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Google Officially Releases Search Quality Rating Guidelines

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google search quality ratings releaseGoogle has officially released their Quality Rating Guidelines, the same guidelines I analyzed earlier this week from a leaked copy.  This marks the second time that Google has released a version, having released a stripped down version in 2013.  But this is the first time they have publicly and officially released the entire document.

Something significant about their announcement is that they plan to release copies in the future when it undergoes a major rewrite.

We won’t be updating the public document with every change, but we will try to publish big changes to the guidelines periodically.

Making major rewrites available to SEOs and webmasters will make it easier to get insight into what Google feels searchers are looking for in their search results.

When comparing the Google’s released version with the leaked version I had from a quality rater, they were identical aside from a slight change to two sentences for clarification only.

Changes from “leaked” version?

Google made it clearer that the Android specific mentions were only for Device Action queries and Device Action Block Results – which would restrict the Android only mentions to results that were for apps with Google Play download mentions.  So this means that there is not any added benefit for sites being rated from an Android device rather than a iOS or Windows one.

In section 12.9, the leaked version said:

Please assume that queries were issued on an Android device unless explicitly stated otherwise in the
instructions.

And the Google released version said (with the addition in bold):

When rating Device Action queries and Device Action Result Blocks, including queries for installing or opening apps, please assume that queries were issued on an Android device unless explicitly stated otherwise in the instructions.

Then in section 13.1, in the example for the Bing search app block, the leaked version said:

Note: Remember that you should assume that queries were issued on an Android device unless explicitly stated otherwise in the instructions. Therefore, the Google Play result for this query is appropriate.

And the Google released version said (with the addition in bold):

Note: Remember that you should assume that queries were issued on an Android device when rating Device Action Result Blocks, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the instructions. Therefore, the Google Play result for this query is appropriate

Download:

You can download the guidelines here.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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