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Search Quality Raters Guidelines update
Thursday, November 16, 2023
As of November 16, our Search Quality Rater Guidelines have been updated to simplify our guidelines.
Specifically, we've simplified the "Needs Met" scale definitions, added more guidance for different
kinds of web pages and modern examples including newer content formats such as short form video,
removed outdated and redundant examples, and expanded rating guidance for forum and discussion pages.
None of these involve any major or foundational shifts in our guidelines.
As a reminder, these guidelines are what are used by our search raters to help evaluate the performance
of our various search ranking systems, and their ratings don't directly influence ranking.
The guidelines share important considerations for what content is helpful for people when using Google Search.
Our page on how to create helpful, people-first content summarizes these concepts for creators to
help them self-assess their own content to be successful in Google Search.
Posted by Elizabeth Tucker, Google Search Quality team
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
[null,null,[],[[["Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines have been updated to simplify language and provide more relevant examples."],["Updates include simplified \"Needs Met\" scale, guidance for modern content formats, and expanded rating guidance for forums."],["The core principles of the guidelines remain unchanged, and these updates aim to enhance clarity and relevance."],["Rater feedback is used to evaluate search ranking systems, but their ratings don't directly impact individual website rankings."],["Google emphasizes creating helpful, people-first content, and these guidelines offer valuable insights for content creators."]]],["The Search Quality Rater Guidelines were updated on November 16, 2023. Changes include simplifying \"Needs Met\" scale definitions, adding guidance for diverse web pages and content formats (like short-form video), removing outdated examples, and expanding advice for forum/discussion pages. These updates refine existing guidelines rather than fundamentally changing them. Search raters use these guidelines to evaluate search ranking systems. These ratings do not directly affect rankings. The guidelines highlight elements of helpful content.\n"]]
