VSS Ranking Preference

By default, Google orders the Points of Interest (POIs) displayed within your brand cluster in the Local Aggregator Unit based on their relevance and usefulness for the user's query. A VSS can optionally opt in Ranking Preferences to re-order candidate POIs using signals from the POI Feed.

How It Works

• Our ranking systems select the most relevant Points of Interest (POIs) for a user query. If you opt in to VSS Ranking Preferences, the ranking of your POIs is adjusted based on your preferred signals.
• Account Scope: Your configuration applies uniformly across all brands under your Local Aggregator integration.

Supported Preference and POI Feed Fields

Ranking Preference	VssPoi Feed Fields	Sorting & Validation Rules
Reviews Rating	rating (float, required), rating_scale (int32, optional)	Sorts descending by normalized rating (rating / rating_scale). rating_scale defaults to 5 if omitted. Must satisfy 0 <= rating <= rating_scale and rating_scale > 0.
Reviews Count	num_ratings (int64, required)	Sorts descending by total user review count (num_ratings > 0).
None (Default)	N/A	Preserves Google's default query relevance order.

How to Opt In or Update Preferences

1. Populate Feed Fields: Ensure rating, rating_scale, and num_ratings are populated in your daily POI feed and validated using the POI Feed Validator.
2. Submit a Request: Open a case using Actions Center Support (or contact your Google representative) providing:
   1. Actions Center Account ID
   2. Primary Ranking Preference: Reviews Rating, Reviews Count, or None (Default)
   3. Secondary Ranking Preference (Optional): Reviews Rating, Reviews Count, or None

You can request updates to your ranking signals up to once per month, or opt out at any time by setting both signals to None (Default).