Barry Schwartz discovered a new rating program!
Since mid-2024, a website’s store rating dropped to 3.5 despite previously having high ratings from Google Customer Reviews.
The drop seemed unexplained, and after months of back-and-forth with Google Support, it was finally revealed that a “Mystery Shopper Rating” was affecting the overall score.
However, Google provided no documentation, no transparency on the rating criteria, and no clear steps to improve or appeal the score.
