Anyone know what passes as a third party verification?
For example, if a magazine publishes an article about my product and says it's the "best we've seen", does that mean I can create an ad with the word "best" and then use the testimonial on my website as the third party verification?
Look here (point 6): [services.google.com...]
The best way to find out - try it :-)
For example, if a magazine publishes an article about my product and says it's the "best we've seen", does that mean I can create an ad with the word "best" and then use the testimonial on my website as the third party verification
You pretty much nailed it keyon. Just saying that a third party called it "the best we've seen" on your site wouldn't really be enough. And it needs to be verified in a way that is provided to the user, rather than to Google.
So, a testimonial on your site (or a link to it) would probably be perfect.
Why only 'probably'?
Well, there's a certain amount of editorial judgment involved on the part of the reviewer. For example if you quoted your closest friend's opinion of your 'best' widget it probably won't carry as much weight as if the 'third party' was a publication or site that 'widget' users might have heard of.
Hope that fills in the blanks a bit.
AWA