{"id":7565,"date":"2019-09-12T11:15:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T10:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/?p=7565"},"modified":"2025-06-20T19:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T19:54:24","slug":"using-googles-search-quality-evaluator-guidelines-to-assess-your-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/using-googles-search-quality-evaluator-guidelines-to-assess-your-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines to assess your site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>What are Google\u2019s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines?  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To make sure that Google\u2019s search engine is returning the right answers, Google regularly uses human contractors to evaluate search results to make sure that the latest algorithm is returning the kind of results they want. Google\u2019s Quality Evaluator Guidelines<\/a> are the instructions that they give these evaluators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

What are Google\u2019s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines?<\/a>
How can Google\u2019s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines be used to help websites?<\/a>
Methodology<\/a>
Page type and site wide questions<\/a>
How you would use insight gained from the Search Quality Evaluator checklist<\/a>
The 10 questionnaire topics and what they mean<\/a>
How to use the Search Quality Evaluator checklist<\/a>
Who should use the Search Quality Evaluator checklist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>How can Google\u2019s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines be used to help websites?  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The guidelines that Google gives Quality Evaluators give us insight into what Google is aiming for. Even if Quality Evaluators don\u2019t visit the site, meeting these criteria will help organisations match what Google believes is a good quality website. Jennifer Slegg\u2019s piece does a good job of detailing the 2019 update to the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve created a checklist that distills Google\u2019s Quality Evaluator Guidelines and aims to give us more information to succeed in search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post and accompanying checklist will allow you to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Gain insight<\/strong> into what a website and organisation is doing well and could be doing better, in terms of facilitating a good user experience and the creation of quality content.<\/li>
  2. Provide a platform for a website to perform well in search<\/strong>, by aligning with Google\u2019s perceived quality attributes.<\/li>
  3. Get internal buy in<\/strong>. The checklist is consistent, independent, quantifiable and based on Google\u2019s guidelines. It could be filled out by internal teams or used as part of user testing.<\/li>
  4. Make sure content is optimised for launch<\/strong>. The checklist can be used for internal stakeholders to go through before publishing new content, website features or most things that could impact the UX of a website and content quality.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

     <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>Methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

     Creating the checklist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We took Google’s 167 page Search Quality Evaluator documentation<\/a>, Distilled\u2019s previous Panda survey and Google\u2019s guide to building high quality websites<\/a> and condensed it down to the 10 most important topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We then took the questions that Google is trying to answer in each topic and turned them into Pass\/Fail items in our survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Perhaps not surprisingly, the principle of what Google believes constitutes a high quality website hasn\u2019t changed too much throughout the years, although the qualifying criteria have certainly become more robust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Weighting of questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We decided how important a question should be based on wording in Google’s documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, Google rates pages \u201clowest quality\u201d if there is intent to deceive users or search engines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Under section 7.6 Pages that Potentially Deceive Users, Google writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cWe will consider a page to be \u201cdeceptive\u201d if it may deceive users or trick search engines. All deceptive pages should be rated Lowest\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Google then goes on to describe misleading titles as a form of deception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Section 7.6.1 Deceptive Page Purpose<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cA webpage with a misleading title or a title that has nothing to do with the content on the page. Users who come to the page expecting content related to the title will feel tricked or deceived\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a result of this wording in Google\u2019s documentation, where they deem deception to be indicative of \u201clowest quality\u201d pages, we have assigned strong relative importance to questions that pertain to deception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If your site fails the question below, it will fail that entire portion of the checklist, because of the importance that Google has placed on accurate titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Does the title in Google Search accurately describe the topic of the page?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>How to use the checklist <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

     Pagetype questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    When you are filling out the checklist, there are some questions which should be asked about multiple different types of pages. The page types include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n