Search Quality Rater Guidelines

The Search Quality Rater Guidelines are a long public document Google gives to the thousands of external raters who assess the quality of its search results. The ratings do not directly change any site’s rankings. Google uses them to test whether changes to its algorithms are producing better results.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

What the guidelines are

Google works with contractors around the world, known as search quality raters, who review search results and score them against a detailed handbook. Google publishes the handbook openly and updates it every so often. It describes what Google considers a high-quality page, what a low-quality page looks like, and how well results meet a searcher’s needs.

The document runs to well over a hundred pages and includes many worked examples, which makes it one of the most detailed public explanations of what Google means by quality.

How raters’ scores are used

Google has stated clearly that raters do not directly influence rankings. A rater marking a page as low quality does not demote it. Instead, ratings act as feedback: when Google tests an algorithm change, raters compare results before and after, and their scores help show whether the change is an improvement.

That makes the guidelines a useful window into what Google’s systems are trying to reward, even though they are not a list of ranking factors.

Key concepts in the guidelines

  • Page Quality: how well a page achieves its purpose, judged by its main content, the reputation of the website and creator, and any signs of harm or deception.
  • E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, with trust described as the most important. See E-E-A-T.
  • YMYL: topics that could significantly affect health, finances, safety or society, which are held to higher standards. See YMYL.
  • Needs Met: how well a result satisfies the searcher’s intent, on a scale from Fully Meets to Fails to Meet.
  • Lowest quality signals: deceptive pages, harmful content, and content created with little effort or originality, including mass-produced or copied material.

Recent editions also address AI-generated content, scaled content and other spam, in line with Google’s spam policies.

How to use the guidelines for SEO

  1. Read the sections on Page Quality and Needs Met, and compare your key pages with the examples.
  2. Make it easy to see who is behind the site: a clear about page, contact details and author bylines.
  3. Show first-hand experience, such as original photos, product tests or case studies.
  4. Hold YMYL content to a higher bar, with qualified authors and accurate sources.
  5. Match each page to the search intent behind its target queries.
  6. Look at your site’s reputation from the outside: what do reviews, news and independent sources say about it?

Common misconceptions

  • Raters can penalise sites: they cannot. Their scores evaluate algorithms, not individual sites.
  • E-E-A-T is a score: Google has said it is not a single ranking factor, but a concept its systems try to reflect through many signals, as described in its guidance on helpful content.
  • The guidelines are a ranking checklist: they describe goals, not the specific signals Google uses to measure them.

Further reading: Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF).

Key Takeaways

  • The guidelines are Google’s public handbook for human search quality raters.
  • Raters’ scores do not directly change any site’s rankings.
  • Google uses ratings to evaluate whether algorithm changes improve results.
  • Key concepts include Page Quality, E-E-A-T, YMYL and Needs Met.
  • The document is a useful guide to what Google’s systems aim to reward.

Related Terms

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