Quick Look at Google’s Updated Search Quality Rater Guidelines

Google has updated its Search Quality Rater guidelines. This year’s improvements focused more on user intent. The company also spent time improving how to meet the user’s needs.

Google has also refined what it means to offer high-quality search results. It’s also making sure quality raters know why certain results are better. This can help explain why sites see some volatility after core updates. It also clears up some changes in the Google search algorithm.

This is critical as major intent shifts can occur during core updates. It happens when search quality raters give proof results aren’t meeting user expectations.

It’s also helpful in understanding why search results for the same query differ. This is often seen before and after updates. You need to know how the company looks at the intent behind a query. It can also help users know what is helpful, high-quality content.

One guideline change was the new block of text for raters. It tells them how to rate the quality of Q&A and forum pages. It emphasizes cases where the discussions are new or moving into “combative” content.

“Decorum” is also mentioned several times in the update. It underlines how combative discussions appear disrespectful and must receive a low rating.

There was also a snippet on how important user location is to understanding an inquiry. Location is vital in searches for nearby places. Generic questions like “What is the largest reptile” will all have the same answer. The user’s location doesn’t affect such queries.

Google also included an in-depth explanation of what “minor interpretations” mean. It noted that these describe a situation when an inquiry has several meanings. The minor interpretations are at the bottom of the inquiry’s expected meaning. Google also explained that minor interpretations are good. But they’re only useful to a few users.