What does Quality Rater mean?

Quality raters are quality testers who evaluate search results on a random basis. The idea behind this is to test and thus improve the quality of our own search algorithms. The exact number of quality raters from Google and Co. is not known, nor is the procedure for evaluating or comparing web content.

The Quality Rater’s assessment does not have a direct impact on the ranking. To do this, it must first be confirmed by another quality tester.

Influence of the Quality Rater on the ranking

The term Quality Rater is no longer used by Google in this context. The official name is Search Evaluators.

The search evaluators assess randomly selected search results in a test environment. For this purpose, the SERPs are displayed for a given search query and evaluated after the implementation of an algorithm update. This is based on the current ranking algorithm version. The ratings of different search results are then compared with each other and it is checked whether the new algorithm version has led to better search results.

There is no clear answer as to which search queries are checked by the Quality Raters. These are usually random selections or terms with a high search volume.

The biggest misconception that arises around search evaluators is that they are responsible for the ranking of individual websites. If quality raters were tasked with manually evaluating all search queries and their results, it would take millions of quality raters and decades. This is why almost all rankings are categorized using the Google algorithm.

Quality Rater Guidelines

Meanwhile, Google no longer uses the term Quality Rater Guidelines and has changed it to “Search Quality Rater Guidelines” or simply “General Guidelines”. The first official publication of the guide was published by Google in 2013. Up to this point, the General Guidelines were only issued to the Quality Raters and not made public for everyone. Version 1.0 from 2013 was the first official but shortened version of the guidelines. Since then, further versions have been released up to the current one.

Features of very high quality websites

It is particularly interesting for search engine optimization whether a website is rated “very high” or “high”. This depends primarily on the level of the E-A-T rating, the quality of the content (MC) and the reputation. Particular attention should be paid to the following features that a “Highest Page” should definitely contain:

• There should be a very high level of transparency for both the operators and the persons responsible. This is particularly important for websites and stores through which direct (sales) purchases can be made. Customer service ratings also play an important role here.
• Supplementary content (SC) should always be user-friendly
• The website and landing page are trustworthy and have authority on the topic.
• The person responsible for the MC has a positive reputation.
• In addition, there is sufficient information about the operator, contact information, etc.
• The website should generally be in a well-maintained condition.
• The E-A-T rating includes the E-A-T of the author and the publisher.
• The amount of high quality content (MC) should be satisfactory for the expertise, talent, time, skill and effort. The detail of the MC depends on the topic and its purpose. This means that broader topics require more content and more specialized topics comparatively less.
• There is functional web design that makes it easier for the user to keep the focus on the MC.

Characteristics of low-quality websites

The following properties are listed as soon as a website is of low quality. These ensure that the purpose of the landing pages is not fulfilled:

• The amount of high-quality content (MC) is not satisfactory.
• The quality of the MC is low. There is a lack of transparency regarding the purpose of the website and the operator.
• The content is copied. The author of the website does not have enough expertise for the website and/or the topic. The website is therefore not trustworthy.
• The MC is difficult to consume due to advertising or other elements.
• The website has a negative reputation.