As Google is reducing the reviews shown in their own knowledge panels, Bing is going in the opposite direction by adding a ton of new review options, as well as formats for displaying those reviews, in their knowledge panel in the Bing search results.

These new reviews show the number of stars in the ratings from the site, whether it is an “expert rating” or “customer rating”, but most importantly, the link goes directly to the product page on each site, meaning the opportunity to earn sales when someone clicks from the Bing knowledge panel for the product reviews.

Here is one example.

And when you expand it, it shows even more review results.

It could mean that it would be even more important for retailers to have product reviews on their sites, if they can have their reviews featured in a knowledge panel.

It is worth noting that some of the review sites are very industry specific to the product.  For example, Digital Photography Review is an option that would really only be shown for photography related results, so it shows that Bing is look for not just multi-industry sites for reviews – such as Amazon – but also smaller niche review sites.

They are also testing a review format that instead of ratings with a product link, they are featuring the icon of the site with the review as well as the review title and the author.  As with the other review style, these also link directly to the review, although these aren’t product pages but an article review instead.

It is unknown how Bing chooses which style of reviews to show, nor which sites they feature.  But it is great to see the diversity of the reviews and particularly the fact that they are including industry and niche specific reviews, sites that often have better insight for product reviews than more generalized retailers.