"When I was preparing to move to London a few months ago, I ended up doing a lot of shopping online for the items I knew I'd need - from a camera for capturing memories and an umbrella for the infamous drizzle to music that would go well with the cloudy skies!" says Kinnari Jhaveri of Google's Strategic Partnerships team. "One of the tools I used to help me pick the online retailers I bought from were Google seller ratings and reviews."

 

"Of course, for both shoppers and merchants, it's important that merchant reviews are coming from real users who've completed transactions at the online stores they're reviewing," adds Jhaveri.

 

Google has been using Bizrate ratings, but now they'll be able to include the full text of the review. Google says this means customers will be able to get the "full picture" before they buy.