bazaarvoice can easily leverage their product review content to drive more high-quality traffic from Google, as well as provide brand exposure to qualified shoppers. Consumers benefit from immediate access to opinions from other customers as they research and complete purchases, adding relevance and authenticity. Bazaarvoice is Google’s first publicly integrated platform partner for product review content and is making the new capabilities available immediately to retailers and manufacturers as SyndicateVoice™ for Search.

Getting more from reviews and Google: SyndicateVoice for search
Bazaarvoice’s industry-leading social commerce platform supports product Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer, and Stories on more than 800 leading sites. Now, with client permission, Bazaarvoice can tap the power of the platform to easily and automatically feed full-text product reviews to Google on behalf of the retailer.

The integration provides retailers and manufacturers the opportunity to boost brand exposure through:

Full length reviews with branding in Google product search: Retailers and manufacturers benefit from the opportunity to use reviews to gain greater visibility and brand recognition during key points in the shopping process. In addition, these reviews link back to the merchant’s product page.

Ratings information through web snippets in Google.com search results: Bazaarvoice’s automated integration will allow review content to appear in Google’s natural search results.

Aggregate star ratings in Google advertising: Retailers and manufacturers will be able to leverage product ratings in Google advertising products.

The data feed of full-text review content is available through Bazaarvoice’s new SyndicateVoice^TM for Search offering. SyndicateVoice for Search lets brand sites capture purchase-ready searchers at every stage of the purchase process. User-generated content provides fresh content that relates directly to products in the customer’s language, using the same words shoppers would use to find products. SyndicateVoice for Search allows Bazaarvoice customers to boost brand exposure and increase sales.

SyndicateVoice for Search is immediately available to retailers and manufacturers.

Executive quote

Sameer Samat, director of product management at Google
“Consumer reviews have become a driving force for online purchasing. If we look back five years ago, it was editorial reviews by experts. Now the Internet has allowed ordinary people to have a voice, and that voice is very influential. With this program, we are reaching out to retailers and manufacturers and to use more of this content."

Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice
“In the past four years, there has been a tremendous change in consumer shopping behaviour as people increasingly rely on information from their friends and peers to make purchase decisions. Our clients’ innovative use of the voice of the customer has helped Bazaarvoice become one of the fastest growing technology companies today. Now, Google is affirming the power of social commerce with this partnership to integrate Bazaarvoice reviews content into Google.com - the heart of its business - as well as throughout product search and advertising vehicles. It is a big honour to be Google’s partner in this industry first, and this will be transformational for our retail clients and their suppliers.”

Customer quote

Jon Rudoe, Head Of Retail, Ocado
“Ocado successfully introduced product Ratings & Reviews at the start of the year; the service has given our customers a golden opportunity to swap recommendations on groceries and see the ratings and reviews of products that are popular when feeding friends and families. Google’s decision to integrate such review content is a smart one and highly welcome; for us it should mean more people viewing online food shopping with an even greater amount of confidence. Google’s move compliments Ocado’s aim to make the weekly supermarket shop as convenient and accessible as possible.”

Matt Henton, marketing director, eSpares Ltd
“User-generated content through Bazaarvoice’s platform has transformed eSpares’ business. Our customers love to share their experiences of fitting spare parts and fixing their appliances. Making that wealth of content available to a wider audience through Google search results and ads is an exciting development that will add real value for consumers and drive relevant traffic to eSpares.”

Analyst quote

Andrew McClelland, of Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG)
“This move will have huge benefits for both consumer and retailers alike. Google’s core business over the past decade has been about organising the worlds information and making it accessible over the internet. More recently we’ve seen an explosion in the volume of user-generated content online, and that coupled with the rise in social networking sites has had a massive impact on the way retailers do business online. This is a logical step, for both Google and Bazaarvoice, to now make these consumer insights available through search.

About the company

About Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.com)

Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.com) is a social commerce technology company. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 100 billion pieces of customer-generated content helping over 750 brands globally to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth. In the UK, clients include Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, QVC and Boden.

Bazaarvoice’s products - Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer™ and Stories™ - are social commerce applications that drive sales. They enable customers to review products, ask and answer questions and share stories online; enhancing the online shopping experience and allowing them to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Benefits for the retailer include content ownership, seamless customisation, increased search engine optimisation impact, advanced analytics and syndication across the web. Retailers can also leverage the content generated across on and offline marketing channels.

Founded in 2005, Bazaarvoice has offices in the UK, US, France, Australia and Singapore. The company was named in 2007’s Red Herring Global 100 and received the Technology Vendor of the Year award from Retail Systems in 2009.

For more information and access to client success stories, visit http://www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at http://www.bazaarvoice.com/blog/, and follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.

Contact details

For further press information and photography please contact:
Lauren Hoult or Patrick Hussey at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2056
Email: bazaarvoiceUK@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

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