Google's Search Quality Rating Guidelines: A Comprehensive Overview
On November 19, 2016, Google released its Search Quality Rating Guidelines. Later, on July 27, 2017, an updated version of these guidelines was made available.
Historically, there has been significant interest in these guidelines, which have circulated among SEO professionals as unofficial advice and tips. However, this time, the 160-page PDF was published directly on the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.
Reading this document is incredibly insightful. It helps us understand how Google's "human evaluators" assess websites and provides insights into how the search engine prioritizes content. This process is somewhat akin to reverse engineering.
While the PDF does not disclose any specific ranking formulas or secret algorithms, it does offer a comprehensive look, complete with numerous examples and screenshots, at what the search engine considers important.
Google states, "A good search engine provides results that are helpful for users in their specific language and localization." This statement underscores their mission. These guidelines are invaluable for webmasters and SEO professionals to understand what Google prioritizes in web pages.
You can download the full version, courtesy of Google, searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf.
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