Google announced the April 2023 reviews update on 12th Apr. It marked the update complete on the Search Status Dashboard on 25th Apr 2023, after 13 days and 2 hours.
It was the first update released under the renamed "reviews system". Google dropped the word "product" from the system's name and guidance at the same time, as Search Engine Land documented.
The renaming reflected a real scope change. Earlier product reviews updates judged product review content only.
The reviews system now judges reviews of anything reviewable. That means products, services and businesses, destinations, and media such as games and movies.
Google's updated guidance says the system judges "articles, blog posts, pages or similar first-party standalone content written with the purpose of providing a recommendation, giving an opinion, or providing analysis". It does not judge third-party reviews, such as user reviews posted on a product or service page.
The update applied in the same 11 languages as the February 2023 product reviews update.
The practical part: advice-style content outside online shops came into scope for the first time. That covers travel guides, restaurant round-ups and movie reviews.
Review-style pages that moved in the 12th to 25th Apr window should be checked against Google's reviews help page.
This update followed the February 2023 product reviews update, the last one to carry the product reviews name.
