Between 21 and 27 July 2021 the star ratings under thousands of search results stopped appearing, and the site owners who rely on them lost a week of reporting data along with the stars. Google confirmed it was a bug. Here is what happened and what it broke.
What a review snippet does
A star rating in a review snippet is more than a summary. It is people’s opinion of a service or a product, shown under the company’s name, and it helps a potential customer decide whether to choose that company. The average is compiled so the result reads like one honest account from somebody who has used the thing.
A snippet also makes a site stand out from its competitors, because it presents an unbiased view and shows how many other people liked the thing being reviewed. That is what makes a decision quicker.
What went wrong
Review snippets stopped appearing in many sites’ meta descriptions. Some owners noticed the change and wondered whether it was a new Search Console feature; days later Google confirmed the missing reviews were a bug and corrected it.
Google Search Console is the free tool that would normally answer a question like that: it lets users monitor, maintain and fix problems with a site’s presence in Google search, gives feedback on how a site is seen, and offers ways to improve its ranking by measuring traffic and tracking keyword performance.
Why an algorithm this large produces incidents
When Google started, it made a handful of algorithm updates a year. Now the search engine updates many times a day. Most of those changes go unnoticed by users and even by most SEO specialists, but occasionally one is big enough for the whole industry to see it.
Constant change also means mistakes. In this case, reviews in search results went from appearing on around half of sites to appearing on roughly 3% of them, on this article’s own account — a figure it gives without naming a source, and one to read as an estimate rather than a measurement. The effect was not in doubt: the segment where a business’s reviews appear was gone, and owners lost the reporting data that goes with it.
What Google said
Some days after the incident, Google logged it under “Data anomalies in Search Console”.
“Due to an internal issue, you may see a drop in your Review snippet and Product rich results performance during this period. We regret any problems this may have caused on your site”
We may never know the cause, but the problem was solved and the affected sites recovered their snippets.
Which Google tool answers which question
Google offers several tools for finding out about a site and its visitors, and within the Webmaster Tools family the two most recommended are Search Console and Analytics. They look similar and do different jobs.
Search Console tells you about technical issues on a site and about who is linking to it, which makes it the tool for improving and optimising the site itself.
Analytics tracks performance: how many visitors arrive, how long they stay, where they come from, and the rest of the behavioural detail.
- The review snippet and its performance signal are visible
- The snippet disappears and the associated reporting drops
- The platform acknowledges an internal anomaly affecting the result type
- The snippet returns, while the missing period remains part of the historical record
What to take from it
A snippet that disappears is a reminder that the surface a business is judged on belongs to somebody else. Our piece on why digital presence matters when you open a bank account covers what those ratings are worth beyond search, and our services page says what we do about them.
If you need a hand with an SEO problem, contact us.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Google star rating in a review snippet?
It is the row of stars shown below a company name in a search result, summarising what people thought of a service or product. Average ratings are compiled so the result reads like one honest opinion from someone who has actually used the thing.
What happened to review snippets in July 2021?
Review snippets stopped appearing in many sites’ meta descriptions between 21 and 27 July. Some site owners noticed and assumed it was a new Search Console behaviour; days later Google confirmed it was a bug and corrected it.
Why did the bug matter beyond the missing stars?
The segment where a business’s reviews appear simply disappeared, which broke reporting data for the owners who track it. A missing snippet is also a missing signal at the moment a searcher is choosing between competitors.
Did Google acknowledge the problem?
Yes. Some days after the incident Google logged it under Data anomalies in Search Console, saying that due to an internal issue site owners might see a drop in Review snippet and Product rich results performance during the period, and regretting any problems it caused.
What is Google Search Console for?
Search Console is a free tool for monitoring, maintaining and fixing problems with a site’s presence in Google search. It reports technical issues and who links to a site, which makes it the tool for improving and optimising one.
How is Google Analytics different from Search Console?
They look similar and do different jobs. Search Console covers technical issues and inbound links, while Analytics tracks performance — how many visitors a site gets, how long they stay, and where they came from.
