Buyers search '[product] review' before paying. For a new product that result is thin, and your own site can't fill it. Get an indexed third-party review.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·7 min read
To rank for "[your product] review", you need a page on another site that reviews your product in depth, puts your exact product name and the word "review" in its title, and is indexed, because your own site cannot be an independent review of itself. Check what buyers see for that search today, then get one accurate, first-hand review published and point people to it.
For a new product this search is often decided by default: whatever exists gets the traffic, even when it is empty or wrong.
Why do buyers search "[product] review" before they pay?
People add "review" to a product name when they are close to a decision and want someone other than the seller to confirm it: does it work, what does it really cost, what is missing, what else should I consider. Google's own guidance puts it plainly: "Reviews can be a great resource for people when making decisions."
The same question now goes to AI assistants. Someone asking ChatGPT or Perplexity "is [product] any good" gets an answer built from pages the engine can find about you. If the only pages are your own, the answer can only repeat your own claims, or say it does not know.
That makes the review search one of the few places where a prospective customer is looking at you specifically, with intent to buy, and where you do not control the page they land on.
What shows up for a young product's review search?
For a product with no reviews yet, the results for its name plus "review" tend to be filled by whatever mentions the name: your homepage, empty profiles on review sites, pages that scrape your site, or a competitor's comparison. None of these answers the buyer's question, and some get it wrong.
What ranks
Why it is there
What the buyer takes from it
Your own homepage or pricing page
It is the strongest page with your name on it
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
Why do people search for a product name plus review?
They want an outside view before they pay: whether the product does what it claims, what it really costs, what its drawbacks are and how it compares. Google's own guidance says reviews can be a great resource for people when making decisions.
02
Can my own website rank for my product's review search?
Nothing independent; it reads as the seller's pitch
An empty profile on a software review site
The profile exists with your name in the title
"No reviews yet," which can read as "nobody uses this"
An auto-generated or scraper page
It copied your name and description
Thin, sometimes outdated or wrong information
A competitor's "[you] vs [them]" page
They targeted your name on purpose
Their framing of your product
An old forum or social thread
It is the only discussion that exists
Whatever one person said, possibly about an early version
See it for yourself before changing anything:
Open a private browser window, so your own search history does not shape the results.
Search [product] review, [product] reviews, is [product] legit and [product] vs [top competitor].
Note the top ten results for each, and whether any is an actual review.
In Search Console's Performance report, filter queries containing your product name and "review" to see how many impressions these searches get and which of your pages appear.
Why can't your own site rank as a review of your product?
Your own site can rank for your product's name, but it cannot give buyers what a review search asks for: an assessment by someone other than the seller. Google's reviews system aims to reward "content that provides insightful analysis and original research and is written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well," which a company's page about itself is not.
Google also limits review stars on self-controlled reviews. Its review snippet guidelines say that "if the entity that's being reviewed controls the reviews about itself, their pages that use LocalBusiness or any other type of Organization structured data are ineligible for star review feature." Why your stars disappear from your own pages, and what is still possible, is covered in review stars for your own product.
Your site still has a job here. Publish the pages that answer the same questions honestly, so reviewers and AI engines have facts to cite: clear pricing with limits, what the product does not do, comparisons with the tools buyers weigh you against, and a changelog. A reviewer who can check your claims in a minute writes a more specific review.
What makes a third-party review page rank for your product name?
A review page ranks for your name plus "review" when it is clearly about your product, clearly a review, indexed, and useful enough to beat the thin pages above. The title and main heading carry the first two, the host site's crawlability carries the third, and the substance of the review carries the rest.
Check any review of you against this list:
The exact product name and the word "review" in the <title> and the main heading. Google builds its title links from sources that include the <title> element, the main visual title and heading elements such as <h1>.
Indexed. Search site:thehostsite.com "[product]" to confirm Google has it.
First-hand evidence. Google's review guidance asks reviewers to "provide evidence such as visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience" and to "share quantitative measurements about how something measures up in various categories."
Balance. Google asks reviews to "discuss the benefits and drawbacks of something, based on your own original research," and a review with no drawbacks reads as an advert.
Comparison. Google recommends that reviews "explain what sets something apart from its competitors," which is exactly what the buyer searching your name wants.
A visible disclosure if the reviewer was paid or given anything, and rel="sponsored" or nofollow on links given in exchange for it.
Links from your own site to the review, where it helps visitors who want an outside view.
How do you get a review of your product published?
Either earn one by giving writers who cover your category free access and a good reason to write, or commission one from a site that labels paid reviews and does not sell the verdict. Both work if the result is a real, specific review. What does not work is manufacturing reviews.
The earned route, with a pitch template, is in how to get your product reviewed. If you pay, the FTC's rules apply: its Endorsement Guides say a connection readers would not expect "should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously," and its Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, which "went into effect on October 21, 2024," prohibits incentives "conditioned on the writing or creation of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment." You can pay for a review; you cannot pay for a positive one.
Fake reviews and planted mentions also fail on their own terms. Google's guide to its generative AI features says "seeking inauthentic 'mentions' across the web isn't as helpful as it might seem."
How does a third-party review help in AI answers?
A review page on another site gives AI answer engines an independent description of your product to draw on. When someone asks whether your product is good or how it compares, engines that search the web look for pages about it, and a well-titled review is one of the pages that search finds.
Google describes its own AI features as using "core Search ranking systems to retrieve relevant, up-to-date web pages," so a review that ranks for your product name in Search is a candidate source for Google's AI answers about you. Other engines run their own retrieval, but the page has the same advantage there: it is about you, by someone else, with specifics. How much a mention counts compared with a link in AI answers is covered in brand mentions vs backlinks for AI.
How do you know whether the review search has improved?
Repeat the private-window searches from earlier once a month and record which pages hold the top five places for each variant. The goal is a page that actually reviews your product in those places, above the scrapers and empty profiles, and an answer from AI assistants that reflects it.
Your own data shows the effect from the other side:
In GA4, check referral sessions from the review's domain, and whether those visitors sign up. A review that ranks for your name sends people who were already deciding.
Also in GA4, watch the AI Assistant channel, added to the default channel group on May 13, 2026. When the referrer is a recognised AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, GA4 sets the medium to ai-assistant, so you can see whether visits from AI answers rise after the review is published.
In Search Console, keep the query filter for your name plus "review." Your own pages' impressions for it may fall as the review takes the top result, which is the outcome you want.
Ask your assistant of choice the same two or three questions about your product each month, such as "is [product] any good" and "[product] vs [competitor]," and note which sources it cites.
Get a review written for your product name
If you want that page to exist now, LaunchScaler's Review article is a flat $59, one time, and is written to rank for "[your product] review." An editor tests your product and writes a hands-on review, the good and the rough edges, published as a permanent indexed page on LaunchScaler's blog with 3 links back to you, a slot in the weekly newsletter and a Featured badge on your listing for the launch week. Every commissioned piece is labelled as such, and paying does not buy a kinder verdict. You order it against a product you have claimed. Order your review.
Your pages can rank for your product name, but they cannot be an independent review of your own product. Google's reviews system rewards reviews with insightful analysis and original research, and its review snippet rules make self-controlled reviews on Organization and LocalBusiness pages ineligible for review stars.
03
What shows up when there are no reviews of my product yet?
Often your own homepage, empty profiles on software review sites, auto-generated pages that scrape your site, or a competitor's comparison page. Search your product name with review, reviews and legit in a private window to see exactly what buyers see.
04
How do I get a review of my product to rank?
Get a real review published on another site with your exact product name and the word review in its title and main heading, make sure it is indexed, and link to it from your own site where it helps visitors. The page needs first-hand evidence, specific facts and a disclosed relationship if it was paid for.
05
Can I write fake reviews to fill the gap?
No. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, prohibits paying for reviews conditioned on a particular sentiment, and Google's generative AI guide says seeking inauthentic mentions across the web isn't as helpful as it might seem.
Find referral traffic in GA4 under Acquisition, Traffic acquisition, medium referral. Why apps, chats and lost referrers show as direct, and how to fix it.
Put rel=sponsored on paid links, rel=ugc on links your users write and rel=nofollow on links you won't vouch for. A rule per link type, with the markup.
Since September 2019 Google shows no review stars for Organization or LocalBusiness reviews a business hosts about itself. Where product stars come from.
