Google Search Quality Rating Guidelines Not Designed For SEOs

Google’s John Mueller posted a short post on Twitter that needs to be highlighted. He said “the quality raters guidelines are not guidelines for SEOs though.” We often forget that, these search quality raters guidelines are for the search quality evaluators, they were not specifically designed as guidelines for SEOs.

The quality raters guidelines are not guidelines for SEOs though.

— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 12, 2022

In fact, if you remember, Google only released them publicly in 2015 after years and years of failed efforts to keep them private. The documents use to be leaked out by someone within the search quality raters teams (contractors that Google did not employee directly) and the SEO world would then pick it up apart. We saw the first version leak in 2007/2008 and then numerous versions since then. Now, Google just said, let’s let anyone read it, so they publish them publicly over here – it was last updated last October.

That being said – we all need to remember, that while it is useful for SEOs to get in the mindset of what Google wants the search results to resemble, these were not designed for SEOs. Yes, Google has referenced these guidelines as something SEOs might want to look at. But again, for us to ask Google SEO related questions about the search quality raters guidelines, might be overstepping – being that they are not designed for SEOs but rather their raters.

It is just something to keep in mind. Don’t get me wrong, the guidelines is something every SEO should read fully at least once a year.

Forum discussion at Twitter.