Bazaarvoice Teams Up with Google to Bring Product Reviews to Google Search and Ads

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 AdWords 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 immediately available to retailers and manufacturers as SyndicateVoiceTM for Search.

"In the past four years, there has been a tremendous change in consumer shopping behavior as people increasingly rely on information from their friends and peers to make purchase decisions,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “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 honor to be Google’s partner in this industry first, and this will be transformational for our retail clients and their suppliers.”

“HSN, a leading interactive multichannel retailer, is a client of Bazaarvoice. Two of the most utilized tools for consumers on the Web are search and consumer-generated product reviews,” said Brian Bradley, HSN's Executive Vice President of HSN.com and Advanced Services. “The partnership between Google and Bazaarvoice offers HSN a tremendous opportunity to increase brand exposure and product visibility by surfacing product reviews in search results and ads. The result is real value for consumers, who gain immediate access to authentic customer opinions on our products, and increased traffic and sales for HSN.”

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 SyndicateVoiceTM for Search offering. SyndicateVoice for Search lets brand sites capture purchase-ready search¬ers 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.