General Guidelines
October 14, 2020
General Guidelines Overview
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Introduction to Search Quality Rating
6
0.0 The Search Experience
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0.1 The Purpose of Search Quality Rating
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0.2 Raters Must Represent People in their Rating Locale
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0.3 Browser Requirements
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0.4 Ad Blocking Extensions
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0.5 Internet Safety Information
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0.6 The Role of Examples in these Guidelines
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Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline
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1.0 Introduction to Page Quality Rating
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2.0 Understanding Webpages and Websites
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2.1 Important Definitions
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2.2 What is the Purpose of a Webpage?
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2.3 Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Pages
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2.4 Understanding Webpage Content
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2.4.1 Identifying the Main Content (MC)
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2.4.2 Identifying the Supplementary Content (SC)
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2.4.3 Identifying Advertisements/Monetization (Ads)
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2.4.4 Summary of the Parts of the Page
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2.5 Understanding the Website
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2.5.1 Finding the Homepage
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2.5.2 Finding Who is Responsible for the Website and Who Created the Content on the Page
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2.5.3 Finding About Us, Contact Information, and Customer Service Information
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2.6 Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content
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2.6.1 Research on the Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content
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2.6.2 Sources of Reputation Information
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2.6.3 Customer Reviews of Stores/Businesses
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2.6.4 How to Search for Reputation Information
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2.6.5 What to Do When You Find No Reputation Information
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3.0 Overal Page Quality Rating
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3.1 Page Quality Rating: Most Important Factors
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3.2 Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
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4.0 High Quality Pages
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4.1 Characteristics of High Quality Pages
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4.2 A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content
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4.3 Clear and Satisfying Website Information: Who is Responsible and Customer Service
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4.4 Positive Reputation
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4.5 A High Level of Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
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4.6 Examples of High Quality Pages
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5.0 Highest Quality Pages
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5.1 Very High Quality MC
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5.2 Very Positive Reputation
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5.3 Very High Level of E-A-T
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5.4 Examples of Highest Quality Pages
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6.0 Low Quality Pages
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6.1 Lacking Expertise, Authoritativeness, or Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
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6.2 Low Quality Main Content
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6.3 Unsatisfying Amount of Main Content
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6.4 Distracting Ads/SC
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6.5 Mixed or Mildly Negative Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content
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6.6 Unsatisfying Amount of Information about the Website or Creator of the Main Content
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6.7 Examples of Low Quality Pages
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7.0 Lowest Quality Pages
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7.1 Lack of Purpose Pages
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7.2 Pages that Fail to Achieve Their Purpose
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7.2.1 Lowest E-A-T
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7.2.2 No/Little Main Content
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7.2.3 Lowest Quality Main Content
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7.2.4 Copied Main Content
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7.2.5 How to Determine if Content is Copied
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7.2.6 Auto-Generated Main Content
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7.2.7 Obstructed or Inaccessible Main Content
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7.2.8 Inadequate Information about the Website or Creator of the Main Content
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7.2.9 Unmaintained Websites, and Hacked, Defaced, or Spammed Pages
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7.3 Pages that Potential y Spread Hate
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7.4 Potential y Harmful Pages
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7.4.1 Encourage Harm
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7.4.2 Malicious Pages
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7.4.3 Negative or Malicious Reputation
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7.5 Pages that Potential y Misinform Users
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7.6 Pages that Potential y Deceive Users
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7.6.1 Deceptive Page Purpose
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7.6.2 Deceptive Page Design
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7.7 Examples of Lowest Quality Pages
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8.0 Medium Quality Pages
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8.1 Examples of Medium Quality Pages
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9.0 Page Quality Rating Tasks
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9.1 Instructions for Rating Page Quality Tasks
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9.1.1 Rating on Your Phone
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9.2 Reputation and E-A-T: Website or the Creators of the Main Content?
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10.0 Page Quality Criteria for Specific Types of Pages
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10.1 Ratings for Encyclopedia Pages
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10.2 Ratings for Pages with Error Messages or No MC
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10.3 Ratings for Forums and Q&A pages
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11.0 Page Quality Rating FAQs
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Part 2: Understanding Mobile User Needs
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12.0 Understanding Mobile Users, Mobile Queries, and Mobile Results
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12.1 Important Rating Definitions and Ideas
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12.2 Understanding the Query
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12.3 Locale and User Location
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12.4 Queries with an Explicit Location
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12.5 Queries with Multiple Meanings
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12.6 Query Meanings Can Change Over Time
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12.7 Understanding User Intent
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12.7.1 Know and Know Simple Queries
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12.7.2 Do and Device Action Queries
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12.7.3 Website Queries
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12.7.4 Visit-in-Person Queries and User Location
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12.7.5 Queries with Multiple User Intents
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12.8 Understanding Result Blocks
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12.8.1 Web Search Result Block Examples
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12.8.2 Special Content Result Block Examples
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12.8.3 Device Action Result Block Examples
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12.8.4 How Device Action Results are Displayed in Rating Tasks
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12.9 Rating on Your Phone Issues
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Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline
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13.0 Rating Using the Needs Met Scale
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13.1 Rating Result Blocks: Block Content and Landing Pages
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13.2 Ful y Meets (Ful yM)
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13.2.1 Examples of Ful y Meets (Ful yM) Result Blocks
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13.2.2 Examples of Queries that Cannot Have Ful y Meets Results
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13.3 Highly Meets (HM)
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13.3.1 Examples of Highly Meets (HM) Result Blocks
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13.4 Moderately Meets (MM)
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13.4.1 Examples of Moderately Meets (MM) Result Blocks
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13.5 Slightly Meets (SM)
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13.5.1 Examples of Slightly Meets (SM) Result Blocks
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13.6 Fails to Meet (FailsM)
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13.6.1 Examples of Fails to Meet (FailsM) Result Blocks
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14.0 The Relationship between Page Quality and Needs Met
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15.0 Rating Porn, Foreign Language, Did Not Load, and Upsetting-Offensive Results
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15.1 Porn Flag
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15.2 Needs Met Rating for Porn Results
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15.2.1 Needs Met Rating for Clear Non-Porn Intent Queries
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15.2.2 Needs Met Rating for Possible Porn Intent Queries
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15.2.3 Needs Met Rating for Clear Porn Intent Queries
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15.3 Reporting Il egal Images
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15.4 Foreign Language Flag
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15.4.1 Using the Foreign Language Flag
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15.4.2 Needs Met Rating for Foreign Language Results
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15.5 Did Not Load Flag
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15.5.1 Using the Did Not Load Flag
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15.5.2 Needs Met Rating and the Did Not Load Flag
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15.6 Upsetting-Offensive Flag
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15.6.1 Using the Upsetting-Offensive Flag
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15.6.2 Needs Met Rating for Upsetting-Offensive Tolerant Queries
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16.0 Rating Queries with Multiple Interpretations and Intents
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16.1 Rating Queries with Both Website and Visit-in-Person Intent
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17.0 Specificity of Queries and Landing Pages
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18.0 Needs Met Rating and Freshness
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19.0 Misspel ed and Mistyped Queries and Results
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19.1 Misspel ed and Mistyped Queries
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19.2 Name Queries
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20.0 Non-Ful y Meets Results for URL Queries
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21.0 Product Queries: Importance of Browsing and Researching
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22.0 Rating Visit-in-Person Intent Queries
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22.1 Examples Where User Location Does (and Does Not) Matter
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23.0 Rating English Language Results in Non-English Locales
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23.1 Examples of English (and Non-English) Results in Non-English Locales
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24.0 Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries
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Appendix 1: Using the Evaluation Platform
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25.0 Overview
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26.0 Acquiring Tasks
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27.0 Rating Tasks Using the Rating Interface
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28.0 Releasing Tasks
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29.0 Understanding the User Location on the Task Page
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30.0 Reporting Duplicate Results in Tasks
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30.1 Pre-Identified Duplicates
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30.2 Rater-Identified Duplicates
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30.3 Reporting Duplicate Results
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31.0 Simplified Needs Met Tasks
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Appendix 2: Guideline Change Log
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General Guidelines Overview
Welcome to the Search Quality Rating Program!
As a Search Quality Rater, you wil work on many different types of rating projects. The General Guidelines primarily cover Page Quality (PQ) rating and Needs Met (NM) rating; however, the concepts are also important for many other types of rating tasks.
For brevity, we refer to “Search Quality Raters” as “raters” in these guidelines.
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Introduction to Search Quality Rating
0.0 The Search Experience
The World Wide Web is a vast col ection of online information and content. Internet search engines provide a powerful way to explore this online universe. There are many ways people search: people may type words into a search box in a browser, speak to a mobile phone or assistant device, use search engine autocomplete features, etc.
People search the Internet for a variety of purposes, ranging from accomplishing a quick task to researching a topic in depth. A search may be part of a long-term project, such as a home remodel or vacation planning. A search may be done when someone is bored and looking for entertainment, such as a search for [funny videos]. A search may be a single question asked during a critical moment of a person's life, such as [what are the symptoms of a heart attack?].
Search engines exist to help people find what they are looking for. To do that, search engines must provide a diverse set of helpful, high quality search results, presented in the most helpful order.
Different types of searches need very different types of search results. Medical search results should be high quality, authoritative, and trustworthy. Search results for "cute baby animal pictures" should be adorable. Search results for a specific website or webpage should have that desired result at the top. Searches that have many possible meanings or involve many perspectives need a diverse set of results that reflect the natural diversity of meanings and points of view.
People al over the world use search engines; therefore, diversity in search results is essential to satisfy the diversity of people who use search. For example, searches about groups of people should return helpful results that represent a diversity of demographic backgrounds and cultures.
Final y, search results should help people. Search results should provide authoritative and trustworthy information, not lead people astray with misleading content. Search results should al ow people to find what they're looking for, not surprise people with unpleasant, upsetting, offensive, or disturbing content. Harmful, hateful, violent, or sexual y explicit search results are only appropriate if the person phrased their search in a way that makes it clear that they are looking for this type of content, and there is no other reasonable interpretation of the words used in their search.
0.1
The Purpose of Search Quality Rating
As a Search Quality Rater, you wil help evaluate search engine quality around the world. Good search engines give results that are helpful for people in their specific language and locale.
Your ratings wil not directly affect how a particular webpage, website, or result appears in Google Search, nor wil they cause specific webpages, websites, or results to move up or down on the search results page. Instead, your ratings wil be used to measure how wel search engine algorithms are performing for a broad range of searches.
As part of your role in the search quality rating program, it is important that you are familiar with and comfortable using a search engine. We encourage you to be an expert in search! For example, experiment with using operators (e.g., quotes or a dash) in your searches or try using advanced search options.
0.2
Raters Must Represent People in their Rating Locale
It is very important for you to represent people in the locale you evaluate. You must be very familiar with the task language and location in order to represent the experience of people in your locale. If you do not have the knowledge to do this, please inform your employer/company.
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Unless your rating task indicates otherwise, your ratings should be based on the instructions and examples given in these guidelines. Ratings should not be based on your personal opinions, preferences, religious beliefs, or political views.
Always use your best judgment and represent the cultural standards of your rating locale.
0.3
Browser Requirements
Check with your employer/company for browser requirements. You may use helpful browser add-ons or extensions, but please do not use add-ons or extensions that interfere with or alter the user experience of the page.
0.4
Ad Blocking Extensions
Do not use add-ons or extensions that block ads for Needs Met rating or Page Quality rating. These add-ons or extensions may cause you to give incorrect ratings. As a rater, only use an ad blocking extension or add-on if specifical y instructed to do so in the project-specific instructions.
0.5
Internet Safety Information
In the course of your work, you wil visit many different webpages. Some of them may harm your computer unless you are careful. Please do not download any executables, applications, or other potential y dangerous files, or click on any links that you are uncomfortable with.
It is strongly recommended that you have antivirus and antispyware protection on your computer. This software must be updated frequently or your computer will not be protected. There are many free and for-purchase antivirus and antispyware products available on the web .
See here for a Wikipedia page on antivirus software and here for a Wikipedia page on spyware.
We suggest that you only open files with which you are comfortable. The file formats listed below are general y considered safe if antivirus software is in place.
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.txt (text file)
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.ppt or .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint)
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.doc or .docx (Microsoft Word)
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.xls or .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
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.pdf (PDF) files
If you encounter a page with a warning message, such as “Warning-visiting this web site may harm your computer,” or if your antivirus software warns you about a page, you should not try to visit the page to assign a rating.
You may also encounter pages that require RealPlayer or the Adobe Flash plugin. These are general y safe to download.
0.6
The Role of Examples in these Guidelines
The examples throughout these guidelines are very important to il ustrate how the concepts defined in each section should be applied in rating tasks. Please view each example and keep the fol owing in mind:
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Webpages and websites change rapidly, so we use images or "snapshots" of webpages in most of our examples.
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The information in the examples was accurate at the time it was added, but content and websites may change over time.
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Some examples show pages on desktop and some show pages on mobile devices.
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Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline
1.0
Introduction to Page Quality Rating
A Page Quality (PQ) rating task consists of a URL and a grid to record your observations, in order to guide your exploration of the landing page and the website associated with the URL. Ultimately, the goal of Page Quality rating is to evaluate how wel the page achieves its purpose. Because different types of websites and webpages can have very different purposes, our expectations and standards for different types of pages are also different.
Here's what you'l need to be a successful Page Quality rater:
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Your experience using the web as an ordinary user in your rating locale.
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In-depth knowledge of these guidelines.
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And most importantly—practice doing PQ rating tasks!
2.0
Understanding Webpages and Websites
PQ rating requires an in-depth understanding of websites. We'l start with the basics. Along the way, we'l share important information about Page Quality rating, so please read through this section even if you are a website expert!
2.1
Important Definitions
Here are some important definitions:
A search engine is a tool to help people find or interact with content available on the Internet.
In these guidelines, the word " user " refers to a person trying to find information or accomplish a task on the Internet.
Keep in mind that users are people from many different backgrounds, whose experiences and needs may differ from your own: people of al ages, genders, races, religions, political affiliations, etc.
A webpage is connected to the World Wide Web and can be viewed or "visited" using a web browser (e.g., Chrome), a browser on your phone, or a search app. In the 1990s, webpage content was mostly text and links. Today, webpage content includes many forms of media (such as images, videos, etc.) and functionality (such as online shopping features, email, calculator functionality, online games, etc.).
A URL is a character string that your web browser uses to “find” and display a webpage. Page Quality rating doesn't require you to have in-depth understanding of the structure of URLs, i.e., you don’t need to know the difference between host, domain, etc. But if you are interested, see here to read more.
A website or site is a group of World Wide Web pages usual y containing hyperlinks to each other and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution, government, or organization. Popular websites include Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, YouTube, etc.
Note: In these guidelines, we wil use the word “website” to refer to a col ection of pages owned and control ed by a single entity (individual, business, etc.). But we wil also use “website” to refer to major “independent” sections (or hosts) of some websites that were created to achieve separate purposes. For example, the Yahoo website is organized into different sections (or hosts), such as Yahoo Finance ( finance.yahoo.com ), Yahoo Mail ( mail.yahoo.com ), Yahoo Sports ( sports.yahoo.com ), etc. Each of these has its own purpose. It’s OK to refer to each of these sections as a website; for example, the Yahoo Finance website and the Yahoo Sports website. You may also refer to pages on Yahoo Finance or Yahoo Sports as belonging to the Yahoo website.
A homepage of a website is the main page of the site. It is usual y the first page that users see when the site loads. For example, http://www.apple.com is the homepage of the Apple site, http://www.yahoo.com is the homepage of the Yahoo company site, and http://finance.yahoo.com is the homepage of Yahoo Finance. You can usual y find the homepage of a website by clicking on a “home” link or logo link on subpages of a website.
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A subpage on a website is any page on the site other than the homepage. For example, http://www.apple.com/iphone is a subpage on the Apple website, and http://finance.yahoo.com/options is a subpage on the Yahoo Finance website.
A webmaster is the person who is responsible for maintaining a website.
Important : You must be very comfortable exploring websites, both by clicking links and modifying URLs in the address bar of your web browser. Become a website detective and explorer!
2.2
What is the Purpose of a Webpage?
The purpose of a page is the reason or reasons why the page was created. Every page on the Internet is created for a purpose, or for multiple purposes. Most pages are created to be helpful for users, thus having a beneficial purpose.
Some pages are created merely to make money, with little or no effort to help users. Some pages are even created to cause harm to users. The first step in understanding a page is figuring out its purpose.
Why is it important to determine the purpose of the page for PQ rating?
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The goal of PQ rating is to determine how wel a page achieves its purpose. In order to assign a rating, you must understand the purpose of the page and sometimes the website.
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By understanding the purpose of the page, you'l better understand what criteria are important to consider when evaluating that particular page.
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Websites and pages should be created to help users. Websites and pages that are created with intent to harm users, deceive users, or make money with no attempt to help users, should receive the Lowest PQ rating. More on this later.
As long as the page is created to help users, we wil not consider any particular page purpose or type to be higher quality than another. For example, encyclopedia pages are not necessarily higher quality than humor pages.
Important : There are highest quality and lowest quality webpages of al different types and purposes: shopping pages, news pages, forum pages, video pages, pages with error messages, PDFs, images, gossip pages, humor pages, homepages, and al other types of pages. The type of page does not determine the PQ rating—you have to understand the purpose of the page to determine the rating.
Common helpful or beneficial page purposes include (but are not limited to):
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To share information about a topic.
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To share personal or social information.
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To share pictures, videos, or other forms of media.
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To express an opinion or point of view.
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To entertain.
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To sel products or services.
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To al ow users to post questions for other users to answer.
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To al ow users to share files or to download software.
Here are a few examples where it is easy to understand the purpose of the page: Type of Page
Purpose of the Page
News website homepage
To inform users about recent or important events.
Shopping page
To sel or give information about the product.
Video page
To share a cute video of a cat.
Currency converter page
To calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.
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Here is an example (OmNomNomNom Page) of a helpful page where the purpose of the page is not as obvious. At first glance, this page may seem pointless or strange. However, it is a page from a humorous site that encourages users to post photos with mouths drawn on them. The purpose of the page is humor or artistic expression. This page has a helpful or beneficial purpose. Even though the About page on this website is not very helpful, the website explains itself on its FAQ page.
2.3
Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Pages
Some types of pages or topics could potential y impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
We cal such pages “Your Money or Your Life” pages, or YMYL. The fol owing are examples of YMYL topics:
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News and current events: news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not al news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are general y not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
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Civics, government, and law: information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a wil , etc.).
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Finance: financial advice or information regarding investments, taxes, retirement planning, loans, banking, or insurance, particularly webpages that al ow people to make purchases or transfer money online.
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Shopping: information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that al ow people to make purchases online.
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Health and safety: advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.
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Groups of people : information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
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Other: there are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL, such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a col ege, finding a job, etc.
Please use your judgment.
We have very high Page Quality rating standards for YMYL pages because low quality YMYL pages could potential y negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
2.4
Understanding Webpage Content
Al of the content on a webpage can be classified as one of the fol owing: Main Content (MC), Supplementary Content (SC), or Advertisements/Monetization (Ads). In order to understand the purpose of a webpage and do PQ rating, you wil need to be able to distinguish among these different parts of the page.
Webpage design can be complicated, so make sure to click around and explore the page. See what kind of content is behind the tabs and test out the interactive page features. Content behind the tabs may be considered part of the MC, SC, or Ads, depending on what the content is.
2.4.1 Identifying the Main Content (MC)
Main Content is any part of the page that directly helps the page achieve its purpose. Webmasters directly control the MC
of the page (except for user-generated content). MC can be text, images, videos, page features (e.g., calculators, games), or it can be user-generated content such as videos, reviews, articles, etc. that users have added or uploaded to the page. Note that tabs on some pages lead to even more information (e.g., customer reviews) and can sometimes be considered part of the MC of the page.
The MC also includes the title at the top of the page ( example ). Descriptive MC titles al ow users to make informed decisions about what pages to visit. Helpful titles summarize the MC on the page.
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Type of Page and Purpose
MC Highlighted in Yellow
News website homepage: the purpose is to inform users about recent or important events.
MC - News Homepage
News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic.
MC - News Article
Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.
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Content behind the Reviews, Shipping, and Safety Information tabs are considered to be MC - Shopping Page
part of the MC.
Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.
MC - Video Page
Currency converter page: the purpose is to calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies. MC - Currency Converter
Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show.
MC - Blog Post Page
Search engine homepage: the purpose is to allow users to enter a query and search the Internet. MC - Search Engine Homepage
Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to log in to bank online.
MC - Bank Login Page
2.4.2 Identifying the Supplementary Content (SC)
Supplementary Content contributes to a good user experience on the page, but does not directly help the page achieve its purpose. SC is control ed by webmasters and is an important part of the user experience. One common type of SC is navigation links that al ow users to visit other parts of the website. Note that in some cases, content behind tabs may be considered part of the SC of the page.
Sometimes the easiest way to identify SC is to look for the parts of the page that are not MC or Ads.
Type of Page and Purpose
SC Highlighted in Blue
News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic.
SC - News Article
Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.
SC - Shopping Page
Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.
SC - Video Page
Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show.
SC - Blog Post Page
2.4.3 Identifying Advertisements/Monetization (Ads)
Ads may contribute to a good user experience. Advertisements/Monetization (Ads) is content and/or links that are displayed for the purpose of monetizing (making money from) the page. The presence or absence of Ads is not by itself a reason for a High or Low quality rating. Without advertising and monetization, some webpages could not exist because it costs money to maintain a website and create high quality content.
There are several different ways to monetize a webpage, including advertisements and affiliate programs. See here for more information on website monetization. Note that monetization on mobile pages may be more subtle than monetization on desktop pages.
The most common type of monetization is advertisements. Ads may be labeled as "ads," "sponsored links," “sponsored listings,” “sponsored results,” etc. Usual y, you can click on the links or mouse over the content to determine whether they are Ads, as they often refer to a URL outside of that website. Ads may change when you reload the page, and different users may see different Ads on the same page.
Webmasters can choose to display Ads on their page (such as by joining an advertising network ), but they may not always directly control the content of the Ads. However, we wil consider a website responsible for the overal quality of the Ads displayed.
Important: For the purpose of this guideline, we wil consider monetized links of any type to be “Ads.” See here for different types of website monetization.
Type of Page and Purpose
Ads Highlighted in Red
News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic.
Ads - News Article
Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.
Ads - Video Page
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Type of Page and Purpose
Ads Highlighted in Red
Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show.
Ads - Blog Post Page
Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.
No ads – Shopping Page
2.4.4 Summary of the Parts of the Page
Let's put it al together.
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Main Content (MC) is any part of the page that directly helps the page achieve its purpose. MC is (or should be!) the reason the page exists. The quality of the MC plays a very large role in the Page Quality rating of a webpage.
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Supplementary Content (SC) is also important. SC can help a page better achieve its purpose or it can detract from the overal experience.
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Many pages have advertisements/monetization (Ads) . Without advertising and monetization, some webpages could not exist because it costs money to maintain a website and create high quality content. The presence or absence of Ads is not by itself a reason for a High or Low quality rating.
On some pages, reviews may be considered MC, and on other pages they may be considered SC. Use your best judgment and think about the purpose of the page.
Do not worry too much about identifying every little part of the page. Think about which parts of the page are the MC.
Next, look for the Ads. Anything left over can be considered SC.
MC, SC, and Ads
Type of Page and Purpose
Highlighted
News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic.
Summary - News Article
Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.
Summary - Shopping Page
Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.
Summary - Video Page
Currency converter page: the purpose is to calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.
Summary - Currency Converter
Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show.
Summary - Blog Post Page
Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to log in to bank online.
Summary - Bank Login Page
2.5
Understanding the Website
Pages often make more sense when viewed as part of a website. Some of the criteria in Page Quality rating are based on the website the page belongs to.
In order to understand a website, look for information about the website on the website itself. Websites are usual y very eager to tel you al about themselves!
You must also look for reputation information about the website. We need to find out what outside, independent sources say about the website. When there is disagreement between what the website says about itself and what reputable independent sources say about the website, we’l trust the independent sources.
2.5.1 Finding the Homepage
The homepage of a website usual y contains or has links to important information about the website. Webmasters usual y make it easy to get to the homepage of the website from any page on the site.
Here's how to find the homepage of a website:
●
Examine the landing page of the URL in your PQ rating task.
●
Find and click on the link labeled “home” or “main page.”
●
Having trouble finding it? Try using “Ctrl-F” (“command-F” on a Mac) to search the page for the text “home” or
“main.” You may also try clicking on the website logo, which is usual y at the top of the page.
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Sometimes, you may be given a webpage or website that appears to have no navigation links, no homepage link, and no logo or other means to find the homepage. Even some High or Highest quality pages lack a way to navigate to the homepage. If you can't find a link to the homepage, modify the URL by removing everything to the right of “.com,” “.org,”
“.net,” “.info,” etc. and refresh the page.
Occasional y, your rating task wil include a URL for which there are two or more justifiable “homepage” candidates. For example, you may not be sure whether the homepage of the URL http://finance.yahoo.com/news/category-stocks is
http://finance.yahoo.com or http://www.yahoo.com .
Important : When you have more than one homepage “candidate,” please use whichever one offers the most information about the specific webpage in the rating task. Use your judgment. The goal is to understand the webpage and the website(s) it is associated with, not find the one unique, correct homepage.
In the fol owing examples, we have included the URL of the page to be evaluated in the rating task, as wel as the URL of its associated homepage. We have also included an image that shows where to click on the landing page to navigate to the homepage. In the image, you wil see a red box around the link or logo you would click to navigate to the homepage.
Image that shows where to click to get to the
URL of the Task Page
Homepage of the Website
homepage
Williams-Sonoma Homepage
http://www.williams-sonoma.c http://www.williams-sonoma.com
om/products/shun-premier-7-
piece-knife-block-set
This “WILLIAMS-SONOMA” logo shown in the
upper center of the page is clickable and takes
users to the homepage of the website.
http://answers.yahoo.com
Specific Yahoo Answers Page
In this case, we will consider
http://answers.yahoo.com the homepage, rather
http://answers.yahoo.com/qu than http://www.yahoo.com . Why? Because
estion/index;_ylt=AnAYEU1fE clicking on the logo takes the user to
D6ncg1jRCFy30kk5XNG;_ylv http://answers.yahoo.com . In addition,
=3?qid=20091214193523AA http://answers.yahoo.com has information about
QqHQS
the Yahoo Answers website. It is very difficult to
This “YAHOO ANSWERS” logo in the upper left
find specific information about
part of the page is clickable and takes users to
http://answers.yahoo.com on the
the homepage of the website.
http://www.yahoo.com homepage.
http://hms.harvard.edu
Harvard Medical School Facts and Figures Page
In this case, we will consider the Harvard Medical
School page at http://hms.harvard.edu to be the
http://hms.harvard.edu/about- homepage, rather than http://www.harvard.edu
hms/facts-figures
(which is the homepage of Harvard University).
Clicking the logo at the top of
This “Harvard Medical School” logo in the upper
http://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures
left part of the page is clickable and takes users
takes users to http://hms.harvard.edu , not to to the homepage of the Harvard Medical School
http://www.harvard.edu .
website.
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2.5.2 Finding Who is Responsible for the Website and Who Created the Content on the Page Every page belongs to a website, and it should be clear:
●
Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) is responsible for the website.
●
Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) created the content on the page you are evaluating.
Websites are usual y very clear about who created the content on the page. There are many reasons for this:
●
Commercial websites may have copyrighted material they want to protect.
●
Businesses want users to know who they are.
●
Artists, authors, musicians, and other original content creators usual y want to be known and appreciated.
●
Foundations often want support and even volunteers.
●
High quality stores want users to feel comfortable buying online.
●
Websites want users to be able to distinguish between content created by themselves versus content that was added by other users.
Most websites have “contact us” or “about us” or “about” pages that provide information about who owns the site. Many companies have an entire website or blog devoted to who they are and what they are doing, what jobs are available, etc.
Google and Marriott are both examples of this, and there are many others:
●
Google Official Blog
●
Marriott Blog
●
Southwest Airlines Blog
●
Netflix Tech Blog
Often a business or organization is responsible for the content of a website, not an individual person. The IBM
Corporation is responsible for the content on ibm.com. The Cleveland Clinic is responsible for the content on clevelandclinic.org. An individual is not responsible for the content on these websites, even though many individuals contributed to creating and maintaining the content. In these cases, we wil view the business or organization as responsible for the content on every single page, as wel as maintenance of the website.
On some websites, users create the MC of many pages, while the business or organization itself maintains the website .
The company Facebook is responsible for the Facebook website, but individuals create the content on their personal Facebook pages. The company Wikipedia is responsible for the Wikipedia website, but individuals create article content.
Other websites with user-generated content include YouTube, Twitter, other social networking websites, other article publishing websites, Q&A websites, forums, etc. For these websites, you must look at each page to determine the author(s) or creator(s) of the content on that page.
Final y, there are some websites that show licensed or syndicated content. This means that the website has paid money or has some business relationship with the creator of the content. In these cases, we wil consider the website to carry responsibility for the quality of licensed or syndicated content, even if it wasn’t created by the website itself.
2.5.3 Finding About Us, Contact Information, and Customer Service Information
Many websites are interested in communicating with their users. There are many reasons that users might have for contacting a website, from reporting problems such as broken pages, to asking for content removal. Many websites offer multiple ways for users to contact the website: email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, web contact forms, etc. Sometimes, this contact information is even organized by department and provides the names of individuals to contact.
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The types and amount of contact information needed depend on the type of website. Contact information and customer service information are extremely important for websites that handle money, such as stores, banks, credit card companies, etc. Users need a way to ask questions or get help when a problem occurs.
For shopping websites, we'l ask you to do some special checks. Look for contact information—including the store’s policies on payment, exchanges, and returns. Sometimes this information is listed under “customer service.”
Some kinds of websites need fewer details and a smal er amount of contact information for their purpose. For example, humor websites may not need the level of detailed contact information we would expect from online banking websites.
Occasional y, you may encounter a website with a legitimate reason for anonymity. For example, personal websites may not include personal contact information such as an individual’s home address or phone number. Similarly, websites with user-generated content may al ow the author to identify him/herself with an alias or username only.
To find contact or customer service information for a website, start with the homepage. Look for a “contact us” or
“customer service” link. Explore the website if you cannot find a “contact us” page. Sometimes you wil find the contact information on a “corporate site” link or even on the company’s Facebook page. Be a detective!
Note that different locales may have their own specific standards and requirements for what information should be available on the website.
2.6
Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content
A website's reputation is based on the experience of real users, as wel as the opinion of people who are experts in the topic of the website. Keep in mind that websites often represent real companies, organizations, and other entities.
Therefore, reputation research applies to both the website and the actual company, organization, or entity that the website is representing.
A website's reputation can also help you understand what a website is best known for, and as a result how wel it accomplishes its purpose. For example, newspapers may be known for high quality, independent investigative reporting while satire websites may be known for their humor.
Many websites are eager to tel users how great they are. Some webmasters have read these rating guidelines and write
“reviews” on various review websites. But for Page Quality rating, you must also look for outside, independent reputation information about the website. When the website says one thing about itself, but reputable external sources disagree with what the website says, trust the external sources.
Your job is to truly evaluate the Page Quality of the site, not just blindly accept information on one or two pages of the website. Be skeptical of claims that websites make about themselves.
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2.6.1 Research on the Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content Use reputation research to find out what real users, as wel as experts, think about a website. Look for reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other credible information created/written by individuals about the website.
Stores frequently have user ratings, which can help you understand a store’s reputation based on the reports of people who actual y shop there. We consider a large number of positive user reviews as evidence of positive reputation.
Many other kinds of websites have reputations as wel . For example, you might find that a newspaper (with an associated website) has won journalistic awards. Prestigious awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize award, or a history of high quality original reporting are strong evidence of positive reputation.
When a high level of authoritativeness or expertise is needed, the reputation of a website should be judged on what expert opinions have to say. Recommendations from expert sources, such as professional societies, are strong evidence of very positive reputation.
Reputation research is necessary for al websites you encounter. Do not just assume websites you personal y use have a good reputation. Please do research! You might be surprised at what you find.
2.6.2 Sources of Reputation Information
Look for information written by a person, not statistics or other machine-compiled information. News articles, Wikipedia articles, blog posts, magazine articles, forum discussions, and ratings from independent organizations can al be sources of reputation information. Look for independent, credible sources of information.
Sometimes, you wil find information about a website that is not related to its reputation. For example, pages like Alexa
have information about Internet traffic to the website, but do not provide evidence of positive or negative reputation. You can ignore this information since it's not helpful for Page Quality rating.
2.6.3 Customer Reviews of Stores/Businesses
Customer reviews can be helpful for assessing the reputation of a store or business. However, you should interpret these reviews with care, particularly if there are only a few. Be skeptical of both positive and negative user reviews. Anyone can write them, including the creator of the website or someone the store or business hires for this purpose. See here for a New York Times article on fake reviews and here for a Guardian article on fake reviews.
When interpreting customer reviews, try to find as many as possible. Any store or website can get a few negative reviews. This is completely normal and expected. Large stores and companies have thousands of reviews and most receive some negative ones.
It is also important to read the reviews because the content of the reviews matter, not just the number. Credible, convincing reports of fraud and financial wrongdoing is evidence of extremely negative reputation. A single encounter with a rude clerk or the delayed receipt of a single package should not be considered negative reputation information.
Please use your judgment.
2.6.4 How to Search for Reputation Information
Here is how to research the reputation of the website:
1. Identify the “homepage” of the website. For example, for the IBM website, ibm.com is the homepage. You may need to identify the creator of the content, if it is different from that of the overal website.
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2. Using ibm.com as an example, try one or more of the fol owing searches on Google:
●
[ibm -site:ibm.com]: A search for IBM that excludes pages on ibm.com.
●
[“ibm.com” -site:ibm.com]: A search for “ibm.com” that excludes pages on ibm.com.
●
[ibm reviews -site:ibm.com] A search for reviews of IBM that excludes pages on ibm.com.
●
[“ibm.com” reviews -site:ibm.com]: A search for reviews of “ibm.com” that excludes pages on ibm.com.
●
For content creators, try searching for their name or alias.
Note: When searching for reputation information, try to find sources that were not written or created by the website, the company itself, or the individual. For example, IBM might have official Facebook or Twitter pages that it closely maintains, which would not be considered independent sources of reputation information about the company. See here for a Wikipedia article on identifying and using independent sources.
3. Look for articles, reviews, forum posts, discussions, etc. written by people about the website. For businesses, there are many sources of reputation information and reviews. Here are some examples: Yelp , Better Business
Bureau (a nonprofit organization that focuses on the trustworthiness of businesses and charities), Amazon , and
Google Shopping . You can try searching on specific sites to find reviews. For example, you can try [ibm site:bbb.org] or [“ibm.com” site:bbb.org].
For content creators, look for biographical data and other sources that are not written by the individual.
Note: You wil sometimes find high ratings on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website because there is very little data on the business, not because the business has a positive reputation. However, very low ratings on BBB
are usual y the result of multiple unresolved complaints. Please consider very low ratings on the BBB site to be evidence for a negative reputation.
4. See if there is a Wikipedia article or news article from a wel -known news site. Wikipedia can be a good source of information about companies, organizations, and content creators. For example, try [ibm site:en.wikipedia.org] or
[“ibm.com” site:en.wikipedia.org]. News articles and Wikipedia articles can help you learn about a company and may include information specific to reputation, such as awards and other forms of recognition, or also controversies and issues. Note that some Wikipedia articles include a message warning users that there are disagreements on some of the content, or that the content may be outdated. This may be an indication that additional research is necessary.
Here are some examples of reputation information:
Website
Reputation Information About the Site
Description
Positive reputation information : Users in the U.S.
can obtain free credit reports on this website by
providing their Social Security Number. Note that
Search results for [annualcreditreport.com
the Wikipedia article tells us that
-site:annualcreditreport.com]
“AnnualCreditReport.com is the only federally
mandated and authorized source for obtaining a
annualcreditreport.com Wikipedia article about annualcreditreport.com
free credit report.”
Wall Street Journal article about
Note: Almost every website will have complaints
annualcreditreport.com
about customer service, so it is important to look at
various sources and reviews in your reputation
research.
Positive reputation information : According to
Search results for [clevelandclinic.org]
Wikipedia, the Cleveland Clinic “is currently
regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United
Wikipedia article about clevelandclinic.org
clevelandclinic.org
States as rated by U.S. News & World Report,”
which you will also find in the article on the best
US News & World Report article about the best
hospitals in the U.S. Users can trust medical
hospitals in the U.S.
information on this website.
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Website
Reputation Information About the Site
Description
Positive reputation information : Notice the
Search results for [csmonitor.com
highlighted section in the Wikipedia article about
-site:csmonitor.com]
The Christian Science Monitor newspaper, which
csmonitor.com
tells us that the newspaper has won seven Pulitzer
Wikipedia article about The Christian Science
Prize awards. From this information, we can infer
Monitor
that the csmonitor.com website has a positive
reputation.
Positive reputation information : We learn in the
Wikipedia article that “Kernel.org is a
main repository of source code for the Linux kernel,
Search results for [kernel.org –site:kernel.org]
the base of the popular Linux operating system. It
kernel.org
makes all versions of the source code available to all
Wikipedia article about kernel.org
users. It also hosts various other projects,
like Google Android. The main purpose of the site is
to host a repository for Linux kernel developers and
maintainers of Linux distributions.”
Search to find reputation information
Extremely negative reputation information : This
business has a BBB rating of F (i.e., lowest rating
Search to find reviews
given by BBB). There is a news article about
Site selling children’s
BBB negative review
financial fraud. There are many reviews on websites
jungle gym
TrustLink negative reviews
describing users sending money and not receiving
anything from various sources.
Negative news article
Search to find reputation information
Extremely negative/malicious reputation
Site selling products
BBB page
information : This website engaged in criminal
related to eyewear
Wikipedia article
behavior such as physically threatening users.
New York Times article
Search to find scams related this organization
Extremely negative reputation information : There
Organization serving the Negative review 1
are many detailed negative articles on news sites
hospitalized veteran
Negative review 2
and charity watchdog sites about this organization
community
Negative review 3
describing fraud and financial mishandling.
Negative review 4
2.6.5 What to Do When You Find No Reputation Information
You should expect to find reputation information for large businesses and websites of large organizations, as wel as wel -known content creators.
Frequently, you wil find little or no information about the reputation of a website for a smal organization. This is not indicative of positive or negative reputation. Many smal , local businesses or community organizations have a smal “web presence” and rely on word of mouth, not online reviews. For these smal er businesses and organizations, lack of reputation should not be considered an indication of low page quality.
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3.0
Overall Page Quality Rating
At a high level, here are the steps of Page Quality rating:
1. Understand the true purpose of the page. Websites or pages without any beneficial purpose, including pages that are created with no attempt to help users, or pages that potential y spread hate, cause harm, or misinform or deceive users, should receive the Lowest rating. No further assessment is necessary.
2. Otherwise, the PQ rating is based on how wel the page achieves its purpose using the criteria outlined in the fol owing sections on Lowest , Low , Medium , High, and Highest quality pages.
On Page Quality rating tasks, you wil use the Page Quality sliding scale (slider) to assign the overal PQ rating. The slider looks like this:
You may also use the in-between ratings of Lowest+ , Low+ , Medium+ , and High+ . Please interpret the “+” as “+ ½,”
meaning that the Lowest+ rating is halfway between Lowest and Low , Low+ is halfway between Low and Medium , etc.
In the fol owing sections, you wil learn about characteristics of Lowest , Low , Medium , High, and Highest quality pages.
3.1
Page Quality Rating: Most Important Factors
Here are the most important factors to consider when selecting an overal Page Quality rating:
●
The Purpose of the Page
●
Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: This is an important quality characteristic. Use your research on the additional factors below to inform your rating.
●
Main Content Quality and Amount: The rating should be based on the landing page of the task URL.
●
Website Information/information about who is responsible for the MC: Find information about the website as wel as the creator of the MC.
●
Website Reputation/reputation about who is responsible for the MC : Links to help with reputation research wil be provided.
Note: Some tasks may ask you to view the page on your phone, but to do research (e.g., finding website information and reputation) on your desktop. Other tasks may ask you to do everything on desktop. Please fol ow instructions in the task.
3.2
Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
Remember that the first step of PQ rating is to understand the true purpose of the page. Websites or pages without some sort of beneficial purpose, including pages that are created with no attempt to help users, or pages that potential y spread hate, cause harm, or misinform or deceive users, should receive the Lowest rating.
For al other pages that have a beneficial purpose, the amount of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) is very important. Please consider:
●
The expertise of the creator of the MC.
●
The authoritativeness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website.
●
The trustworthiness of the creator of the MC, the MC itself, and the website.
Keep in mind that there are high E-A-T pages and websites of al types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor websites, forum and Q&A pages, etc. In fact, some types of information are found almost exclusively on forums and discussions, where a community of experts can provide valuable perspectives on specific topics.
●
High E-A-T medical advice should be written or produced by people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. High E-A-T medical advice or information should be written or produced in a Copyright 2020
19
professional style and should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.
●
High E-A-T news articles should be produced with journalistic professionalism—they should contain factual y accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events. High E-A-T news sources typical y have published established editorial policies and robust review processes ( example 1 , example
2 ).
●
High E-A-T information pages on scientific topics should be produced by people or organizations with appropriate scientific expertise and represent wel -established scientific consensus on issues where such consensus exists.
●
High E-A-T financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, etc., should come from trustworthy sources and be maintained and updated regularly.
●
High E-A-T advice pages on topics such as home remodeling (which can cost thousands of dol ars and impact your living situation) or advice on parenting issues (which can impact the future happiness of a family) should also come from “expert” or experienced sources that users can trust.
●
High E-A-T pages on hobbies, such as photography or learning to play a guitar, also require expertise.
Some topics require less formal expertise. Many people write extremely detailed, helpful reviews of products or restaurants. Many people share tips and life experiences on forums, blogs, etc. These ordinary people may be considered experts in topics where they have life experience. If it seems as if the person creating the content has the type and amount of life experience to make him or her an “expert” on the topic, we wil value this “everyday expertise” and not penalize the person/webpage/website for not having “formal” education or training in the field.
It’s even possible to have everyday expertise in YMYL topics. For example, there are forums and support pages for people with specific diseases. Sharing personal experience is a form of everyday expertise. Consider this example .
Here, forum participants are tel ing how long their loved ones lived with liver cancer. This is an example of sharing personal experiences (in which they are experts), not medical advice. Specific medical information and advice (rather than descriptions of life experiences) should come from doctors or other health professionals.
Think about the topic of the page. What kind of expertise is required for the page to achieve its purpose wel ? The standard for expertise depends on the topic of the page.
4.0
High Quality Pages
In this section, we wil describe characteristics of High quality pages and give many examples. Examples help calibrate your ratings, so please review each one.
4.1
Characteristics of High Quality Pages
High quality pages exist for almost any beneficial purpose, from giving information to making people laugh to expressing oneself artistical y to purchasing products or services online.
What makes a High quality page? A High quality page should have a beneficial purpose and achieve that purpose wel .
In addition, High quality pages have the fol owing characteristics:
●
High level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC, including a descriptive or helpful title.
●
Satisfying website information and/or information about who is responsible for the website. If the page is primarily for shopping or includes financial transactions, then it should have satisfying customer service information.
●
Positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the MC on the page. Positive reputation of the creator of the MC, if different from that of the website.
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4.2
A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content
The quality of the MC is one of the most important criteria in Page Quality rating, and informs the E-A-T of the page. For al types of webpages, creating high quality MC takes a significant amount of at least one of the fol owing: time, effort, expertise, and talent/skil . For news articles and information pages, high quality MC must be factual y accurate for the topic and must be supported by expert consensus where such consensus exists.
For each page you evaluate, spend a few minutes examining the MC before drawing a conclusion about it. Read the article, watch the video, examine the pictures, use the calculator, play the online game, etc. Remember that MC also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out. For example, if the page is a product page on a store website, put at least one product in the cart to make sure the shopping cart is functioning. If the page is an online game, spend a few minutes playing it.
The purpose of the page wil help you determine what high quality content means for that page. For example, High quality information pages should be factual y accurate, clearly written, and comprehensive. High quality shopping content should al ow users to find the products they want and to purchase the products easily. High quality humor or satire should be entertaining, while factual accuracy is not a requirement as long as the page would be understood as satire by users.
The amount of content necessary for the page to be satisfying depends on the topic and purpose of the page. A High quality page on a broad topic with a lot of available information wil have more content than a High quality page on a narrower topic. Here are some examples of pages with a satisfying amount of high quality MC.
Webpage
Discussion
Siberian Husky
The Siberian Husky (a breed of dog) is a narrow topic. Although this encyclopedia landing page has less MC
Information Page
than some encyclopedia pages on broader topics, it has a satisfying amount of clearly written, high quality MC.
This shopping page on a reputable shopping website has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. The page provides the manufacturer’s product specs, as well as original product information, over 90 user reviews,
Kitchen Stand Mixer shipping and returns information, multiple images of the product, etc. Note: Some of the MC is behind links on
Shopping Page
the page (“item details,” “item specifications,” “guest reviews,” etc.). Even though you have to click these links to see the content, it is still considered MC.
This movie review written by a movie critic has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. Time, effort, and
Movie Review Page talent/skill went into writing this movie review.
4.3
Clear and Satisfying Website Information: Who is Responsible and Customer Service Understanding who is responsible for a website is a critical part of assessing E-A-T for most types of websites. High quality pages should have clear information about the website so that users feel comfortable trusting the site.
The amount of information needed for E-A-T assessment depends on the type of website. For example, YMYL websites demand a high degree of trust, so they general y need satisfying information about who is responsible for the content of the site. In addition, High quality stores and financial transaction websites also need clear and satisfying customer service information to help users resolve issues.
Other websites that are not YMYL websites may need less website information, depending on the purpose of the website.
For example, an email address may be sufficient for some non-YMYL websites.
4.4
Positive Reputation
Reputation is an important criteria when using the High rating, and informs the E-A-T of the page. While a page can merit the High rating with no reputation, the High rating cannot be used for any website that has a convincing negative reputation. Remember that when doing research, make sure to consider the reasons behind a negative rating and not just the rating itself.
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4.5
A High Level of Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
High quality pages and websites need enough expertise to be authoritative and trustworthy on their topic. Remember that there are “expert” websites of al types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor websites, forum and Q&A pages, etc. In fact, some types of information are found almost exclusively on forums and discussions, where a community of experts can provide valuable perspectives on specific topics.
Think about the topic of the page. What kind of expertise is required for the page to achieve its purpose wel ? The standard for expertise depends on the topic of the page. For example, high quality news articles and information pages on scientific topics should represent established scientific consensus where such consensus exists.
4.6
Examples of High Quality Pages
Webpage/Type of Content
High Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
High: News 1
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
Homepage of a newspaper
●
Positive reputation (website)
This is the homepage of a newspaper that has
(YMYL)
won several Pulitzer Prizes and Overseas
Press Club awards. This newspaper has a
positive reputation for its objective reporting.
High: News 2
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
This is an article on a newspaper website that
●
Positive reputation (website)
has won many Pulitzer Prize awards and has a
Article on a newspaper website
●
High E-A-T of the publisher and/or author positive reputation for its investigative (YMYL)
journalism. There is a satisfying amount of
high quality MC. While there are Ads on the
page, the MC is easy to find and the Ads are
clearly labeled as Ads.
High: News 3
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
This is an opinion piece written by the Editorial
Opinion article on a newspaper
●
Positive reputation (website)
Board of the largest newspaper in the U.S.
website
●
High E-A-T of the publisher and/or author state of Minnesota. The page is clearly labelled as an opinion piece, welcoming a new football
coach to the University of Minnesota.
High: Government agency
The purpose of this page is to display the
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
US Naval Observatory Master
official US Naval Observatory Master Clock
Clock page
time in 7 different time zones. The page
displays the clock information in a clear,
easy-to-read format. The Naval Observatory is
highly trustworthy and authoritative for this type
of information.
High: Humor
●
High quality humorous MC
●
Positive reputation (website)
Article on a humor website
●
Expertise as a farcical humor website
This website is well-known for its humorous,
satirical articles. This is a cute example of a
satisfying and funny article.
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Webpage/Type of Content
High Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an “about us” page on a restaurant
High: Small business 1
website. This page provides information on
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
when the restaurant opened and what visitors
Local fish & chips restaurant
can expect. Other pages on the website
provide information about the restaurant
including the address, menu, other contact
information, etc. This website is highly
authoritative because it is about itself.
High: Small business 2
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page This is the News and Updates section of a
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
local preservation center selling poultry,
Local preservation center
vegetables, and more.
Note: This example was added in 2014 so the
“News and Updates” were timely.
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
High: Blog post
This is a blog post on a newspaper that has
●
Very positive reputation (website)
won a variety of awards, such as the Pulitzer
●
Specifically, high E-A-T and positive
Parenting article about strollers
Prize, George Polk Award, Peabody Award,
reputation for this specific blog and author etc. The author of this blog post has become known as an expert on parenting issues. She
is a regular contributor to this and other media
websites.
High: Shopping 1
The purpose of this page is to allow users to
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
buy a school backpack. The page provides a
Backpack shopping page on a
●
Positive reputation (website)
lot of different backpack options, and some of
popular store website (YMYL)
them have user reviews.
This is a well-known, reputable merchant, with
detailed Customer Service information on the
site.
High: Shopping 2
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page This company sells its own line of high end, Bathroom décor page on a store
●
Positive reputation (website)
fashionable baby and children’s furniture and
website (YMYL)
accessories. It has a positive reputation as well
as expertise in these specific types of goods.
Many products sold on the site are unique to
this company.
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Webpage/Type of Content
High Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
High: Shopping 3
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
There is a very large quantity of MC on this
TomTom GPS page on an
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
page. Note that the tabs on the page lead to
electronics website (YMYL)
●
Positive reputation (website)
even more information, including many
customer reviews. The tabs should be
considered part of the MC.
High: Video 1
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
Saturday Night Live video on a
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
The MC of this video page is an episode of
video website
Saturday Night Live, a very popular television
show.
This is a humorous, high quality, well produced
High: Video 2
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
video with more than 6.5 million views (and
●
High E-A-T (everyday expertise) on the
counting), illustrating the proper care and
“An Engineer’s Guide to Cats”
topic of cat ownership
practical benefits of cats. The two engineers in
video
the video have everyday expertise on cat
ownership. For a humorous video like this one,
expertise does not have to be in the form of a
trained veterinarian.
High: Game
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
Online game
●
Positive reputation (website) as an
Highly engaging game with multiple levels that
educational tool for kids
could entertain a child for hours. This website
has a positive reputation for educating children
about animals.
High: Q&A
The question on the page asks how long
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC in people live with cancer. There are many How long do cancer patients live
the form of personal narratives
responses describing how long a loved one
(YMYL)
lived after diagnosis. There is very little
medical advice and the focus of the page is
sharing personal experience. Many responses
are heartfelt and well written.
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Webpage/Type of Content
High Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is a detailed article about the American
High: Encyclopedia
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of Civil War. The citations support the E-A-T of high quality MC
this article.
Encyclopedia article about the
●
Positive reputation (website)
American Civil War
●
High E-A-T for the article
Note: Although much of the content is visible on
the mobile page, we consider the content under
the headings (which you need to expand) to be
part of the MC. (To see the screenshot, you will
need to zoom in to the image.)
This forum is well-known for discussions on
luxury designer purses. On this particular
High: Forum 1
forum page, members are consulting forum
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
experts who have expertise authenticating bags
Authenticating a luxury designer
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
from this brand. These experts can tell if a
purse
particular bag is authentic or fake. While there
is an ad at the top and a few ads within the
forum message, it does not distract from the
MC, which is easy to find.
(To see the screenshot, you will need to zoom
in to the image.)
This discussion focuses on the landscaping for
High: Forum 2
●
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
a particular paludarium (an aquarium with
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
terrestrial and aquatic elements). There is a
Landscaping an aquarium
lot of discussion and interaction between forum
members about the types of materials and
species used in the aquarium. The posts show
expertise in a niche topic aquarium
landscaping.
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5.0
Highest Quality Pages
Highest quality pages are created to serve a beneficial purpose and achieve their purpose very wel . The distinction between High and Highest is based on the quality and quantity of MC, as wel as the level of reputation and E-A-T.
What makes a page Highest quality? In addition to the attributes of a High quality page, a Highest quality page must have at least one of the fol owing characteristics:
●
Very high level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
●
A very satisfying amount of high or highest quality MC.
●
Very positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the MC on the page. Very positive reputation of the creator of the MC, if different from that of the website.
5.1
Very High Quality MC
We wil consider the MC of the page to be very high or highest quality when it is created with a high degree of time and effort, and in particular, expertise, talent, and skil —this may provide evidence for the E-A-T of the page. Very high quality MC may be created by experts, hobbyists, or even people with everyday expertise. Our standards depend on the purpose of the page and the type of content. For YMYL topics, there is a high standard for accuracy and wel -established medical/scientific/historical consensus where such consensus exists.
A factor that often distinguishes very high quality MC is the creation of unique and original content for the specific website.
While what constitutes original content may be very different depending on the type of website, here are some examples:
●
For news: very high quality MC is original reporting that provides information that would not otherwise have been known had the article not revealed it. Original, in-depth, and investigative reporting requires a high degree of skil , time, and effort. Often very high quality news content wil include a description of primary sources and other original reporting referenced during the content creation process. Very high quality news content must be accurate and should meet professional journalistic standards.
●
For artistic content (videos, images, photography, writing, etc.): very high quality MC is unique and original content created by highly skil ed and talented artists or content creators. Such artistic content requires a high degree of skil /talent, time, and effort. If the artistic content is related to a YMYL topic (e.g., artistic content with the purpose of informing or swaying opinion about YMYL topics), YMYL standards should apply.
●
For informational content: very high quality MC is original, accurate, comprehensive, clearly communicated, professional y presented, and should reflect expert consensus as appropriate. Expectations for different types of information may vary. For example, scientific papers have a different set of standards than information about a hobby such as stamp col ecting. However, al types of very high quality informational content share common attributes of accuracy, comprehensiveness, and clear communication, in addition to meeting standards appropriate to the topic or field.
The Highest rating may be justified for pages with a satisfying or comprehensive amount of very high quality MC.
5.2
Very Positive Reputation
Extensive reputation research is important when giving Highest ratings. Very positive reputation is often based on prestigious awards or recommendations from known experts or professional societies on the topic of the page. Wikipedia and other informational sources can be a good starting point for reputation research.
For YMYL topics especial y, careful checks for reputation are required. YMYL reputation should be based on evidence from experts, professional societies, awards, etc. For shopping pages, experts could include people who have used the store’s website to make purchases; whereas for medical advice pages, experts should be people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. Please review Section 2.3 for a summary of types of YMYL pages/topics.
For some topics, such as humor or recipes, less formal expertise is OK. For these topics, popularity, user engagement, and user reviews can be considered evidence of reputation. For topics that need less formal expertise, websites can be considered to have a positive reputation if they are highly popular and wel -loved for their topic or content type, and are focused on helping users.
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5.3
Very High Level of E-A-T
Highest quality pages and websites have a very high level of expertise or are highly authoritative or highly trustworthy.
Formal expertise is important for YMYL topics such as medical, financial, or legal advice. Expertise may be less formal for topics such as recipes or humor. An expert page on cooking may be a page on a professional chef’s website, or it may be a video from an expert content creator who uploads very high quality cooking videos on YouTube and is one of the most wel -known and popular content creators for recipes in their area of expertise. Please value life experience and
“everyday expertise” as appropriate. For some topics, the most expert sources of information are ordinary people sharing their life experiences on personal blogs, videos, forums, reviews, discussions, etc.
Think about what expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness mean for the topic of the page. Who are the experts?
What makes a source trustworthy for the topic? What makes a website highly authoritative for the topic? Standards for very high E-A-T wil differ depending on the topic of the page. YMYL topics wil require higher standards.
5.4
Examples of Highest Quality Pages
Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page, including of the publisher
This is a feature article from a newspaper that
Highest: News 1
and/or authors for a news article
has won numerous awards (such as the
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of Pulitzer Prize, James Beard Award, and Article on a newspaper website
very high quality MC for the purpose of
Scripps Howard Award).
(YMYL)
the page
●
Very positive reputation (website)
The page has a comprehensive amount of very
high-quality MC, including in-depth reporting by
two authors with extensive knowledge and
experience in investigative journalism.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose of
the page, including of the publisher and/or This is an article on a newspaper website that
Highest: News 2
authors for a news article
has won a variety of awards including the
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of Pulitzer Prize and the GLAAD Media Award.
Article on a newspaper website
very high quality MC for the purpose of
the page
The article has a comprehensive amount of
●
Very positive reputation (website)
very high quality MC that is unique and original,
including in-depth investigative reporting by two
authors with extensive knowledge and
experience in investigative journalism.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This page is on a well-known fact-checking and
debunking website that covers urban legends,
Highest: Informational 1
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of Internet rumors, and other stories of unknown very high quality MC
or questionable origin.
Fact-checking page on an
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Internet rumor debunking website
of the page
The page has a very satisfying amount of
(YMYL)
●
Positive reputation (website)
original MC for users seeking to validate a
claim about a documentary film about
mermaids. Users can trust the information on
this page due to the website's positive
reputation and high level of expertise in
debunking stories of this type.
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
This page has a very satisfying amount of MC
Highest: Informational 2
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
for users interested in ball gown wedding
of the page
dresses. An abundance of pictures, plus
Ball gown wedding dress page
●
Positive reputation (website)
options to view by price range, style, etc., are
part of what makes this page so satisfying.
This page is on a very popular wedding
planning website.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Government agency
of the page
This page has a highly satisfying amount of
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
Yosemite National Park
helpful information about Yosemite National
very high quality MC for the purpose of
information
Park, including traffic alerts and links to other
the page
parts of the website with additional information.
Since the page is on the official national park
website, it is uniquely authoritative.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Technical 1
of the page
This page offers a satisfying amount of helpful
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
Software tips
and very high quality MC for the purpose of the
high quality MC
page. Because the page is on the official
website of the company that produces the
software, it is highly authoritative.
From this Wikipedia article , we learn that
“Kernel.org is a main repository of source code
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Technical 2
for the Linux kernel, the base of the popular
of the page
Linux operating system. It makes all versions
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
Linux Kernel archives
of the source code available to all users... The
high quality MC
main purpose of the site is to host a repository
for Linux kernel developers and maintainers of
Linux distributions.”
This website is the most authoritative source for
information about Linux.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Highest: Financial 1
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Users in the U.S. can obtain free credit reports
Credit report information website
of the page
on this website by providing their Social
(YMYL)
●
Very positive reputation (website)
Security Number. This Wikipedia article tells us that this website is “the only federally mandated
and authorized source for obtaining a free
credit report.”
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Financial 2
of the page
The purpose of the page is to provide income
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of tax forms and publications. The website Tax forms page (YMYL)
very high quality MC for the purpose of
represents an agency of the U.S. federal
the page
government that handles taxes, so the page
and forms are uniquely authoritative and
trustworthy.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Magazine Article 1
of the page
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of This article is on a magazine website that has Article titled “Secret Fears of the
very high quality MC
won multiple National Magazine awards. The
Super-Rich”
●
Very positive reputation (website)
article has a comprehensive amount of very
high quality and in-depth MC that is unique and
original.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Magazine Article 2
of the page
This magazine is very well-known and well
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of regarded for content about artists and bands, Interview with musical artist
very high quality MC
and specifically has a positive reputation for
●
Very positive reputation (website)
interviews with musicians. This article features
high quality and original content in its interview
with the artist.
The purpose of this page is to provide an online
Highest: Medical 1
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator. The
of the page
calculator is functional and easy to use.
BMI calculator (YMYL)
●
Very positive reputation (website)
The website represents an institute that is part
of the National Institutes of Health. It has an
extremely good reputation and is an expert in
medical topics.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Highest: Medical 2
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
This is a meningitis reference page on a
Page about meningitis (YMYL)
●
Very positive reputation (website)
trustworthy and authoritative website for a
nonprofit medical research group. This website
has a reputation of being one of the best web
resources for medical information.
Highest: Medical 3
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
This is an influenza reference page on a
Page about seasonal flu (YMYL)
●
Very positive reputation (website)
trustworthy and authoritative medical website.
This website has a reputation of being one of
the best web resources for medical information
of this type.
Highest: Medical 4
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
According to this Wikipedia article , this hospital Health information on a hospital
of the page
is “currently regarded as one of the top 4
page (YMYL)
hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S.
News & World Report .” Users can trust medical information on this website.
The purpose of this page is to provide
information about, and allow users to buy, a
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Highest: Shopping
specific type of school backpack. The page
of the page
provides a lot of helpful product information, as
●
Very positive reputation (website)
Backpack shopping page
well as 600 user reviews.
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
(YMYL)
high quality MC
Since the store produces this backpack, they
are experts on the product, making the page on
their own website authoritative. In addition, this
store has a reputation for producing one of the
highest quality and most popular school
backpacks on the market.
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
Highest: Login
for its purpose (login page)
●
Positive reputation (website)
Online banking login page
This page has login functionality, as well as
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
(YMYL)
clear information about what the user is logging
of the page
into. This is a large, popular bank with a good
reputation.
Highest: Charity
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
Homepage of a charity (YMYL)
●
Very positive reputation (website)
This is a highly reputable charity according to
multiple charity rating organizations.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an example of a “custom 404” page.
These pages are designed to alert users that
the URL they are trying to visit no longer exists.
The MC of this page is the cartoon, the caption,
Highest: Page with Error
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
and the search functionality, which is specific to
Message
for its purpose (error page)
the content of the website. It is clear that time,
●
Very positive reputation (website)
effort, and talent were involved in its creation.
“Custom 404” page
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
This publication has a very positive reputation
and is specifically known for its cartoons.
Keep in mind that for any type of page,
including pages with error messages, there
may be a range of highest quality to lowest
quality. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate the
page using the same criteria as all other pages,
regardless of what type of page it is.
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
Highest: PDF File
very high quality MC
This PDF file is a detailed campus map of a
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
major university, which is hosted on the official
Campus map
of the page
university website. This is a highly authoritative
source for this information. The map includes a
listing of all the buildings, parking structures,
parking lots, construction areas, etc.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
The website is one of the most popular recipe
Highest: Recipes 1
of the page
websites and the author of the recipe is a
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
well-known celebrity chef who specializes in
Pumpkin pie recipe
and features
southern cooking.
This page has a large number of user reviews
of the recipe, detailed preparation time
information, a “recipe box” feature, etc.
Highest: Recipes 2
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
Even though this user does not seem to be a
of the page
well-known professional chef, recipes are an
Chocolate chip cookie recipe on a ●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
example of everyday expertise. The author of
recipe blog
and features
this blog has documented her extensive
experimentation with a chocolate chip cookie
recipe, and her expertise is demonstrated in the
large quantity of original high or highest quality
MC.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Highest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Highest: Video 1
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
This is a high quality, professionally produced
The band OK Go’s music video
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
video on the band’s official channel. The music
for the song “This Too Shall Pass”
of the page
video represents unique and original content
created by a highly skilled and talented musical
artist.
Highest: Video 2
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of
very high quality MC
This is a high quality, popular video. It won the
“Henri 2, Paw de Deux” video
●
Very positive reputation for the content of “Golden Kitty Award” for “Best Cat Video On this particular video
The Internet” at the Walker Art Center's Internet
Cat Video Film Festival. The video is unique
and original content created with a high degree
of time and effort.
Highest: Video 3
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of The MC of this video page is an episode of very high quality MC
Saturday Night Live on the TV network’s official
Saturday Night Live video on the
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
website, making it highly authoritative and
TV network’s website
of the page
trustworthy. The episode represents high
quality and original content created by a TV
show that has won numerous awards. Below
the main video, there are many other videos
that users may be interested in.
Highest: Q&A
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
The purpose of the page is to answer questions
of the page
about the usage of abbreviations. This website
Q&A page on abbreviations
●
Very positive reputation (website)
has a very good reputation as a reference for
information on writing, publishing, etc. It is
considered highly authoritative and trustworthy
for the topic of the page.
Highest: Social Media Profile
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
The official Twitter profile page of
●
A satisfying or comprehensive amount of This is the official Twitter account for the the Tennessee Republican Party
high quality MC
Tennessee Republican Party (TNGOP). It is an
(YMYL)
expert and authoritative source of information
about the Tennessee Republican Party.
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6.0
Low Quality Pages
Low quality pages may have been intended to serve a beneficial purpose. However, Low quality pages do not achieve their purpose wel because they are lacking in an important dimension, such as having an unsatisfying amount of MC, or because the creator of the MC lacks expertise for the purpose of the page.
If a page has one or more of the fol owing characteristics, the Low rating applies:
●
An inadequate level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
●
The quality of the MC is low.
●
There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
●
The title of the MC is exaggerated or shocking.
●
The Ads or SC distracts from the MC.
●
There is an unsatisfying amount of website information or information about the creator of the MC for the purpose of the page (no good reason for anonymity).
●
A mildly negative reputation for a website or creator of the MC, based on extensive reputation research.
If a page has multiple Low quality attributes, a rating lower than Low may be appropriate.
6.1
Lacking Expertise, Authoritativeness, or Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
Low quality pages often lack an appropriate level of E-A-T for the purpose of the page. Here are some examples:
●
The creator of the MC does not have adequate expertise in the topic of the MC, e.g. a tax form instruction video made by someone with no clear expertise in tax preparation.
●
The website is not an authoritative source for the topic of the page, e.g. tax information on a cooking website.
●
The MC is not trustworthy, e.g. a shopping checkout page that has an insecure connection.
Note: Websites with user-generated content span the Page Quality rating spectrum. Please pay careful attention to websites that al ow users to publish content with little oversight, such as social networking pages, video sharing websites, volunteer-created encyclopedias, article sharing websites, forums, etc. Depending on the topic, pages on these websites may lack E-A-T.
Important : The Low rating should be used if the page lacks appropriate E-A-T for its purpose.
6.2
Low Quality Main Content
The quality of the MC is an important consideration for PQ rating. We wil consider content to be Low quality if it is created without adequate time, effort, expertise, or talent/skil . Pages with low quality MC do not achieve their purpose wel .
In addition, please examine the title on the page. The title of the page should describe the content.
Exaggerated or shocking titles can entice users to click on pages in search results. If pages do not live up to the exaggerated or shocking title or images, the experience leaves users feeling surprised and confused. Here is an example of a page with an exaggerated and shocking title: "Is the World about to End? Mysterious Sightings of 25ft Sea Serpents Prompt Panic!" as the title for an article about the unidentified remains of one smal dead fish on a beach. Pages with exaggerated or shocking titles that do not describe the MC wel should be rated Low .
Important : The Low rating should be used if the page has Low quality MC.
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6.3
Unsatisfying Amount of Main Content
Some Low quality pages are unsatisfying because they have a smal amount of MC for the purpose of the page. For example, imagine an encyclopedia article on a very broad topic such as World War II that has just a few paragraphs.
Important : The Low rating should be used if the page has an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
6.4
Distracting Ads/SC
We expect Ads and SC to be visible. However, some Ads, SC, or interstitial pages (i.e., pages displayed before or after the content you are expecting) make it difficult to use the MC. Pages with Ads, SC, or other features that distract from or interrupt the use of the MC should be given a Low rating.
A single pop-over Ad or interstitial page with a clear and easy-to-use close button is not terribly distracting, though may not be a great user experience. However, difficult-to-close Ads that fol ow page scrol s, or interstitial pages that require an app download, can be truly distracting and make the MC difficult to use. You can see examples of interstitial pages here .
The content of the Ads, SC, or other features may be distracting as wel : sexual y suggestive images such as here , grotesque images such as here , and porn Ads on non-porn pages should be considered very distracting.
Final y, Ads and SC can be distracting if the titles or images of the Ads or SC are shocking or disturbing. Here is an example of a page with shocking and exaggerated titles, images, and text in the Ads and SC.
Important : The Low rating should be used if the page has Ads, SC, or other features that interrupt or distract from using the MC.
6.5
Mixed or Mildly Negative Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content Extensive reputation research is required for al PQ rating tasks unless you have previously researched the reputation of the website. Many websites have little reputation information, unfortunately. Of the websites with reputation information, most websites have a good reputation. Please exercise care when researching the reputation of businesses. Try to find as many reviews and ratings as possible, and read the details of negative reviews and low ratings before inferring that the business overal has a negative reputation. A few negative customer service reviews are typical for businesses such as restaurants.
If the MC was not created by the website, research the reputation of the creator of the MC. While many ordinary people do not have reputation information available on the Internet, you can find reputation information on wel -known YouTubers, journalists, authors, bloggers and vloggers, professionals such as lawyers and doctors, etc.
Pay attention when there is evidence of mixed or mildly negative—though not malicious or financial y fraudulent—reputation. The Low rating should be used if the website or the creator of the MC has a mildly negative reputation.
Important : For a YMYL website, a mixed reputation is cause for a Low rating.
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6.6
Unsatisfying Amount of Information about the Website or Creator of the Main Content We expect some form of website information for many or most websites. We expect clear information about who (e.g., what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) created the MC, unless there is good reason for anonymity. A long-standing Internet alias or username can also serve the same function as identifying the MC creator. However, the amount of information needed about the website or creator of the MC depends on the purpose of the page. For personal websites or non-YMYL forum discussions, an email address or social media link alone may be sufficient.
Stores and websites that process financial transactions require a high level of user trust. If a store or financial transaction website has just an email address and physical address, it may be difficult to get help if there are issues with the transaction. Likewise, many other types of YMYL websites also require a high degree of user trust.
Important : For YMYL pages and other pages that require a high level of user trust, an unsatisfying amount of any of the fol owing is a reason to give a page a Low quality rating: customer service information, contact information, information about who is responsible for the website or information about who created the content. For other types of websites, use your judgment.
6.7
Examples of Low Quality Pages
Type of Webpage/Content
Low Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Low: News 1
The writing of this article is unprofessional,
●
Low quality MC
including many grammar and punctuation
Article about nuclear power
●
Lacking E-A-T
errors. The MC also appears to have been
(YMYL)
paraphrased from a science article found on a different source, but with factual inaccuracies
introduced throughout. The combination of low
quality MC and lack of E-A-T justify the
Lowest+ to Low rating.
The title of the article is misleading and does
not reflect the actual content of the page. The
Low: News 2
MC does not explain how to get rid of toxins or
●
Low quality MC
what the word "toxins" in the headline refers to.
Article titled "Getting Rid Of
●
Misleading page title
Toxins After The Holiday Season"
●
Lacking E-A-T
The content also has many problems: the
(YMYL)
writing quality is poor, and the article includes
meaningless statements such as "water
therapy is one of the easiest ways of beauty
regimen since it will give enough moisture on
the skin". The article fails to cite sources, and
there is no evidence of E-A-T.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Low Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Low: Informational 1
●
Low quality MC
This page and website have many of
●
Disruptive Ads
characteristics of Low quality pages. Close
40th birthday party food ideas
observation shows MC that contains mostly
commonly known information and poor quality
writing. The MC is broken up by large Ads that
disrupt the user experience.
Low: Informational 2
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
purpose of the page
Some websites rely on users to create virtually
Q&A unanswered question
all of their MC. In this case, the MC is the
user’s question. If there are no answers, the
amount of MC on the page is unsatisfying.
Low: Article 1
●
Low or Lowest quality MC
This content has many problems:
Article with tips for dressing for
●
Lacking E-A-T
inaccurate/meaningless information and
the office
complete lack of editing with poor spelling and
grammar—both of these characteristics in
combination justify the Lowest+ to Low rating.
Low: Article 2
●
Low or Lowest quality MC
This content has many problems: garbled
Using ginger for your health
●
Lacking E-A-T
information and a lack of editing. Both of these
(YMYL)
characteristics in combination justify the
Lowest+ to Low rating. In addition, lacking
E-A-T on this topic is concerning.
This is a YMYL topic. However, the steps listed
here are merely commonly-known information
that would be of little benefit to someone
interested in adopting a child from Iraq.
Low: Article 3
●
Low quality MC: commonly known
information only
For example, step 1 says “Choose an adoption
How to adopt children from Iraq
●
Lacking E-A-T on a YMYL topic
agency” and suggests looking in a phone book.
(YMYL)
There is almost no information specific to Iraq.
There is no evidence of expertise on adoption
from the description about the author.
Note that some Ads have the same format as
links to other articles on this website, potentially
making it a bit harder for users to visually
distinguish these Ads from the MC and SC.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Low Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Low: Financial
Page with advice on picking a
●
Lacking E-A-T on a YMYL topic
There is no evidence that the author has
quality stock for investment
financial expertise. Because this is a YMYL
(YMYL)
financial article, lacking expertise is a reason
for a Low rating.
Low: Medical
●
Lacking E-A-T on a YMYL topic
Page with information about how
There is no evidence that the author has
long the flu lasts (YMYL)
medical expertise. Because this is a YMYL
medical article, lacking expertise is a reason for
a Low rating.
This page and website have many of
characteristics of Low quality pages. The MC
is low quality and lacks important information.
For example, it gives no indication of how to
Low: Recipes 1
●
Low quality and unsatisfying amount of
make a crust and doesn’t list premade crust as
MC
an ingredient. It would be very difficult to
Apple pie recipe
actually make an apple pie using this recipe.
This page is lacking the kind of helpful content
we expect in recipe pages, such as user
reviews or comments. Without such
information, it’s hard to tell if the recipe is any
good. The small pink text at the top is not
helpful for users.
Low: Recipes 2
●
Very distracting SC or Ads (not clear) in
This is an example of distracting and disruptive
the right column
Gluten-free New York cheesecake
Ads/SC: there are large Ads in the main column
●
Disruptive Ads in the middle column
recipe
pushing down the MC as well as highly
distracting content on the right that are labeled
“Top Posts & Pages.” It is unclear whether
these are SC or Ads.
Low: Q&A1
●
Lacking E-A-T
There are 94 answers to this question with a
Page about Native American
few results that seem helpful. Many of the
customs (YMYL)
posts appear to be deliberately incorrect or
misleading, including the top answer, which is
labeled the “best answer.”
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Type of Webpage/Content
Low Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Please read the MC (areas with red boxes
around it), including the completely unhelpful
"answer." This answer is so unhelpful, we can
Low: Q&A 2
●
Misleading Ads
consider this question to be unanswered. This
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
page has an unsatisfying amount of MC.
Page about a 2002 Volvo part
purpose of the page
(YMYL)
In addition to a very unhelpful “answer,” the
page design makes it difficult to distinguish the
MC from Ads. For example, below the answer,
we see a "sponsored answer," which has the
same format as the real answer, but is actually
an Ad and not an answer to the question—this
is misleading to users.
This is a page from a Q&A site with an
unanswered question. Q&A pages exist to
answer user questions. Pages with
unanswered questions should generally be
Low: Q&A 3
●
Misleading Ads/SC
rated Low because they have little MC (just a
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
question and no answer) and don’t achieve
Page about water and soil
purpose of the page
their purpose well.
In addition to having no answer, this page has
Ads and links to other questions (misleadingly
labeled as “Relevant answers”) displayed
prominently, which users may mistake for
answers to the question. It takes a moment to
notice that this page actually has no answer.
7.0
Lowest Quality Pages
This section describes Lowest quality pages. The examples at the end of this section are critic al for understanding these concepts, so please review them careful y. As a reminder, here are the steps for doing PQ rating.
1. Understand the true purpose of the page. Websites and pages should be created for users in order to serve a beneficial purpose, in other words, they should exist to help users.
2. Websites or pages without a beneficial purpose, including pages that are created with no attempt to help users, or pages that potential y spread hate, cause harm, or misinform or deceive users, should receive the Lowest rating.
E-A-T and other page quality characteristics do not play a role for these pages. For example, any page attempting to scam users should receive the Lowest rating, whether the scam is created by an expert or not.
3. Otherwise, the PQ rating is based on how wel the page achieves its purpose using the criteria outlined in these guidelines. Pages that fail to achieve their purpose should receive the Lowest rating.
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Here is a summary of what different types of Lowest pages look like:
Type of Lowest Page
What Pages Look Like
Pages that potentially
●
Promote hate or violence towards a group of people
spread hate
Potentially harmful pages
●
Encourage harm to self or others
●
Malicious pages, e.g., scams, phishing, malware downloads
●
Extremely negative or malicious reputation
Pages that potentially
●
Demonstrably inaccurate content
misinform users
●
YMYL content that contradicts well-established expert consensus
●
Debunked or unsubstantiated conspiracy theories
Pages that potentially
●
Deceptive intent, e.g., websites created to deceive users
deceive users
●
Deceptive design, e.g., Ads that are disguised as MC
Lack of purpose pages
●
No MC
●
Gibberish MC
●
Cannot determine a purpose
Pages that fail to achieve
●
Lowest E-A-T
their purpose
●
No/little MC or lowest quality MC
●
Copied MC or auto-generated MC
●
Obstructed or inaccessible MC
●
Inadequate information about the website or creator of the MC
●
Unmaintained websites, and hacked, defaced, or spammed pages
7.1
Lack of Purpose Pages
Sometimes it is impossible to figure out the purpose of the page. For example, some pages are either accidental y or deliberately created with no MC or gibberish and/or meaningless MC. Some pages fail to achieve their purpose so profoundly that the purpose of the page cannot be determined. Such pages serve no real purpose for users.
No matter how or why they are created, lack of purpose pages should be rated Lowest quality.
7.2
Pages that Fail to Achieve Their Purpose
7.2.1 Lowest E-A-T
One of the most important criteria of PQ rating is E-A-T. Expertise of the creator of the MC, and authoritativeness or trustworthiness of the page or website, is extremely important for a page to achieve its purpose wel .
If the E-A-T of a page is low enough, users cannot or should not use the MC of the page. This is especial y true of YMYL
topics. If the page is highly inexpert, unauthoritative or untrustworthy, it fails to achieve its purpose.
Important : The Lowest rating should be used if the page is highly inexpert, unauthoritative, or untrustworthy.
7.2.2 No/Little Main Content
Pages exist to share their MC with users. The fol owing pages should be rated Lowest because they fail to achieve their purpose:
●
Pages with no MC.
●
Pages with a bare minimum of MC that is unhelpful for the purpose of the page.
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7.2.3 Lowest Quality Main Content
The Lowest rating applies to any page with Lowest Quality MC. Lowest quality MC is content created with such insufficient time, effort, expertise, talent, and/or skil that it fails to achieve its purpose. The Lowest rating should also apply to pages where users cannot benefit from the MC, for example:
●
Informational pages with demonstrably inaccurate MC.
●
The MC is so difficult to read, watch, or use, that it takes great effort to understand and use the page.
●
Broken functionality of the page due to lack of skil in construction, poor design, or lack of maintenance.
Have high standards and think about how typical users in your locale would experience the MC on the page. A page may have value to the creator or participants in the discussion, but few to no general users who view it would benefit from the MC.
7.2.4 Copied Main Content
One way to create MC with little to no time, effort, or expertise is to copy it from another source.
The word “copied” refers to the practice of “scraping” content, or copying content from other non-affiliated websites without adding any original content or value to users (see here for more information on copied or scraped content).
Important : We do not consider legitimately licensed or syndicated content to be “copied” (see here for more on web syndication). Examples of syndicated content in the U.S. include news articles by AP or Reuters.
The Lowest rating is appropriate if al or almost al of the MC on the page is copied with little or no time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users. Such pages should be rated Lowest , even if the page assigns credit for the content to another source.
Al of the fol owing are considered copied content:
●
Content copied exactly from an identifiable source. Sometimes an entire page is copied, and sometimes just parts of the page are copied. Sometimes multiple pages are copied and then pasted together into a single page.
Text that has been copied exactly is usual y the easiest type of copied content to identify.
●
Content that is copied, but changed slightly from the original. This type of copying makes it difficult to find the exact matching original source. Sometimes just a few words are changed, or whole sentences are changed, or a “find and replace” modification is made, where one word is replaced with another throughout the text. These types of changes are deliberately done to make it difficult to find the original source of the content. We cal this kind of content “copied with minimal alteration.”
●
Content copied from a changing source, such as a search results page or news feed. You often wil not be able to find an exact matching original source if it is a copy of “dynamic” content (content that changes frequently).
However, we wil stil consider this to be copied content.
Important : The Lowest rating is appropriate if al or almost al of the MC on the page is copied with little or no time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users. Such pages should be rated Lowest , even if the page assigns credit for the content to another source.
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7.2.5 How to Determine if Content is Copied
How do you determine whether al or most of the MC is copied? How do you identify the original source of the content?
These things can be difficult to determine, but the fol owing steps may help.
1. Copy a sentence or phrase in the text. It may be necessary to try a few sentences or phrases from the page just to be sure. When deciding what sentence or phrase to copy, try to find a sentence or series of several words without punctuation, unusual characters, or suspicious words that may have replaced the original text.
2. Search on Google by pasting the sentence or phrase (surrounded by quotation marks) inside the Google search box. Try a few sentences from the page.
Here are some sentences and phrases from this page about “The Wizard of Oz” film and how to search for them.
Sentence or Phrase From a Sentence
Query to Find the Sentence or Phrase
Try the query both with and without quotation marks around
A sentence on the page:
the sentence:
[ “ All are convinced by Dorothy that the Wizard can help
All are convinced by Dorothy that the Wizard can help them
them too ” ]
too
[ All are convinced by Dorothy that the Wizard can help
them too ]
Try the query both with and without quotation marks around
A phrase on the page:
the sentence:
[ “ Dorothy uses the Golden Cap to summon the Winged
Dorothy uses the Golden Cap to summon the Winged
Monkeys ” ]
Monkeys
[ Dorothy uses the Golden Cap to summon the Winged
Monkeys ]
Try the query both with and without quotation marks around
A different phrase on the page:
the sentence:
[ “ revealing an old man who had journeyed to Oz from
revealing an old man who had journeyed to Oz from Omaha Omaha long ago in a hot air balloon ” ]
long ago in a hot air balloon
[ revealing an old man who had journeyed to Oz from
Omaha long ago in a hot air balloon ]
3. Compare the pages you find that match the sentence or phrase. Is most of their MC the same? If so, does one clearly come from a highly authoritative source that is known for original content creation (newspaper, magazine, medical foundation, etc.)? Does one source seem to reasonably be the original? Does one source appear to have the earliest publication date, verified by sources like the Wayback Machine?
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Use your best judgment. Sometimes it is clear that the content is copied from somewhere, but you cannot tel what the original source is. Other times the content found on the original source has changed enough that searches for sentences or phrases may no longer match the original source. For example, Wikipedia articles can change dramatical y over time.
Text copied from old copies may not match the current content. If you strongly suspect the page you are evaluating is not the original source, consider it likely to be copied.
We have confirmed that the above text (the text in the sentence and phrases in the table) comes from an older version of
a Wikipedia article about “The Wizard of Oz,” which can be found using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine . Please note that searching for the above sentence and phrases wil not lead you to a current Wikipedia article about “The Wizard of Oz,” which demonstrates how confirming that the MC of a page contains copied content can sometimes be difficult.
Important : The Lowest rating is appropriate if al or almost al of the MC on the page is copied with little or no time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users. Such pages should be rated Lowest , even if the page assigns credit for the content to another source.
7.2.6 Auto-Generated Main Content
Another way to create MC with little to no time, effort, or expertise is to create pages (or even entire websites) by designing a basic template from which hundreds or thousands of pages are created, sometimes using content from freely available sources (such as an RSS feed or API). These pages are created with no or very little time, effort, or expertise, and also have no editing or manual curation.
Pages and websites made up of auto-generated content with no editing or manual curation, and no original content or value added for users, should be rated Lowest .
7.2.7 Obstructed or Inaccessible Main Content
MC cannot be used if it is obstructed or inaccessible due to Ads, SC, or interstitial pages . If you are not able to access the MC, please use the Lowest rating.
Here are some examples of pages with obstructed MC that should be rated Lowest :
●
Ads that continue to cover the MC as you scrol down the page, that are virtual y impossible to close without clicking on the Ad.
●
An interstitial page that redirects the user away from the MC without offering any path back to the MC.
7.2.8 Inadequate Information about the Website or Creator of the Main Content As discussed in Section 2.5.3 , we expect most websites to have some information about who (e.g., what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) is responsible for the website and who created the MC, as wel as some contact information, unless there is a good reason for anonymity. For websites with YMYL pages, such as online banks, we expect to find a lot of information about the site, including extensive customer service information.
Think about the purpose of the website and the type of website information users would expect or demand.
YMYL pages with absolutely no information about the website or creator of the MC, or other pages where the available information is completely inadequate for the purpose of the website (e.g., an online bank with only an email address), should be rated Lowest .
7.2.9 Unmaintained Websites, and Hacked, Defaced, or Spammed Pages
Some websites are not maintained or cared for at al by their webmaster. These “abandoned” websites wil fail to achieve their purpose over time, as content becomes stale or website functionality ceases to work on new browser versions.
Unmaintained websites should be rated Lowest if they fail to achieve their purpose due to the lack of maintenance.
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Unmaintained websites may also become hacked, defaced, or spammed with a large amount of distracting and unhelpful content. These pages should also be rated Lowest because they fail to accomplish their original purpose.
For reference, a hacked or defaced website is a site that has been modified without permission from the website owner(s).
Responsible webmasters should regularly check their websites for suspicious behavior and take steps to protect users.
We’l consider a comment or forum discussion to be “spammed” if there are posts with unrelated comments that are not intended to help other users, but rather to advertise a product or create a link to a website. Frequently these comments are posted by a “bot” rather than a real person. While a specific page on a website may have a large amount of spammed forum discussions or spammed user comments, it does not mean that the entire website contains only spam.
7.3
Pages that Potentially Spread Hate
Use the Lowest rating for pages that promote hate or violence against a group of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. Websites advocating hate or violence can cause real world harm.
Hate may be expressed in inflammatory, emotional, or hateful-sounding language, but may also be expressed in polite or even academic-sounding language.
Extensive reputation research is important for identifying websites that promote hate or violence. Please identify reputable and wel -established organizations that provide information about hate groups in your locale when researching reputation. Some websites may not have reputation information available. In this case, please use your judgment based on the MC of the page and knowledge of your locale.
7.4
Potentially Harmful Pages
7.4.1 Encourage Harm
Use the Lowest rating for pages that encourage or incite harm. Harm includes mental, physical, or emotional harm to self or others. For example:
●
User discussions that attempt to justify sexual abuse of children.
●
How-to or step-by-step information on how to commit acts of terrorism or violent extremism.
●
Depictions of extreme gore or violence, without a beneficial purpose.
●
Suicide promotion or pro-anorexia webpages that encourage users to engage in behavior that can result in hospitalization or death.
●
Pages with scary death threats or other realistic-sounding threatening language.
7.4.2 Malicious Pages
Malicious pages are created with harmful intent or created to benefit the website or other organization at the cost of the user. Use the Lowest rating for any harmful or malicious page, including the fol owing:
●
Pages or websites that you strongly suspect are scams (see these links for more information about Internet scams: Avoid Scams 1 , Avoid Scams 2 , Internet Fraud ).
●
Pages that ask for personal information without a legitimate reason (for example, pages that ask for name, birthdate, address, bank account, government ID number, etc.).
●
Pages that “phish” for passwords to Facebook, Gmail, or other popular online services. See here for information about “phishing” fraud.
●
Pages with suspicious links, including malware download links or other types of links that are detrimental to users.
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If you suspect a link is malicious, please do not click on it. You do not need to personal y experience a malicious download in order to confirm that a website is harmful. Likewise, if you feel strongly that a website is a scam, you do not need to engage with it to get proof.
If you do click on a link and encounter a malware warning from your browser or antivirus software ( example ), please do not continue to that page. You can assume that the page is malicious for the purpose of rating and use Lowest .
Note that not al warnings your browser may display are related to malware (e.g., other types of browser warnings include certificate acceptance requests, content filtering warnings, etc.). If you are unsure or hesitant to continue to the page for any reason, you can release the task.
Use the Lowest rating if you suspect a page is malicious, even if you’re not able to completely confirm that the page is harmful. Please exercise caution and practice good Internet safety skil s.
7.4.3 Negative or Malicious Reputation
Use the Lowest rating if the website and the creators of the MC have a negative or malicious reputation. Here are some examples original y shown in Section 2.6.4 . Al pages on these websites should be rated Lowest because of the negative or malicious reputation of these websites.
Website
Description
Negative reputation information : This business has a BBB rating of F. There is a news article
Site selling children’s jungle gym about financial fraud. There are many reviews on websites describing how users sent money and did not receive anything in return.
Site selling products related to
Negative/malicious reputation information : This website engaged in criminal behavior such as
eyewear
physically threatening users.
Organization serving the
Negative reputation information : There are many detailed negative articles on news sites and
hospitalized veteran community
charity watchdog sites describing fraud and financial mishandling about this organization.
7.5
Pages that Potentially Misinform Users
The purpose of an informational page is to communicate accurate information. Assume an informational purpose for pages that look as though they are informational or pages that many users go to for information, even if it is not an official news source or an official encyclopedia article. This includes pages that appear to be news, social profile pages spreading news or information, forum discussions about informational topics such as current events, videos which cover news topics, etc.
The Lowest rating must be used for any of the fol owing types of content on pages that could appear to be informational:
●
Demonstrably inaccurate content.
●
YMYL content that contradicts wel -established expert consensus.
●
Debunked or unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
Lowest should also be used under these circumstances:
●
The content creator may believe that the conspiracy theory or demonstrably inaccurate content is correct, or it is unclear whether they do.
●
The content creators may be deliberately attempting to misinform users.
●
The content creators describe, repeat or spread conspiracy theories or demonstrably inaccurate content without a clear effort to debunk or correct it, regardless of whether the creators believe it to be true. For example, content creators may produce this content in order to make money or gain attention.
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Some examples of information that would be found on Lowest quality pages include: the moon landings were faked, carrots cure cancer, and the U.S. government is control ed by lizard people. While some of these topics may seem funny, there have been real world consequences from people believing these kinds of internet conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Find high quality, trustworthy sources to check accuracy and the consensus of experts if you are unsure about a topic. Be especial y careful with YMYL topics such as medical, scientific, financial, historical, or current events that are necessary for maintaining an informed citizenry.
Please research conspiracy theories. Fact-checking websites cannot keep up with the volume of conspiracy theories produced by the Internet. Some conspiracy theories are impossible to debunk because they claim al debunking information is inaccurate. If a claim or conspiracy theory seems wildly improbable and cannot be verified by independent trustworthy sources, consider it unsubstantiated.
7.6
Pages that Potentially Deceive Users
We wil consider a page to be “deceptive” if it may deceive users or trick search engines. Al deceptive pages should be rated Lowest .
The fol owing sections describe characteristics of deceptive pages. However, no list of deceptive characteristics wil be complete—deceptive websites continue to evolve as users and search engines figure out how they are being tricked.
With practice, you wil be able to identify deceptive pages accurately.
7.6.1 Deceptive Page Purpose
Some pages are deliberately created to deceive users, for example:
●
A webpage or website that impersonates a different site (e.g., copied logo or branding of an unaffiliated site, URL
that mimics another site's name, etc.).
●
A non-satirical social network profile made by an impersonator.
●
A webpage or website that looks like a news source or information page, but in fact has articles to manipulate users in order to benefit a person, business, government, or other organization political y, monetarily, or otherwise.
●
A webpage claims to offer an independent review or share other information about a product, but is in fact created to make money for the owner of the website without attempting to help users. For example, the MC may contain intentional y misleading or inaccurate information created with the sole purpose of getting users to click on monetized links or buy the product.
●
A website claims to be the personal website of a celebrity, but the website is actual y created to make money for the owner of the website without the permission of the celebrity. For example, the page may have false testimonials for a product and is created for the sole purpose of getting users to click on monetized links or buy the product.
●
A 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 wil feel tricked or deceived.
●
A webpage or website with deceptive website information. For example, the website may misrepresent who owns the site, what the website purpose real y is, how the content was created, how to contact the site, etc.
Any page or website that may deceive or trick users should be rated Lowest , regardless of intent. Use the Lowest rating even if you cannot see a reason for the deception or even if you think most users wouldn’t “fal ” for the trick.
You should also use the Lowest rating if you suspect a page is deceptive, even if you’re not able to completely confirm it.
Please exercise caution and practice good Internet safety skil s since deceptive pages may be malicious.
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7.6.2 Deceptive Page Design
Some pages are deliberately designed to manipulate users to take an action that wil benefit the owner of the website rather than help the user.
Here are some common types of deceptively designed pages:
●
Pages that disguise Ads as MC. Actual MC may be minimal or created to encourage users to click on the Ads.
For example, fake search pages ( example ) that have a list of links that look like a page of search results. If you click on a few of the links, you wil see that the page is just a col ection of Ads disguised as search engine results.
A “search box” is present, but submitting a new query just gives you a different page of Ads disguised as search results.
●
Pages that disguise Ads as website navigation links . For example, fake directory pages ( example ) that look like a personal y curated set of helpful links, possibly with unique descriptions. In reality, the links are Ads or links to other similar pages on the site. Sometimes the descriptions of the links are unrelated to the page.
●
Pages where the MC is not usable or visible. For example, a page that has such a large amount of Ads at the top of the page (before the MC), so that most users wil not see the MC, or a page where the MC is invisible text.
●
Any page designed to trick users into clicking on links , which may be Ads or other links intended to serve the needs of the website rather than to the benefit of the user.
Take a good look at the page and use your judgment. If you believe the page was deliberately created to manipulate users to click on Ads, monetized links, questionable download links, etc., rather than help users, the page should be rated Lowest .
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7.7
Examples of Lowest Quality Pages
Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This page is deceptively designed to make
users believe they are on the official ABC News
website. The official ABC logo is copied and
used prominently throughout the page, and the
●
Harmful purpose
URL of this website (http://abcnews.com.co/) is
Lowest: Deceptive page purpose
●
Deceptive design: impersonates a
very similar to the official site's URL
and design – News website
different website
(http://abcnews.go.com/).
(YMYL)
●
Lowest quality MC: demonstrably
inaccurate content
The articles on this website include
demonstrably inaccurate content, such as an
inaccurate news report that Obama banned the
Pledge of Allegiance .
The deceptive website design and inaccurate
content can misinform users. This website was
created with a harmful purpose.
The MC on this page contains factually
unsupported theories related to the Vatican's
knowledge of the planet Nibiru, the existence of
●
Presents unsubstantiated conspiracy
aliens, and upcoming world events. Although
Lowest: Potentially misinform
theories as if the information were factual various Vatican officials and scientists are
users – Unsubstantiated
●
Lowest quality MC: unsubstantiated
quoted in the article, the quotations do not
conspiracy theories (YMYL) conspiracy theory
support the article's claims, and in some cases
do not seem to come from the person quoted.
The Nibiru cataclysm and related events have
also been thoroughly debunked by authoritative
sources ( Reference 1 , Reference 2 ). The demonstrably inaccurate content on this page
can misinform users.
This video describes the unsubstantiated and
●
Presents unsubstantiated conspiracy
outlandish conspiracy theory that shape-shifting
Lowest: Potentially misinform
theories as if the information were factual lizard people interbred with humans and are
users – Unsubstantiated
●
Lowest quality MC: unsubstantiated
now running the world via government,
conspiracy theory video (YMYL) conspiracy theory
monetary, and religious organizations.
The video has high production quality, and
some viewers may find it funny or entertaining.
However, the video could appear to be
informational and should be rated Lowest.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Lowest: Promotes hate or
●
Promotes hate or violence towards a
The Stormfront website promotes white
violence – Hate organization
group of people
supremacist ideology and is considered to be a
homepage (YMYL)
hate site/group by many organizations and
articles, including: Anti-Defamation League ,
Fox News article , USA Today article , Pew
Research Center , etc.
Lowest: Deceptive page purpose
●
Deceptive purpose: non-satirical page
This Twitter profile page (username TEN_GOP)
– Social media profile (YMYL) made by an impersonator
was created to impersonate the Tennessee
Republican Party (username TNGOP). For
more information, see this article: Fake
Tennessee GOP Twitter account highlighted in
indictment of 13 Russians .
At the time this example was written, Betty
White was alive. This profile page on a social
media website leads users to believe she is
●
Harmful purpose
dead. Comments on the page indicate that
Lowest: Demonstrably inaccurate
●
Lowest quality MC: demonstrably
some users have realized that it is inaccurate.
content – Social media profile
inaccurate content
If the page were truly created in error, these
comments should have led the creator to
realize the mistake and delete the page.
While it is not clear why this type of page was
created in the first place, it appears to be a
deliberate intent to misinform users, which is a
harmful purpose.
This news article is demonstrably inaccurate.
●
Harmful purpose
The event described here (the death of Miley
●
Deceptive page design
Cyrus) did not happen. Note that no date is
Lowest: Demonstrably inaccurate
●
Lowest quality MC: demonstrably
given, no sources are cited, and there is no
content – News article
inaccurate content
author. This website is designed to look like a
●
An unsatisfying amount of information
news source, but there is no information on the
about the website and author
news organization that created the website or
its content. The SC also features distracting
pictures and outrageously titled links.
This page was created to misinform users,
which is a harmful purpose.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an example of a spammed forum page,
where the goal is to try and get users to watch
Lowest: Keyword Stuffing –Forum ●
Lowest quality MC: large amount of
a movie online, which has nothing to do with
page: Watch RoboCop online
“Keyword Stuffed” MC
the purpose of the site. For a forum page, the
user comments are the MC, and much of the
content is not helpful for users. Here is an example of some of the “keyword stuffing” on
this page that is not meant to be read by a
human, found near the bottom of the page.
●
Lowest quality MC: copied content with
All MC is a copy of an old Wikipedia article,
little or no time, effort, expertise, manual
Lowest: Copied content – Wizard
which you can see here by researching it on curation, or added value for users
of Oz
the Internet Archive Wayback Machine .
●
No evidence of E-A-T
The current Wikipedia page offers much more
content, links, references, etc. This page
doesn’t add much value for users.
●
An unsatisfying amount of MC for the
topic of the page
Lowest: Unsatisfying amount of
●
Very low quality MC
This page has so many low quality
MC – Wedding dresses
●
No evidence of E-A-T
characteristics that the Lowest+ rating is
●
True purpose of the page and website is appropriate. There is a question about what questionable
the true purpose of the page is—Lowest is
appropriate if you feel this page was created
with little attempt to help users.
Lowest: Malicious, harmful, or
deceptive – Asks for personal
●
Malicious, harmful, or deceptive
This is a shopping checkout page, but it asks
information (YMYL) for the user’s government ID number, driver’s
license number, ATM pin number, bank account
information, etc.
The first sentence is incomplete, and doesn’t
●
Auto-generated MC, created with little to
Lowest: Auto-generated with Little
provide an explanation for the code, and
no time, effort, expertise, manual
Attempt to Help Users – Engine
therefore fails the purpose of the page. Other
curation, or added value for users
Code (YMYL)
pages on the website have inaccurate,
●
No evidence of E-A-T
misleading, and/or incomplete information. In
fact, some pages seem borderline gibberish,
with contradicting information. It appears the
page exists only to make money, with no
attempt to help users.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Lowest: Fraudulent – Charity
●
Extremely negative or malicious
There are many claims of fraud and financial
(YMYL)
reputation
problems about this organization on reputable
news sites and charity watchdog sites:
Negative review 1 , Negative review 2 , Negative
review 3 , and Negative review 4 .
There is no information about who created this
website, no contact information, and no
Lowest: No website information –
●
No website information for YMYL website authorship information.
About dry sockets (YMYL)
●
No evidence of E-A-T
Medical pages require a high degree of user
trust. Because there is no information about
who owns this website and who created this
content, we will consider this an untrustworthy
website.
●
Deceptive purpose (fake directory page)
Lowest: Fake directory page -
●
No website information for YMYL topic
The links on the page appear to link to helpful
Mesothelioma (YMYL)
●
No evidence of E-A-T
articles, but in fact the links are Ads that do not
go to articles. This is a YMYL topic, but there is
no indication about who is responsible for this
content or website.
Lowest: Fake search page –
●
Deceptive purpose (fake search page)
Chicken recipes
Advertising should never disguise itself as the
MC of the page. Pages with Ads that are
designed to look like MC should be considered
deceptive.
Lowest: Fake search page –
●
Deceptive purpose (fake search page)
Chairs
This page was created to make money from
clicks on Ads rather than to help users.
This looks like an information website for a
●
Lowest quality MC (copied content with
drug. The real purpose of this page is to get
little or no time, effort, expertise, manual
Lowest: Deceptive purpose –
users to this website, and then get them to click
curation, or added value for users)
Viagra (YMYL)
on the “order now” link, which takes users to
●
No website information for YMYL website another website.
●
No evidence of E-A-T
All MC on this page is copied with little or no
time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or
added value for users. Here is the original
source .
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
●
Purpose of the page to make money with
Lowest: Deceptive page purpose
very little or no attempt to help users
This page is titled “Washing Machine Reviews,”
and design – Washing machine
●
Lowest quality MC (copied content with
but there are no reviews on the page and the
reviews (YMYL)
little or no time, effort, expertise, manual content is copied from another website. The curation, or added value for users)
links all go to a single Internet retailer selling
washing machines. This is a deceptive page
because it is designed to get users to click on
the prominent links.
This page contains a fake survey, which
appears to promise users the opportunity to win
an Apple MacBook Air, an iPhone 5c, or a
Galaxy S4. However, after completing some
survey questions and selecting the product the
user would like to win, the user is redirected to
Lowest: Deceptive page purpose
●
Deceptive purpose
website after website to complete more and
– Fake survey page
●
Highly untrustworthy
more survey questions, while being asked to
supply more and more personal information,
including medical information and bank account
information.
There is no information about who is
responsible, even though this website asks for
highly personal information such as bank
account numbers. Despite appearances, there
is no affiliation with Google.
Lowest: Deceptive page design –
●
Deceptive or misleading page design
Javascript alert box
Some users might not even notice the MC
because it is under a long list of Ads. Users
may mistake the Ads for MC.
The title of this page is “Rachael Ray Diet
Blog,” but the page has nothing to do with
Rachael Ray or her diet or her products. This
page exists to sell products using Rachael
Ray’s name and image. In fact, there is a
Lowest: Deceptive page purpose
●
Deceptive purpose and deceptive content brown-text-on-brown-background section at the
– Rachael Ray diet blog (YMYL) bottom of the page (which we consider to be
hidden text) that says “Disclaimer: Rachael Ray
is not affiliated with nor does she sponsor or
endorse this blog.” This page is deceptive in
spite of the disclaimer!
This example has been annotated with red text
at the top to point out deceptive aspects of this
page.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
●
Lacking in purpose
Lowest: Keyword stuffing and
●
Lowest quality MC (gibberish, keyword
gibberish– Imodium for dogs
stuffing)
This page has no helpful MC and no helpful
purpose.
Lowest: Malicious website – Site
●
Very negative, malicious,
This website took users’ money and physically
selling products related to
or financially fraudulent reputation
threatened users who complained. These
eyewear (YMYL)
articles on Wikipedia and the New York Times
describe the deceptive techniques used by this
website and provide other negative information
about the website and its owner.
Lowest: Gibberish – Celebrity
●
Lacking in purpose
site
●
Lowest quality MC (gibberish)
This page has no helpful MC and no helpful
purpose.
Lowest: Gibberish – PDF file
●
Lowest quality MC (gibberish)
●
Lack of purpose
This is a gibberish PDF file. We don’t have any
idea why this was created. There are no links
or Ads. This page has no purpose and no
reason to exist.
Lowest: Lack of purpose – Free
●
Lowest quality MC (gibberish)
credit report (YMYL)
●
Highly untrustworthy
This page has deceptive features, such as a
friend request, a prize alert, and a download
button.
●
Lacking in purpose
Lowest: Lack of purpose – Las
●
Lowest quality MC (gibberish, keyword
Vegas gambling terms
stuffing)
This page has no MC and no helpful purpose.
Lowest: Highly untrustworthy –
●
No evidence of E-A-T
Article about how to cure
●
Inaccurate or misleading
This content is poorly written and uses a lot of
stomach flu (YMYL)
●
No website information for YMYL topic
words to say very little. There is no information
about who is responsible for the content and no
contact information for this YMYL medical topic.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is a download website with only one page
– this page. There is a lot of text (with
Lowest: Highly untrustworthy –
grammar and spelling errors) promising that
●
Highly untrustworthy (suspect download)
Download page
users will make money from this free download.
The purpose of the page seems to be to entice
users into clicking on the links with the promise
of making money.
Remember that you are not required to click on
any links that are suspicious.
This is an example of a page with no MC. You
Lowest: Deliberately created with
●
Large amount of prominent Ads and no
might think that the MC is “missing” due to a
no MC
attempt to help users
problem with this particular page, but in fact,
this website has hundreds of pages that look
the same way—no MC, just Ads. This website
shows Ads with little or no attempt to help
users, and should be rated Lowest quality.
Lowest: Low quality MC – Article
●
Lowest quality MC
This content has many problems: poor
about popping pimples (YMYL)
●
No evidence of E-A-T
grammar, and sentences that are meaningless
or state something obvious. For example:
"Popping pimples could be or could be not the
new trend of getting rid of them." In addition,
the “About the Author” section of the page has
an Ad, but no information about the author.
Lowest: Low quality MC – Article
●
Lowest quality MC
about getting a mortgage in Texas ● No evidence of E-A-T
The level of expertise of the author of this
(YMYL)
content is not clearly communicated. Providing
this background information is particularly
important for medical, financial, or other YMYL
topics for which expertise is needed.
Lowest: YMYL page with
inaccurate information – Chest
●
YMYL page with inaccurate potentially
We must evaluate this page from the point of
pains and smoking (YMYL) dangerous medical advice
view of a user visiting this page from a search
●
Lowest quality MC
engine, rather than a participant. The question
is poorly worded and difficult to understand.
The answers are poorly worded and have
incorrect and potentially dangerous medical
advice. The MC is low quality.
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Type of Webpage/Content
Lowest Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
●
YMYL page with potentially damaging
Lowest: YMYL page with bad
financial advice
information – Paying off loans
●
No evidence of E-A-T
This page gives loan advice that can be
(YMYL)
●
Inaccurate or misleading
potentially damaging, for example, instructing
people not to pay back their loans. The article
has grammar and spelling errors, and the page
is highly untrustworthy.
This page is selling Nike Air Jordan shoes.
When you look at the “Contact Us” page , it does not give the name of a company or a
●
Completely inadequate or untrustworthy
physical address, which also cannot be found
Lowest: Potentially untrustworthy
customer service information for a
anywhere else on the website. This amount of
shopping page with insufficient
shopping website
contact information is not sufficient for a
contact info (YMYL)
●
No evidence of E-A-T
shopping website.
●
Inaccurate or misleading
In addition, the “Shipping and Returns” page
has the name of another company that seems
to be unrelated. There are also official looking
logos at the bottom of the homepage, including
the Better Business Bureau logo and Google
Checkout logo, that don’t appear to be
affiliated with the website.
8.0
Medium Quality Pages
In this section, we wil describe pages that should get the Medium quality rating. Medium pages have a beneficial purpose and achieve their purpose.
There are two types of Medium quality pages:
Type of Medium Page
Discussion
Nothing wrong, but nothing
The page achieves its purpose, however, it does not merit a High quality rating, nor is there special
anything to indicate that a Low quality rating is appropriate.
Mixed with strong High quality The page or website has strong High quality rating characteristics, but also has mild Low quality rating characteristics
characteristics. The strong High quality aspects make it difficult to rate the page Low .
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8.1
Examples of Medium Quality Pages
Webpage/Type of Content
Medium Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Medium: Encyclopedia
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Wikipedia article about baroque
This is a short Wikipedia article about baroque
pearls
pearls, a fairly narrow topic. This page is OK
for its purpose, but it doesn’t display
characteristics associated with a High rating.
Medium: Humor
Page from a humorous site
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
This page is from a humorous site that
encourages users to post photos with mouths
drawn on them. This page is OK for its
purpose, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
Medium: Entertainment 1
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Article about “Keeping Up with the
This page is on a website dedicated to
Kardashians” show
entertainment news. This page is OK for its
purpose, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
Medium: Entertainment 2
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Article about Miley Cyrus
This page is from a news/entertainment
website. This page is OK for its purpose, but it
doesn’t display characteristics associated with
a High rating.
Medium: Q&A
Q&A page where a user is looking ●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
for advice on where to buy high
This Q&A page has a discussion of different
quality women's clothing online
online merchants. There is some everyday
expertise, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Medium Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an example of a “custom 404” page.
These pages are designed to alert users that
Medium: Page with Error
the URL they are trying to visit no longer exists.
Message
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Some websites do a nice job of not only
alerting users about a problem, but also giving
“Custom 404” page
them help.
This page is on a well-known merchant website
with a good reputation. However, this particular
page displays the bare minimum of content
needed to explain the problem to users, and
the only help offered is a link to the homepage.
Medium: Informational
●
Mixed, but has some E-A-T
●
Website has a good reputation
Page about propulsion on the
●
Content is likely to be accurate and
Although this is a well-known, highly-respected
“Quality Reasoning Group”
trustworthy because of the website,
university with a high quality site, this page is
section of a university’s website
though no reference links are provided
on a very specialized section of the university website. No author is listed and the page may
have been a one-time project, possibly from a
student, which is no longer maintained.
Medium: Lyrics
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Song lyrics for the song “Never
There are many lyrics websites that have
You/Fear Love”
similar content. This page is OK for its
purpose, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
Medium: Recipe 1
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
This recipe was contributed by an author of
Mexi-Chicken Casserole on a
cookbooks. However, the page has no SC
newspaper website
related to the purpose of the page, such as
reviews or links to other recipes, etc. This page
is OK for its purpose, but it doesn’t display
characteristics associated with a High rating.
Medium: Recipe 2
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
This website is known for high quality content
about animals and the environment. This
Recipe for cherry-topped cake
particular page has a recipe for kids. There
isn’t much MC or SC. This page is OK for its
purpose, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Medium Quality Characteristics
PQ Rating and Explanation
Medium: Video
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
Video of a kitten meowing a lot
This is a professionally-created video of a cute
kitten meowing. This page is OK for its
purpose, but it doesn’t display characteristics
associated with a High rating.
Medium: Forum 1
Forum page on an online auction
●
Mixed, but with some redeeming qualities
website. A user is looking for
The relative lack of MC is balanced a bit by the
help choosing a product category.
expertise of this forum. This forum is dedicated
to this kind of question.
This forum is about dance topics, and many
pages have expertise from a community of
Medium: Forum 2
ballet dancers. On this particular page,
participants have everyday experience washing
Forum page on a dance website.
●
Mixed, but with some redeeming qualities ballet shoes and make recommendations A user is looking for advice on
based on their own experiences.
how to wash ballet shoes.
This page is “mixed” because there is some
distracting content that makes it hard to read
the MC. However, this is not a beauty contest!
Even though the page may be cluttered, there
is some valuable everyday expertise and
helpful MC, making Medium a good rating for
this page.
9.0
Page Quality Rating Tasks
At first, PQ rating may seem difficult. There are several aspects of the page and the website to look at and think about.
This type of rating takes practice. Rereading sections of these guidelines and thinking about the examples may help when you encounter difficult rating tasks.
Important : Do not struggle with each PQ rating. Please give your best rating and move on. If you are having trouble deciding between two ratings, use the lower rating. If you are torn between three ratings, choose the one in the middle.
Do not consider the country or location of the page or website for PQ rating. For example, English (US) raters should use the same PQ standards when rating pages from other English language websites (UK websites, Canadian websites, etc.) as they use when rating pages from U.S. websites. In other words, English (US) raters should not lower the PQ rating because the page location (UK, Canada) does not match the task location.
These guidelines are specific to “regular” webpages. Occasional y, you may be asked to rate a landing page that is not a webpage. For example, you may be asked to rate a PDF file, a PNG or JPEG image file, etc. When the landing page of the URL is not a webpage, some of the criteria in these guidelines may not apply. In this case, please use your judgment.
Final y, this Page Quality Rating Guideline does not completely cover every aspect of page quality. If you find pages that you truly believe to be High or Low quality, please rate them as such, even if the reason is based on something not covered in this document. Please use the comment section to explain your reasoning. As always, use your judgment.
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9.1
Instructions for Rating Page Quality Tasks
The Page Quality task page is broken up into several parts:
1. Some initial questions about the task landing page.
2. A “PQ grid” to record your observations about PQ characteristics of the landing page.
3. The Overal PQ rating slider which records your Overal PQ rating.
4. A comment box to explain your rating.
Some results to the initial questions wil end the task early. If the page is Porn, Foreign Language, or Did Not Load, you wil not fil in the PQ grid or assign an overal rating.
●
Foreign Language should be used when the language on the landing page is NOT the task language, a language that is commonly used by a significant percentage of the population in the task location, or English.
●
Did Not Load should be used for pages where there is absolutely no content on the page created by the website.
There is no MC, SC, or Ads on the page. See this Wikipedia article for descriptions of different types of error messages.
Similarly, if you respond that the page is malicious, harmful, deceptive, or lacking in purpose, you wil also not fil in the PQ
grid or assign an overal rating.
The PQ grid is designed to be your "note pad." It al ows you to record your observations about the landing page and the website it belongs to.
9.1.1 Rating on Your Phone
You should open the task landing page on your phone using the standard Send to Device feature, unless otherwise instructed. However, more intensive analysis on the website can be done on your computer. For example, you should open and explore the links that are provided to help you do research on website information and reputation on your computer.
Important: Clicking on the task URL may bring up an interstitial page. You can ignore this page in your rating criteria if you can easily get to the MC. However, if the interstitial page makes it extremely hard (or impossible) to get to the MC, that should factor into your Page Quality rating.
9.2
Reputation and E-A-T: Website or the Creators of the Main Content?
You must consider the reputation and E-A-T of both the website and the creators of the MC in order to assign a Page Quality rating.
The reputation and E-A-T of the creators of the MC is extremely important when a website has different authors or content creators on different pages. This is true of forum and Q&A pages, news websites, or websites that have user-generated content, such as YouTube, Twitter, etc. The reputation and E-A-T assessment for pages on these types of websites may differ drastical y depending on what page you are evaluating. There are Highest quality YouTube videos created by highly reputable and expert content creators, as wel as Lowest quality YouTube videos created with a dangerous lack of E-A-T on YMYL topics.
Important: Research the reputation and E-A-T of both the website and the creators of the MC. If either are lacking for the purpose of the page, the Low or Lowest rating is appropriate.
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10.0 Page Quality Criteria for Specific Types of Pages
10.1 Ratings for Encyclopedia Pages
There are many encyclopedia-type websites. Some are highly-respected publications that are standard references, while some are websites with content created and edited by anonymous users, with no editorial oversight or fact checking. We may not always know the author of the specific encyclopedia article, and therefore must rely on website reputation research to determine the E-A-T of the article. High and Highest quality ratings should only be used for encyclopedias with very good reputations for accuracy and expertise, where the article itself is wel -researched with appropriate references cited.
A note about Wikipedia: in general, the website has a good reputation and is a very popular resource that is general y valued for accuracy. However, there is no single author or organization that vouches for the accuracy of Wikipedia articles, and the quality of pages varies. You should perform page-level checks on individual articles.
A Wikipedia article on a non-YMYL topic ( example ) with a satisfying amount of accurate information and trustworthy
external references can usual y be rated in the High range. Some Wikipedia articles may even be rated higher, although remember that a high level of expertise is required for YMYL topics. A PQ rating in the Medium range is often appropriate for pages with less extensive MC and external references. Natural y, Wikipedia articles with very little MC should get lower PQ ratings. Factual inaccuracy is a sufficient reason for a Low or Lowest rating.
10.2 Ratings for Pages with Error Messages or No MC
Some pages are temporarily broken pages on otherwise functioning websites, while some pages have an explicit error (or custom 404) message. In some cases, pages are missing MC as wel . Please think about whether the page offers help for users—did the webmaster spend time, effort, and care on the page?
Here are some examples.
Webpage/Type of Content
Characteristics of the Page
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an example of a page with no MC. You
●
Large amount of prominent Ads and no
Deliberately created with no MC
might think that the MC is “missing” due to a
attempt to help users
problem with this particular page, but in fact,
this website has hundreds of pages that look
the same—no MC, just Ads. This website
shows Ads with little or no attempt to help
users, and should be rated Lowest quality.
●
No MC (probably due to a temporary
Page didn't fully load and has no
technical error)
This page has no MC and no error message. It
MC
●
Sufficient SC
is an isolated example of a page with no MC or
●
Positive reputation
error message on a website for a reputable
newspaper for a town in Michigan. All of the
navigation links work, and the page was later
fixed.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Characteristics of the Page
PQ Rating and Explanation
This is an example of a “custom 404” page,
alerting users that the URL they are trying to
visit no longer exists. Some websites do a nice
Error page with custom 404
●
Nothing wrong, but nothing special
job of alerting users about a problem and
message 1
providing helpful tips.
This page is on a well-known merchant website
with a good reputation. However, this particular
page displays the bare minimum of content
needed to explain the problem to users, and
the only helpful content is a link to the
homepage.
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC for
its purpose
Error page with custom 404
●
Helpful SC that improves the user
This is an example of a “custom 404” page,
message 2
experience
alerting users that the URL they are trying to
●
Positive reputation
visit no longer exists. This website does a nice
job of explaining the issue and providing helpful
tips, including a search box.
This is an example of a “custom 404” page.
These pages are designed to alert users that
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC for the URL they are trying to visit no longer exists.
its purpose
Error page with custom 404
The MC of this page is the cartoon, the caption,
●
Helpful SC that improves the user
message 3
and the search functionality, which is specific to
experience
the content of the website. It is clear that time,
●
Very positive reputation
effort, and talent was involved in the creation of
the MC.
This publication has a very positive reputation
and is specifically known for its cartoons, which
allows us to go as high as High+ to Highest.
10.3 Ratings for Forums and Q&A pages
Ratings for forum and Q&A pages can be chal enging. The most important aspect is the E-A-T of the participants in the discussion, which can be difficult to judge. Keep in mind the fol owing:
●
The Main Content on forum and Q&A pages includes both the question as wel as the answers/responses and resulting discussions.
●
Rate forum and Q&A pages from the point of view of a user who visits the page, rather than a participant involved in the discussion.
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Here are some examples.
Webpage/Type of Content
Characteristics of the Page
PQ Rating and Explanation
Q&A page about chest pains and
smoking (YMYL)
●
YMYL page with inaccurate potentially
We must evaluate this page from the point of
dangerous medical advice
view of a user visiting this page from a search
engine, rather than a participant. The question
is poorly worded and difficult to understand.
The answers are poorly worded and have
incorrect and potentially dangerous medical
advice, making it lowest quality MC.
In addition to having no answer, this page has
●
Misleading page design
Ads and links to other questions (misleadingly
Q&A page with unanswered
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
labeled as “Relevant answers”) displayed
question
purpose of the page
prominently, which users may mistake for
answers to the question. It takes a moment to
notice that this page actually has no answer.
Deceptive design and lack of an answer make
this page a frustratingly poor user experience
and cause this page to completely fail to
achieve its purpose.
In this example, the MC is boxed in red.
Please read the MC, including the completely
unhelpful "answer" to the question in the red
●
Misleading page design
box. This answer is so unhelpful, we can
Q&A page about a 2002 Volvo
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
consider this question to be unanswered. This
part (YMYL)
purpose of the page
page has an unsatisfying amount of MC.
In addition to a very unhelpful “answer,” the
page design makes it difficult to distinguish the
MC from Ads. For example, below the answer,
we see a "sponsored answer," which has the
same format as the real answer, but is actually
an Ad and not an answer to the question. This
page design is somewhat misleading.
Q&A page about a game console
●
Unsatisfying amount of MC for the
issue
purpose of the page
Some websites rely on users to create virtually
all of their MC. In this case, the MC is the
user’s question. If there are no answers, the
amount of MC on the page is unsatisfying.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Characteristics of the Page
PQ Rating and Explanation
Q&A page about Native American ●
Lacking E-A-T for the purpose of the
customs (YMYL)
page
There are 94 answers to this question with a
few results that seem helpful. Many of the
posts are wrong or misleading, including the
top answer, which is labeled the “best answer.”
This forum is about dance topics, and many
pages have expertise from a community of
ballet dancers. On this particular page,
Forum page on how to wash
participants have everyday experience washing
ballet shoes
●
Mixed, but with some redeeming qualities ballet shoes and make recommendations based on their own experiences.
This page is “mixed” because there is some
distracting content that makes it hard to read
the MC. However, this is not a beauty contest!
Even though the page may be cluttered, there
is some valuable everyday expertise and
helpful MC, making Medium a good rating for
this page.
Q&A page about whether a
●
Everyday expertise for the purpose of the Many participants share their personal
Roomba will work
page
experiences with these products, giving details
such as how well certain models work with pet
hair. There are many descriptions of
participants’ own experiences with this product
and how well it works for them.
The answer on this page is written by an
Q&A page about interviewing at
●
Everyday expertise for the purpose of the employee of Build-A-Bear, so it offers a
Build-A-Bear (YMYL)
page
somewhat unique and presumably somewhat
expert answer.
The page design allows users to read the MC
as the Ads are clearly labeled, as well as both
the question and answer.
The person who posted the first message on
Forum post on the magic loop
●
High level of E-A-T for the topic and
this forum page provides a helpful resource on
technique in knitting
purpose of the page
how to master the magic loop technique in
knitting. She also shares pictures of her own
version using an old pair of blue jeans. With
over 20 years of experience knitting socks, we
would consider her to be an expert on the topic.
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Webpage/Type of Content
Characteristics of the Page
PQ Rating and Explanation
The question on the page asks how long
Q&A page about how long most
●
Everyday expertise
people live with cancer. There are many
cancer patients live (YMYL)
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
results describing how long a loved one lived
after diagnosis. There is very little medical
advice and the focus of the page is sharing
personal experience. Many results are heartfelt
and well written.
This forum is well-known for discussions on
●
High level of E-A-T for the topic and
luxury designer purses. On this particular
Forum page on authenticating a
purpose of the page
forum page, members are consulting forum
purse
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
experts who have expertise authenticating bags
from this brand. These experts can tell if a
particular bag is authentic or fake. While there
is an ad at the top and a few ads within the
forum message, it does not distract from the
MC, which is easy to find.
●
High level of E-A-T for the topic and
Forum page on KPIs to track
purpose of the page
This forum is well-known for its community of
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
experts on quality assurance. The responses
are authoritative and trustworthy for the
purpose of the page. While there are Ads on
the page, it is easy to find the MC and they are
clearly labeled as “Sponsored Link.”
This discussion focuses on landscaping for a
●
High level of E-A-T for the topic and
Forum page on landscaping an
particular paludarium (an aquarium with
purpose of the page
aquarium
terrestrial and aquatic elements). There is a lot
●
A satisfying amount of high quality MC
of discussion and interaction between forum
members about the types of materials and
species used in the aquarium. The posts show
expertise in the niche topic of aquarium
landscaping.
●
Very high level of E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
The purpose of the page is to answer questions
Q&A page on abbreviations
●
Very positive reputation, and the website about the usage of abbreviations. This website is responsible for all content on the
has a very good reputation as a reference for
website
information on writing, publishing, etc. It is
considered highly authoritative and trustworthy
for the topic of the page.
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11.0 Page Quality Rating FAQs
Question
Answer
With practice, the amount of time needed for accurate PQ ratings wil decrease. The steps are important and are designed to help you assess many different aspects of Why do we have to do all these PQ. You may be surprised by what you find. Pages that initial y look Low quality steps? This takes a long time! may turn out to be Medium or High quality with careful inspection. The reverse may happen as wel . We want your most informed, thoughtful opinion.
Are we just giving High quality No! The goal is to do the exact opposite. These steps are designed to help you ratings to pages that “look”
analyze the page without using a superficial “does it look good?” approach.
good?
Remember that we are not just talking about formal expertise. High quality pages involve time, effort, expertise, and talent/skil . Sharing personal experience is a form of everyday expertise.
Specifical y for content creators, everyday expertise can be assessed based on the talent/skil level depicted in the MC (e.g., great hair-styling advice, painting/crafting abilities, skil ful home/DIY work, etc.). In cases where the content creator is not demonstrating formal or everyday expertise but is not doing any harm, Medium is an You talked about expertise
appropriate rating.
when rating MC. Does
expertise matter for all topics? Pretty much any topic has some form of expert, but E-A-T is especial y important for Aren't there some topics for
YMYL pages.
which there are no experts?
For most page purposes and topics, you can find experts even when the field itself is niche or non-mainstream. For example, there are expert alternative medicine
websites with leading practitioners of acupuncture, herbal therapies, etc. There are also pages about alternative medicine written by people with no expertise or
experience. E-A-T should distinguish between these two scenarios.
One final note: if the purpose of the page is harmful, then expertise doesn't matter.
It should be rated Lowest !
For almost any type of page or informational topic, there is a range of content quality. Remember that high quality content is defined as content that takes time, effort, expertise, and talent/skil . Pages that have a harmful purpose should be rated Lowest quality, regardless of their topic.
Aren't there some types of
pages or topics, such as
For example, there are both High and Low quality celebrity gossip pages. Often, the celebrity gossip, that always
purpose of these pages is to share scandalous, but potential y true personal
have Low quality content?
information about celebrities. We can consider the MC of a gossip page to be high quality if it is accurate and interesting information from a reliable source. On the other hand, demonstrably inaccurate information and unsubstantiated conspiracy
theories, etc., should be rated Lowest .
I've never seen a High quality
page of type X. If there are no For some topics or types of pages, there may not be many (or any!) High quality high quality pages of this type, pages now, but there may be in the future. We need a uniform set of standards that why are we giving existing
apply to al pages, even for pages that have not yet been created.
pages a Low quality rating?
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Question
Answer
Some of these criteria seem
Art pages do have a purpose: artistic expression. Pages created for artistic
unfair. For example, some art expression do not deserve the Low quality rating simply because they have no other pages do not have a purpose. purpose. Artistic expression, humor, entertainment, sharing photos and videos, etc.
Are these pages Low quality? are al valid and valued page purposes.
If I have to open the task URL
Yes! More intensive analysis on the website (e.g., researching E-A-T) can be done on my phone, can I check for
on your computer. Any time that using your computer wil help you complete the E-A-T on my desktop/laptop? task, feel free to use it.
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Part 2: Understanding Mobile User Needs
12.0 Understanding Mobile Users, Mobile Queries, and Mobile Results
What do you do on your mobile smartphone?
People rely on their phones for many different tasks in different environments. Users may want to search the web or may want to tel the phone to do something specific. Keep in mind that tasks can be simple or complex, and may take multiple steps to complete. For example, a simple task may be to find the director of a movie. A complex task may be to find a movie’s showtimes nearby, purchase tickets, get directions, and then use the phone’s navigation to go to the theater.
We expect our phones to do a lot. At the same time, phones can be chal enging to use, especial y compared to a desktop computer or laptop:
●
Entering data may be cumbersome : typing is difficult on mobile smartphones, and when users speak to their phones instead of typing, voice recognition may not always be accurate.
●
Small screen sizes make it difficult to use some phone features, apps, and webpages.
●
Some webpages are difficult to use on a mobile phone . Website navigation can be difficult as menus and navigation links may be smal . Webpages may require left-to-right scrol ing to read text. Images may not fit on the screen. In addition, many mobile devices cannot access webpages with Flash or other similar features.
●
Internet connectivity can be slow and inconsistent for mobile users going in and out of networks. App opening, recognition of voice commands, and webpage load times can be very slow on a mobile phone.
Important: Mobile smartphones should make tasks easy, even for mobile users with a small screen device (i.e., size of smartphone, not a tablet). Users want results right away, at that moment, and may not be able to spend a lot of time to find what they are looking for.
In order to do mobile rating tasks, you must have experience using a mobile smartphone, which we’l also refer to as a mobile phone in these guidelines. If you are not familiar with voice commands, device actions, or phone features, please take some time to experiment on a mobile smartphone. For example, you can try some of these voice commands:
●
iPhone Siri voice commands
●
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12.1 Important Rating Definitions and Ideas
Query : This refers to the word(s) and/or number(s) that a user types or speaks into a mobile phone. In these guidelines, queries have square brackets around them. If a user says “navigate home,” we display: [navigate home]. If a user types
“iPhone” in the search box, we display: [iphone].
There are many different types of queries because users ask their phones to do many things, from opening an app to cal ing a friend to searching the web.
User: The user is the person trying to find information or accomplish a task by typing or speaking into a mobile phone with a smal screen (i.e., size of a smartphone, not a tablet). Keep in mind that users are people from al over the world: people of al ages, genders, races, religions, political affiliations, etc.
User Intent : When a user types or speaks a query, he or she is trying to accomplish something. We refer to this goal as the user intent.
Locale : Al queries have a locale, which is the language and location for the task. Locales are represented by a two-letter country code. For a current list of country codes, click here . We sometimes refer to the locale as the task location.
User Location : This tel s us where the user is located, and should be inferred from the map provided.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP): The page a search engine shows after a user enters a query in the search box.
The SERP is made up of result blocks .
Result : We wil use the word result to refer to the result block and the landing page.
●
Result Block: This is an individual “block” that appears on the user’s phone in response to the query. The result block may display information in the block itself or contain links, or may do both.
●
The Landing Page ( LP ) is the page you see after you click a link in the result block.
Device Actions : Mobile phones and other devices can respond to voice commands to perform many actions, such as setting an alarm or opening an app. This is a specific type of query that we’l refer to as a Device Action query.
●
Device Action query: Specific type of query where users ask their phone to perform an action. These are frequently spoken commands used to complete actions that would normal y require interaction with the screen or the device's controls.
●
Device Action result: The phone may respond to a Device Action query by performing an action, such as cal ing a phone number , etc.
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12.2 Understanding the Query
Understanding the query is the first step in evaluating the task. Remember, a query is what a user types or speaks into a mobile phone.
Some tasks include a query research link, which you should use if you don’t understand the query or user intent. Otherwise, please do web research using Google or an online dictionary or encyclopedia. If you stil don’t understand the query or user intent, please release the task.
Important : If you research the query on Google, please do not rely on the top results on the SERP. A query may have other meanings not represented on Google’s search results pages. Do not assign a high rating to a webpage just because it appears at the top of a list of search results on Google.
Think about users in your locale typing or speaking the fol owing queries into their phone.
Query
Likely User Intent
[population of paris], English (US)
Find the current population of Paris, France.
[starbucks near me], English (US)
Find the nearest Starbucks location.
[weather], English (US)
Find weather information in the user location right now.
[cal mom], English (US)
Cal /dial the number stored for the contact “Mom” on the device.
12.3 Locale and User Location
Al queries have a task language and task location (referred to in rating tasks as the "Locale"). The locale is important for understanding the query and user intent. Users in different locations may have different expectations for the same query.
Each rating task wil show you the User Location information: some tasks have an approximate user location area and some tasks have a very specific user location.
Note: Examples in the fol owing sections wil include a User Location in the form of a city and state. Note that in the actual rating tasks, you wil need to infer the User Location based on the map that is provided, as discussed in Section 29.0 .
For many or most queries, the user location does not change our understanding of the query and user intent. Here are some examples: [facebook.com], [pictures of kittens], [distance between the earth and the moon], [cal mom]. If the task does not display a user location, please evaluate it as a query where the location does not matter and use your judgment.
When is the user location important in understanding query interpretation and user intent? Please use both web research and your personal judgment to answer this question. Ask yourself, “Would users in one city or country be looking for something different than users in another city or country?”
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12.4 Queries with an Explicit Location
Sometimes users tel search engines exactly what kinds of results they are looking for by adding the desired location in the query, regardless of their user location. We'l cal this location inside the query the “explicit location.” The explicit location makes queries much easier to understand and interpret.
Sometimes the explicit location matches the user location or locale, and sometimes it doesn't.
When there is an explicit location in the query, pay attention to it! Users use explicit locations to indicate exactly what they are looking for.
12.5 Queries with Multiple Meanings
Many queries have more than one meaning. For example, the query [apple] might refer to the computer brand or the fruit.
We wil cal these possible meanings query interpretations .
Dominant Interpretation : The dominant interpretation of a query is what most users mean when they type the query. Not al queries have a dominant interpretation. The dominant interpretation should be clear to you, especial y after doing a little web research.
Common Interpretation : A common interpretation of a query is what many or some users mean when they type a query.
A query can have multiple common interpretations.
Minor Interpretations : Sometimes you wil find less common interpretations. These are interpretations that few users have in mind. We wil cal these minor interpretations .
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Query: [apple]
Locale: English (US)
Query: [mercury]
Locale: English (US)
12.6 Query Meanings Can Change Over Time
Remember to think about the query and its current meaning as you are rating. We wil assume users are looking for current information about a topic, the most recent product model, the most recent occurrence of a recurring event, etc., unless otherwise specified by the query.
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The interpretation of the query [iphone], English (US) has changed over time as new iPhone models are released. The first iPhone was introduced in 2007. Users searching for [iphone], English (US) at that time were looking for the new (at the time) first iPhone model. Most users now are looking for the most recent or upcoming iPhone model. In the future, new models wil come out and the dominant interpretation wil change again.
12.7 Understanding User Intent
It can be helpful to think of queries as having one or more of the fol owing intents.
●
Know query, some of which are Know Simple queries
●
Do query, some of which are Device Action queries
●
Website query, when the user is looking for a specific website or webpage
●
Visit-in-person query, some of which are looking for a specific business or organization, some of which are looking for a category of businesses
12.7.1 Know and Know Simple Queries
The intent of a Know query is to find information on a topic. Users want to Know more about something.
Know Simple queries are a special type of Know query. Know Simple queries seek a very specific answer, like a fact, diagram, etc. This answer has to be correct and complete, and can be displayed in a relatively smal amount of space: the size of a mobile phone screen. As a rule of thumb, if most people would agree on a correct answer, and it would fit in 1-2 sentences or a short list of items, the query can be cal ed a Know Simple query.
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Know Simple queries may be questions such as [how tal is barack obama]. Frequently, Know Simple queries do not have question words. For example, [barack obama height] has the same user intent as [how tal is barack obama], but is not in a question format.
Most queries are not Know Simple queries, such as:
●
Broad, complex, and/or in-depth informational queries that do not have a short answer
●
Ambiguous or unclear informational queries
●
Informational queries on controversial topics
●
Informational queries with no definitive “right answer”
●
Queries where different users may want different types of information, or different sources of information Here are some examples where the Know Simple query asks for a simple fact, which can be answered correctly and completely in a smal amount of space, and the Know query answer is more complex.
Know Simple Query
Know Query
Explanation
The Know query is a broad information query and different
[barack obama height]
[barack obama]
users may be looking for different things (e.g., biography,
[how tall is obama]
books, social media posts, etc.).
The Know query is a broad information query and different
[new york city population 2013]
[new york city]
users may be looking for different things (e.g., tourist and trip
planning information, facts, photographs, history).
The Know query is a broad query for medical information
[who is graves disease named
[graves disease]
and different users may have different needs. There is no
after]
single “answer” for this query.
The Know query is a broad query for a particular service
[macy’s store hours]
[macy’s gift wrap options]
offered by a department store, and does not have a short
answer.
[what is the symbol for the
The Know query is a broad query and there is no short,
[what nickel is used for]
element nickel]
complete answer.
[who won the 2014 bcs national
[who is going to win the bcs
The Know query asks for an opinion and there is no
championship game]
national championship game]
definitive answer.
Even though the Know query is theoretically a yes/no
[what is starbucks stock price]
[should i invest in starbucks stock] question, there is not a single answer that everyone would agree on.
Raters must think about mobile users when deciding if queries are Know Simple . Use your judgment here.
Important Rating Example : The query [weather] may seem like a broad information query, but most mobile users likely have a fairly simple informational need: to find the current or upcoming temperature, and the chance of local weather events, such as rain or snow. Therefore, we wil consider queries like [weather], [weather today], [weather tomorrow],
[weather this week] to be Know Simple queries for mobile phone users.
12.7.2 Do and Device Action Queries
The intent of a Do query is to accomplish a goal or engage in an activity on a phone. The goal or activity may be to download, to buy, to obtain, to be entertained by, or to interact with a website or app. Users want to Do something.
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Here are some examples.
Query
Likely User Intent
[get candy crush game]
Install the Candy Crush game.
[online personality test]
Take an online personality test.
[what is my bmi?]
Calculate BMI (body mass index).
[buy citizen kane dvd]
Purchase this DVD.
Device Action queries are a special kind of Do query. Users are asking their phone to do something for them. Users giving Device Action queries may be using phones in the hands-free mode, for example, while in a car. It’s very important for mobile phones to accommodate Device Action queries, and we have a high standard for rating these results.
A Device Action query usual y has a clear action word and intent. The verb or action word is often at the beginning of the query, but a query might start with “OK Google” or “Google” or “Siri” or “I want to.” Use your judgment.
Here are some examples of Device Action queries.
Type of Action
Device Action Query Examples (verb or action shown in bold)
[ call mom’s mobile phone], [place a call to anne jones], [ok google, could you please call my Call someone
mom]
Send a message
[ send a text to john smith], [ text john smith], [ sms john smith]
Get map information (e.g.,
[ navigate to central park], [ show me traffic], [ show me a map]
directions, traffic, etc.)
Open an app or webpage, or
[ go to amazon.com], [ open facebook app], [ open facebook.com], [ open the business section of install an app
the new york times], [siri, would you open facebook for me], [ get candy crush app]
[ play me songs from the white album], [ watch the life of pi], [ show me cute kittens], [i want to Play or view media
look at cute kittens], [i want to listen to imagine dragons radioactive]
Schedule a meeting
[ schedule a meeting for 9am]
Set an alarm or timer
[ set an alarm for 6am], [alarm for 6am], [countdown timer for 30 secs]
Here are some examples of queries that are not Device Action queries.
Query
Query is NOT a Device Action Query: Explanation
[phone number empire state
There is no action word. The user may be looking for the phone number without the intention of building]
calling the number. We’ll consider this a Know Simple query.
[facebook.com]
There is no action word, such as “open.” We will consider this a Website query.
[amazon.com]
There is no action word, such as “open.” We will consider this a Website query.
There is no action word, such as “call” or “text.” We will consider this a Know query for
[anne jones]
information.
12.7.3 Website Queries
The intent of a Website query is to locate a specific website or webpage that users have requested. This single webpage is cal ed the target of the query.
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One type of Website query is a URL Query, which can be:
●
Exact, perfectly-formed, working URLs, such as [http://www.ibm.com] or [www.ibm.com] or [ibm.com].
●
Imperfect URL queries: Queries that look like URL queries, but are not “working URLs”. These URLs do not load if you type or paste them into your browser address bar. Even so, we believe users have a specific page in mind.
Here are some examples.
Query
Likely User Intent
[kayak], English (US)
View the Kayak website.
[youtube], English (US)
View the YouTube website.
[ebay], Italian (IT)
View the Italian eBay website.
[new york time health section], English (US)
View the Health section of the New York Times website.
[canon.com eos digital camera], English (US)
View the EOS digital cameras page on the Canon website.
12.7.4 Visit-in-Person Queries and User Location
Users carry mobile phones with them throughout the day, for example, at work, to school, to restaurants, or running errands. One reason to carry a mobile phone is to have help with Visit-in-Person queries, such as finding coffee shops, gas stations, ATMs, restaurants, etc. Because mobile phones are often used for Visit-in-Person queries, make sure to consider visit-in-person intent as a possibility for mobile phone users.
Some queries clearly “ask” for nearby information or nearby results (e.g., businesses, organizations, other nearby places).
Some queries are not asking for nearby information or nearby results. Here are some examples.
Queries with Visit-in-Person Intent
Query with Non-Visit-in-Person Intent
More examples : [boston red sox], [washington post], [scrabble
More examples : [pizza], [yoga class], [coffee shops], [movie
cheat], [definition of sedentary], [aapl], [beyonce], [angry birds],
showtimes], [car repair], [dentists], [bank of america atm
[small dog breeds], [dance videos], [oscars 2012], [pick up lines],
locations], [starbucks near me]
[bank of america login]
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And some queries could go either way. Some users may want nearby results and others may not.
Here are some examples of queries with both visit-in-person and non-visit-in-person intent:
●
[hotels]
●
[post office]
●
[apple store]
●
[citibank]
●
[best buy]
●
[office depot]
●
[target]
●
[library]
●
[bank of america]
●
[the gap]
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Sometimes, the user location can change our understanding of the query. For users close to Sunnyvale, California, the query [turmeric] could have two different interpretations: a popular restaurant named Turmeric or the spice turmeric.
In most other user locations, there is no restaurant (or anything else) named Turmeric and there is just one interpretation of the query [turmeric]: the spice. The Sunnyvale restaurant is not wel -known outside of Sunnyvale, California.
Use your common sense when thinking about queries and whether they have possible visit-in-person intent.
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12.7.5 Queries with Multiple User Intents
Many queries have more than one likely user intent. Please use your judgment when trying to decide if one intent is more likely than another intent.
Query
Likely User Intent
Depending on the user need and location, users may want to visit the official homepage ( Website ),
[harvard]
get directions ( Visit-in-Person ), or learn more about the school ( Know ).
Most users want to go to a nearby Walmart ( Visit-in-Person ) or view the homepage to shop online
[walmart]
( Website ). Some or few users may want to learn more information about the company ( Know ).
12.8 Understanding Result Blocks
The fol owing sections contain examples of different types of queries and results. In these guidelines, please assume that the result blocks and pages are easy to use on the phone, unless otherwise noted.
12.8.1 Web Search Result Block Examples
Web Search Result Blocks typical y have a title link, a URL and a “snippet” of text describing the page. For many queries, Web Search Result Blocks are the most helpful type of result.
Query, User Location, User Intent
Web Search Result Block
Query: [cuisinart food processor reviews]
User Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
User Intent: This is a Know query. The user
wants to find recent reviews of Cuisinart food
processors.
Result: This is a Web Search Result Block
that has a link to a landing page with Cuisinart
reviews.
Query: [broadway tickets]
User Location: New York City, New York
User Intent: This is a Know query or Do
query. The user wants to search prices and/or
purchase tickets to a Broadway show in New
York City.
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12.8.2 Special Content Result Block Examples
Special Content Result Blocks (SCRBs) appear in the search results page, along with Web Search Result Blocks. They are frequently, but not always, the first result on the search results page.
Special Content Result Blocks are designed to show content directly to users on the search results page. From working calculators to playable videos to interactive weather information, these results help users immediately get information or content. Some SCRBs may also have links to landing pages.
Important : Please assume that any interactive features work and function properly. Some notes:
●
Al result blocks are “screenshots” or images of search results with prominent links enabled. Unfortunately, a screenshot or image of an interactive result block wil not function as it would for a real user. For the purpose of rating, please assume that interactive result blocks do function as intended . Try to interact with the result block as some links, buttons, or other features may work.
●
There may be a delay between when the rating task is created and when you actual y rate the block, causing some information in special content result blocks to be a few hours or even days out of date. Stock price or weather informational blocks are designed to give users extremely current and timely information. However, due to a delay in rating time, the information may no longer be accurate. Don’t penalize a special content result block for being out of date. Assume that the blocks show current information for users, unless instructed otherwise.
Query, User Location, User Intent
Special Content Result Block
Query: [weather]
User Location: Chicago, Il inois
User Intent: This is a Know Simple query
since mobile users have a fairly simple
informational need: find the current
temperature and chance of rain or snow. The
user wants to know the weather for the User
Location.
Note: Assume the block shows current
information for users.
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Query, User Location, User Intent
Special Content Result Block
Query: [emma stone movies]
User Location: Des Moines, Iowa
User Intent: This is a Know query. The user
wants to get information on movies with Emma
Stone.
Result: In this result block, users can
immediately see some popular movies starring
Emma Stone, with an option to click on the
links to learn more about each movie. Users
can also swipe to see a list of more movies.
Query: [calories in a banana]
User Location: Oakland, California
User Intent: This is a Know Simple query.
The user wants to find out how many calories
are in a banana.
Query: [basebal scores]
User Location: Wichita, Kansas
User Intent: This is a Know query. The user
wants to find the most recent Major League
Basebal scores.
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Query, User Location, User Intent
Special Content Result Block
Query: [coldplay fix you video]
User Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
User Intent: This is a Do query. The user
wants to watch the music video for the song
“Fix You” by Coldplay.
Result: By clicking on this result block, users
can play the music video for the song on their
phone, learn more about the artist/album, etc.
Query: [what is the tal est tree]
User Location: Boise, Idaho
User Intent: This is a Know Simple query.
The user wants to know what type of tree is
the tal est.
12.8.3 Device Action Result Block Examples
A mobile phone should respond to a Device Action query and do what the user is asking. If the block is a Device Action query to open an app, please assume that the user has the app instal ed on their phone. If the query is to download the app, please assume that the user does not have the app instal ed on their phone.
Query, User Location, User Intent, Result
Device Action Result Block
Query: [open angry birds]
User Location : Little Rock, Arkansas
User Intent: This is a Device Action query.
The user wants the device to open the Angry
Birds app so he/she can play the game.
Result: In this result block, users can click the
link to open the app.
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Query, User Location, User Intent, Result
Device Action Result Block
Query: [go to amazon.com]
User Location : Glendale California
User Intent: This is a Device Action query.
The user wants to go to amazon.com to
interact with the website.
Result: In this result block, users can click
the links to go directly to the website.
Query : [set alarm for 5 o’clock am]
User Location : Tacoma, Washington
User Intent: This is a Device Action query.
The user wants to set the device’s alarm to go
off at 5:00 AM.
Result: In this result block, the query has
initiated the alarm on the phone to be set for
5:00 AM.
Query : [send text to mom]
User Location : Tacoma, Washington
User Intent: This is a Device Action query.
The user wants to send a text message to a
contact nicknamed “Mom.”
Result: In this Device Action Result Block,
the query has initiated a text to the contact
nicknamed “Mom,” with an option to text
either the work or mobile number.
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Query, User Location, User Intent, Result
Device Action Result Block
Query : [cal best buy]
User Location : Mountain View, California
User Intent: This is a Device Action query.
The user wants to cal the nearest Best Buy
store.
Result: In this Device Action Result Block, the
query has initiated a cal to the nearest Best
Buy location.
12.8.4 How Device Action Results are Displayed in Rating Tasks
Important note : Users issuing queries actual y experience the phone’s response to the query, while raters are given a description of it. If an iPhone user says “Siri, cal Mom,” the iPhone displays a visual prompt to show that it’s dialing a phone number. In these rating tasks, you wil see a description of this action.
Please also assume that the phone successful y performs the action in a ful y satisfying way.
Below are some additional examples of Device Action queries, along with the corresponding “action text” displayed in the rating task.
This is what the user sees on his or her phone for the
This is what you (the rater) might see in the rating task
Device Action query
The left side shows what the user sees on the phone for the query [set alarm for 30 mins], while the right side shows the
“action text” that you (the rater) might see in the rating task. The text on the right indicates that the user issued the query at 1:48 PM (13:48:00), and the device has set its alarm to go off 30 minutes later at 2:18 PM (14:18:00).
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This is what the user sees on his or her phone for the
This is what you (the rater) might see in the rating task
Device Action query
The left side shows what the user sees on the phone for the query [open facebook app]. In this case, the phone shows an “Opening app” message and then opens the app. The right side shows the “action text” that you (the rater) might see in the rating task. The text indicates that the device responded by opening the Facebook app on the user’s phone.
The left side shows what the user sees on the phone for the query [cal dan], while the right side shows the “action text”
that you (the rater) might see in the rating task. The user wants to dial the number stored for the contact “Dan” on the device. This text indicates that the device responded by displaying the contact’s phone number and dialing the number.
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This is what the user sees on his or her phone for the
This is what you (the rater) might see in the rating task
Device Action query
For some Device Action queries, the device displays a list of options to choose from before it can respond to the Device Action query. Here is an example for the query [cal target]. The user is shown a list of Target stores in the area to choose from. This example shows that the Device Action result taken by the device wil be to cal the desired Target store after the user makes his/her selection.
Here is an example for the query [play adele]. The user is shown a "Play media" type of result. In this case, since the user wants to play music, the Device Action result shown is a "Play Music" button to click. Clicking this button wil play the specified song if the user has the song on his/her device. If not, clicking the result box wil give the user options to hear the specified song online.
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12.9 Rating on Your Phone Issues
We understand that raters using different phones, operating systems, and browsers may have different experiences. In general, do what you would do natural y, and rate based on your experience. Here are some additional points to keep in mind when you are rating on your phone:
●
If you see one of these messages when you open a landing page on your phone: o
Asks whether you want to open the page in the browser or the website’s app: select and evaluate the webpage. However, if the result automatical y opens an app by default based on your phone’s settings (e.g. some users have set al YouTube pages to automatical y open the result in the YouTube app), you should rate your natural app experience — you do not have to change your phone’s default settings.
o
Asks whether you want to visit the mobile page or desktop page: it is fine to select the mobile page as long as the landing page is the same. Sometimes, the mobile option wil bring you to the mobile homepage instead of the specific URL in the task. You may need to check that the mobile page is in fact the same URL as the desktop page.
●
Please open and look at PDF files. Your experience may be easier or harder than other users depending on your phone and browser, but you should stil open the PDF file and look at it.
●
Occasional y, you may be assigned some of these rating tasks on a desktop computer, but please rate from the perspective of a mobile user unless otherwise instructed.
●
You should assume queries were issued on a smartphone unless otherwise stated in the task or project-specific instructions.
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Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline
13.0 Rating Using the Needs Met Scale
There are many different kinds of queries and results, but the process of rating is the same: Needs Met rating tasks ask you to focus on mobile user needs and think about how helpful and satisfying the result is for the mobile users .
This is what the Needs Met rating slider looks like:
Rating
Description
A special rating category, which only applies to certain queries and results. Al or almost al Fully Meets (FullyM)
mobile users would be immediately and ful y satisfied by the result and would not need to view other results to satisfy their need.
Highly Meets (HM)
Very helpful for many or most mobile users. Some users may wish to see additional results.
Helpful for many users OR very helpful for some mobile users. Some or many users may Moderately Meets (MM) wish to see additional results.
Helpful for fewer mobile users. There is a connection between the query and the result, but Slightly Meets (SM)
not a strong or satisfying connection. Many or most users would wish to see additional results.
Completely fails to meet the needs of the mobile users. Al or almost al users would wish to Fails to Meet (FailsM) see additional results.
Please note that you may assign in-between ratings. Use in-between ratings if you think the rating of a result fal s between two labels. You can either drag the slider or click on the point that you want the slider to land on.
13.1 Rating Result Blocks: Block Content and Landing Pages
For Needs Met rating, you wil assign a rating to each result. Each result includes the content inside the result block and landing pages associated with the result.
Which part of the result do you rate? It depends on both the query and the result block: Type of Block
What to Rate
The content inside this type of block should always play a large role in your rating.
Special Content Result Block
(SCRB)
Some Special Content Result Blocks may have links to landing pages. In these
cases, think about whether a user would click on the link in order to satisfy their Note: Assume that interactive
user need.
result blocks function as intended.
Try to interact with the result block
●
If most users would not click, rate the Special Content Result Block based
as some links, buttons, or other
on the block content alone.
features in your rating task may
●
If some or many users would click, you may consider the helpfulness of the
work.
landing page(s) in addition to the content in the block. In this case, both need to be helpful to justify a high rating.
Web Search Result Block
A click is required, and you should evaluate the landing page to assign a rating.
Device Action Result Block
Base your rating on the helpfulness of the action itself.
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For example, think about the query [what does love mean].
Result Block
Query: [what does love mean]
Rating
Most users would probably not click on
the Special Content Result Block,
because the block contains a large
amount of helpful content and has no
Special Content Result Block
obvious landing page link associated
with it.
Therefore, base your rating on the
content inside the block itself.
In this case, users would have to click on
the web search result in order to get an
answer to the question.
Web Search Result Block
Therefore, base your rating on the
content of the landing page.
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Here are some examples of Special Content Result Blocks where the block should be rated primarily on the content inside the block itself. As always, please use your judgment.
Query and Special Content Result Block
Query : [utopia animal hospital]
Query : [chicago weather]
Query: [calories in a banana]
Query : [how to find security code on
Query : [how did Lincoln die]
Query : [movies san francisco]
visa]
Note: The guidance in this section specifical y applies to Needs Met ratings. For Special Content Result Blocks that have landing pages, you may or may not also be asked to provide Page Quality ratings. In these cases, your Page Quality rating should always be based on the landing page. Please refer to Section 14.0 for more about the relationship between Needs Met and Page Quality ratings.
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13.2 Fully Meets (FullyM)
Fully Meets is a special rating category, which can be used in the fol owing situations:
●
The query and user need must be specific, clear, and unambiguous.
●
The result must be ful y satisfying for mobile users, requiring minimal effort for users to immediately get or use what they are looking for.
●
Al or almost al users would be completely satisfied by the result—users issuing that query would not need additional results to ful y satisfy the user intent.
In other words, the Fully Meets rating should be reserved for results that are the “complete and perfect response or answer” so that no other results are necessary for al or almost al users to be ful y satisfied.
You wil need to use your judgment to decide whether a result block can Fully Meet the user need. Here are some scenarios when the Fully Meets rating is appropriate:
●
The user is clearly looking for a specific webpage or website and the result block with the specific webpage or website Fully Meets the user’s need.
●
The user is trying to complete a device action and the result block accomplishes the desired request.
●
The user is looking for a very specific fact or piece of information and the result block provides the information immediately, thoroughly, accurately, and clearly. No other results would be needed. Before using the Fully Meets rating for queries seeking a very specific fact or piece of information, you must check for accuracy and confirm that the information is supported by expert consensus where such consensus exists.
Fully Meets may apply in other situations as wel . Ask yourself whether the result block alone is the perfect and complete result that would ful y satisfy al or almost al users. Be conservative when using the Fully Meets rating. When in doubt, consider a lower rating.
Note: If a result block is very close to being ful y satisfying, but the block alone may not be sufficient in order to ful y satisfy al or almost al users, a rating of Highly Meets+ may be appropriate.
Sometimes you have to think about how specific the user need is and wil need to make a judgment cal on whether it is specific enough to possibly have a Fully Meets rating.
13.2.1 Examples of Fully Meets (FullyM) Result Blocks
Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
What you might see in the
Query: [amazon.com]
rating task:
User Location :
Action: Open a specific
The query has clear intent to go
Austin, Texas
webpage
to amazon.com and the phone
is opening the specified website.
User Intent: Go to
URL: http://www.amazon.com/
amazon.com.
Website Name: Amazon.com:
Online Shopping for
Electronics, Apparel,
Computers ...
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
Query: [amazon]
The query has clear intent to go
to the amazon.com website.
User Location :
While there may be other
Austin, Texas
interpretations for the query, the
dominant one is by far the
User Intent: Go to the
website.
Amazon website.
Query : [target website]
User Location : Jacksonville,
The query has clear intent to go
Florida
to target.com.
User Intent: Go to the Target
website.
Query: [shop nordstrom
online]
User Location: Monterey,
The query has clear intent to go
California
to the Nordstrom website.
User Intent: Go to the
Nordstrom website for online
shopping.
Query: [titanic imdb]
User Location: Lexington,
The query has clear intent to go
Kentucky
to the IMDb page for Titanic.
User Intent: Go to the IMDb
page for Titanic.
Query: [www.yahoo.c0m]
Even though this is an imperfect
User Location: Denver,
URL query, it’s clear the user
Colorado
wants to go to the Yahoo
website.
User Intent: Go to the Yahoo
website.
Query: [cnn health]
User Location: Annapolis,
The query has clear intent to go
Maryland
to the Health section of the
cnn.com webpage.
User Intent: Go to the Health
section of cnn.com.
Query: [cnn]
The query has clear intent to
User Location: Annapolis,
access CNN news and content.
Maryland
The website has the content the
user is searching for, and fully
User Intent: Go to the CNN
satisfies the user intent.
website.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
This result Fully Meets the user
need whether they want the Yelp
app or the Yelp website, which
are both popular.
Note : If you see this kind of
result, assume that the user has
Query : [yelp]
the app installed on their phone.
User Location : Raleigh,
Clicking on the Yelp link above
North Carolina
the logo opens the app directly,
and clicking on the “Open on
User Intent: Open the Yelp
yelp.com” link gives the option
app or go to the website at
of opening the app or website.
yelp.com.
Query: [lebron james stats
basketball- reference.com]
The query has clear intent to go
User Location :
to the player statistics page for
Miami, Florida
LeBron James on a specific
website,
User Intent: Go to the player
basketball-reference.com.
statistics page for LeBron
James on a specific website.
What the user sees:
Query : [open instagram]
This Device Action query is
clear and specific: the user
User Location :
What you might see in the
wants to open the Instagram
Laguna Beach, California
rating task:
app. The result block shows the
phone in the process of opening
User Intent: Open the
Action: Open an app
the specified app—it Fully
Instagram app on the user’s
Meets the user need.
device.
App: Instagram
Query : [open bing search
app]
The result block shows that the
phone has detected that the app
User Location : Dallas,
is not installed and gives the
Texas
option of downloading the app.
This result Fully Meets the user
User Intent: Open the Bing
need.
Search app on the user’s
device.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
What the user sees:
Query : [open facebook app]
This Device Action query is
clear and specific: the user
User Location : Richmond,
wants to open the Facebook
Virginia
What you might see in the
app. The result block shows the
rating task:
phone’s confirmation that it is
User Intent: Open the
opening the app—it Fully Meets
Facebook app on the user’s
Action: Open an app
the user need.
device.
App: Facebook
What the user sees:
Query : [set alarm for 5
This Device Action query is
o’clock am]
clear and specific: the user
wants to set the phone’s alarm
User Location : Tacoma,
What you might see in the
clock for 5:00 AM. The result
Washington
rating task:
block shows the phone in the
process of setting the alarm at
User Intent: Set the device’s
Action: Set alarm
the specified time—it Fully
alarm to go off at 5:00 AM.
Meets the user need.
Alarm Time: 5:00 AM
Chef Chu’s is a Chinese
restaurant located in the user
location. This result block
Query: [chef chu phone
immediately shows the correct
number]
phone number with the option to
call the number directly on the
User Location: Los Altos,
device—it Fully Meets the user
California
intent.
User Intent: Find the phone
Note: You must check for
number for the restaurant
accuracy before using the Fully
called Chef Chu’s.
Meets rating. You can verify
that the phone number in this
SCRB is correct by checking
Chef Chu's official website.
What the user sees:
This Device Action query is
clear and specific: the user
wants to call the nearest Best
Query : [call best buy]
Buy store. The result block
shows the phone in the process
What you might see in the
of calling the store with the
User Location : Mountain
rating task:
correct phone number—it Fully
View, California
Meets the user need.
Action: Make a call
User Intent: Call the nearest
Note: You must check for
Best Buy store. Note that
Business Name: Best Buy
accuracy before using the Fully
there is only one Best Buy
Meets rating. You can verify
store located in Mountain
Location: 2460 E Charleston Rd, that the phone number in this
View.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Device Action block is correct by
checking Best Buy's official
Phone number: (650) 903-0591 website for the location in
Mountain View.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
What the user sees:
Query : [open map of italy]
This Device Action query is
clear and specific: the user
User Location : Baltimore,
What you might see in the
wants to see a map of Italy. The
Maryland
rating task:
result block shows a map with a
link to open it in Google
User Intent: Open a map of
Action: Open map
Maps—it Fully Meets the user
Italy on the user’s device.
need.
Location: Italy
What the user sees:
This Device Action query is
Query: [navigate to yosemite
clear and specific: the user
national park]
What you might see in the
wants to navigate to Yosemite
rating task:
National Park. The result block
User Location: Seattle,
shows the phone in the process
Washington
Action: Navigation
of opening up the Navigation
app, which will give the user
User Intent: Navigate to
Destination: Yosemite National
turn-by-turn directions from the
Yosemite National Park from
Park
user’s location—it Fully Meets
the user’s location.
the user need.
Destination Address: Yosemite
Village, CA 95389
Query: [how to find security
The result block displays the
code on visa]
complete and correct answer
prominently in the result block,
User Location: Chicago,
in a way that is easy for users
Illinois
on mobile devices to read. The
block also includes an image
User Intent: Find out how to
showing users exactly where to
locate the security code on a
find the code, and the block
Visa card.
Fully Meets the user need.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
The result block displays the
Query : [starbucks stock
complete and correct answer
price]
prominently in the result block,
in a way that is easy for users
User Location: Alexandria,
on mobile devices to read—it
Virginia
Fully Meets the user need.
User Intent: Find the current
Note : Assume that the result
stock price for Starbucks.
shows current information for
users.
Query : [new york city
The result block displays the
population 2012]
complete and correct answer
prominently in the result block,
User Location: Pasadena,
in a way that is easy for users
California
on mobile devices to read—it
Fully Meets the user need.
User Intent: Find the
population of New York City
back in 2012.
The result block displays the
complete and correct answer
prominently in the result block,
Query: [what is the weather
in a way that is easy for users
forecast for today]
on mobile devices to read—it
Fully Meets the user need.
User Location:
Mountain View, California
Remember that we consider
weather queries, like this one, to
User Intent: Find weather
be a Know Simple query for
forecast information for the
mobile phone users.
current day in Mountain View,
California.
Note : Assume the result shows
current information for users.
The result block displays the
complete and correct answer
Query: [london time]
prominently in the result block,
in a way that is easy for users
User Location: New York,
on mobile devices to read—it
New York
Fully Meets the user need.
User Intent: Find the current
Note : Assume that the result
time in London.
shows current information for
users.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
Query: [who is the chancellor
of germany]
The result block displays the
complete and correct answer
User Location: New York,
prominently in the result block,
New York
in a way that is easy for users
on mobile devices to read—it
User Intent: Find the name
Fully Meets the user need.
of the current Chancellor of
Germany.
Query: [chevron at shoreline
and middlefield]
The intent is to visit the specific
User Location: Mountain
gas station specified by the
View, California
user. This result block is for the
specified Chevron location, with
User Intent: Find the specific
information to visit this location
gas station specified by the
in person.
user in order to visit the
location in person.
The result has exactly what the
Query : [decemberists crane
user wants, displaying the lyrics
wife 3 lyrics]
to the specified song clearly and
completely inside the result
User Location: Long Beach,
block. The user does not need
California
to click to a new page to see the
complete lyrics for this song.
User Intent: See the lyrics to
The Decemberists song
Note: The lyrics posted on
called “Crane Wife 3.”
Google Play are licensed.
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
The intent is to find gas stations
near the specific user location,
represented by the blue dot on
the map.
This result block has a very
satisfying list of nearby, popular,
and prominent options within
one mile of the specific location.
Query: [gas stations near
This kind of block is especially
me]
helpful for users who want to
visit the business in person.
User Location: Mountain
View, California
This result would be very
convenient for mobile users who
User Intent: Find gas
need gas immediately,
stations near the user
especially for those who are
location. Note that this may
driving and cannot easily use
be an urgent query.
their phone.
Note: A range is included
because some users would be
fully satisfied with these
selections, while some users
would want more information
(e.g., gas prices, hours, distance
from location, longer list of
options).
The intent is to find coffee shops
near the specific user location,
represented by the blue dot on
the map.
This result block has a very
satisfying list of nearby, popular,
and prominent options within a
few miles of the specific
Query: [nearby coffee shops]
location. This kind of block is
especially helpful for users who
User Location: Mountain
want to visit the business in
View, California
person. Note that these blocks
are interactive—clicking on a
User Intent: Find coffee
coffee shop will give options to
shops near the user location.
call the business, get directions,
read reviews, etc.
Note: A range is included
because some users would be
fully satisfied with these
selections, while some users
would want more information
(e.g., hours, distance from
location, longer list of options).
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Query and User Intent
Result
Rating
Fully Meets Explanation
This block contains a map with
the queried address, link to get
directions, and specifies the
landmark at the well-known
address on the map (“The White
House”).
Query: [1600 pennsylvania
It’s not unusual to search for an
ave washington dc]
address (or business) that is far
from the user location. Here,
User Location: Bakersville,
the user has explicitly asked for
California
a specific address in a far away
place, and this result is very
User Intent: Find a map,
satisfying. For a query this
directions, information about
specific, the user location does
what is located at this
not change the rating.
address, etc.
Note: A range is included
because some users would be
fully satisfied with this result,
while some users would want
more information (e.g., photos, a
brief description).
This block contains a map, link
to get directions, departure
times for the multiple train lines
Query: [metro center station]
that operate at this station, link
to a detailed schedule (i.e., the
User Location: Adams
“Departure board”), and an
Morgan, Washington D.C.
option to see more information.
User Intent: The user wants
Since the user is located in the
to see a map, schedule,
same city as the station, the
transfer options, and/or other
information in this block is highly
train information for the Metro
satisfying.
Center station, given that the
user is close to the queried
Note: A range is included
station.
because some users would be
fully satisfied with this result,
while some users may want
more information (e.g., nearby
attractions, ticket prices).
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13.2.2 Examples of Queries that Cannot Have Fully Meets Results
There are some queries that cannot have a Fully Meets result. Here are some examples.
Type of Query
Example
No Fully Meets Result: Explanation
This is a broad informational query. Knitting
is an activity anyone can do and that anyone
can create a website for. Different users
may want different types of content: videos,
[knitting]
instructions, patterns, etc. There is no one
Broad queries where no
official source for knitting information and no
single result could ful y
one result could satisfy most users.
satisfy al users
Therefore, no Fully Meets result is possible
for this query.
Famous names
This is a broad informational query and it is
impossible to know exactly what the user is
e.g., [barack obama]
looking for.
There is no dominant interpretation for this
query. The fol owing entities are al common
interpretations: Americans with Disabilities
Act, American Dental Association, and
[ada]
American Diabetes Association. While each
interpretation has an official homepage,
none is Fully Meets since there is no
dominant interpretation.
Ambiguous queries
Queries for people’s names can be tricky.
without a clear user intent
Many or most people queries do not have a
or dominant interpretation
dominant interpretation. Even unusual
sounding name queries may not have a
Non-famous people names
dominant interpretation. For example, the
queries [sam wen], [tran nguyen], and [david
e.g., [sam wen]
mease] can have no Fully Meets result
because there are multiple people with each
of these names, and it is not clear that most
users are looking for any one particular
individual.
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13.3 Highly Meets (HM)
A rating of Highly Meets is assigned to results that meet the needs of many or most users. Highly Meets results are highly satisfying and a good “fit” for the query. In addition, they often have some or al of the fol owing characteristics: high quality, authoritative, entertaining, and/or recent (e.g., breaking news on a topic).
In order to receive a Highly Meets rating, information pages such as encyclopedia articles and news articles must be accurate and highly credible. Highly Meets medical and scientific information pages must represent wel -established scientific/medical consensus unless the user is clearly seeking an alternative viewpoint. For al information pages, you must check for accuracy and confirm that the information is supported by expert consensus where such consensus exists.
A query can have many Highly Meets results.
Have high standards for the Highly Meets rating. This is especial y important for queries with many on-topic results.
13.3.1 Examples of Highly Meets (HM) Result Blocks
Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
This result shows a complete list
Query: [trader joes]
of all three locations in the
Charlotte area, with information
User Location: Charlotte,
that is especially helpful for users
North Carolina
who want to visit the store.
User Intent: There are
Note: This result block is not
two possible user intents:
Fully Meets because users who
most users probably want
want to go to the website to see
to visit a nearby location or
coupons, promotions, etc. would
go to the website.
have to see additional results.
This is the official website for
Query: [trader joes]
Trader Joe’s, which has highly
authoritative information on the
User Location: Charlotte,
businesses’ stores, promotions,
North Carolina
recipes, news, etc.
User Intent: There are
Note: This result block is not
two possible user intents:
Fully Meets because users who
most users probably want
want information to visit the store
to visit a nearby location or
have to do a bit of work to find
go to the website.
that information—it is not
immediately available.
Query: [museum of
modern art]
This is the museum’s official
website and has very helpful
User Location:
information about exhibits,
Manhattan, New York
membership, the store, etc.
User Intent: There are
Note: This result block is not
two possible user intents:
Fully Meets because users who
most users probably want
want information to visit the
to visit the museum (note
museum have to do a bit of work
that the user is located in
to find that information—it is not
NYC where the museum is
immediately available.
located) or go to the
website.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [museum of
The result block shows
modern art]
information about the museum,
and is especially helpful for users
User Location:
who want to visit the museum.
Manhattan, New York
Note: This result block is not
User Intent: There are
Fully Meets— even though there
two possible user intents:
is a website link, it is not very
most users probably want
satisfying for users who want to
to visit the museum (note
go to the website because it is
that the user is located in
not as informative as a web
NYC where the museum is
search result block with a title,
located) or go to the
snippet, and URL.
website.
The query is the name of a car
dealership in New Jersey, which
is the only dealership with that
name in the user location
Query: [prestige bmw]
(Ramsey, New Jersey). The
result block shows information
User Location:
about the dealership, and is
Ramsey, New Jersey
especially helpful for users who
want to visit the business.
User Intent: There are
two possible user intents:
Note: This result block is not
most users probably want
Fully Meets— even though there
to visit the car dealership
is a website link, it is not very
or go to the website.
satisfying for users who want to
go to the website because it is
not as informative as a web
search result block with a title,
snippet, and URL.
This is the car dealership’s
Query: [prestige bmw]
official website and has very
helpful information about
User Location:
inventory, financing, etc.
Ramsey, New Jersey
Note: This result block is not
User Intent: There are
Fully Meets because users who
two possible user intents:
want information to visit the
most users probably want
dealership have to do a bit of
to visit the car dealership
work to find that information—it is
or go to the website.
not immediately available.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
There is only one library in the
user location (Belmont,
Massachusetts) . The result
block shows information about
Query: [belmont library]
the library, and is especially
helpful for users who want to visit
User Location: Belmont,
the location.
Massachusetts
Note: This result block is not
User Intent: Find
Fully Meets— even though there
information about this
is a website link, it is not very
library or go to the
satisfying for users who want to
website.
go to the website because it is
not as informative as a web
search result block with a title,
snippet, and URL.
There is only one library in the
user location (Belmont,
California) . The result block
shows information about the
Query: [belmont library]
library, and is especially helpful
for users who want to visit the
User Location: Belmont,
location.
California
Note: This result block is not
User Intent: Find
Fully Meets— even though there
information about this
is a website link, it is not very
library or go to the
satisfying for users who want to
website.
go to the website because it is
not as informative as a web
search result block with a title,
snippet, and URL.
The user intent is too broad to
have a Fully Meets result.
Query : [decemberists]
However, this is The
Decemberists’ official website
User Location: Long
and has a lot of content including
Beach, California
tour dates, music videos, the
latest album, etc. The result is
User Intent: Learn more
uniquely authoritative and most
about the band, The
users would be very satisfied by
Decemberists.
this website.
The user intent is too broad to
Query : [celine dion]
have a Fully Meets result.
However, this is Celine Dion's
User Location: Bellevue,
official website and has a lot of
Washington
content including recent news,
show information, music, photos,
User Intent: Learn more
videos, etc. The result is uniquely
about the singer Celine
authoritative and most users
Dion.
would be very satisfied by this
website.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [fear the walking
dead]
The user intent is too broad to
have a Fully Meets result, and
User Location: Mountain
different users may be looking for
View, California
different things.
User Intent:
This interactive block has a large
Find information about the
amount of helpful content for a
TV show (e.g., show
TV show including a summary,
summary, episode guide,
episode and cast information,
cast information,
etc.—this result would be very
streaming options, etc.).
helpful for many or most users.
Query: [manresa reviews]
The LP for this web result has
127 reviews for the restaurant,
User Location: San Jose,
and is easy to use on a mobile
California
phone. The first three reviews
show automatically, and then you
User Intent: Find reviews
can click to see more. This
for this restaurant located
result would be very helpful for
in Los Gatos, California.
many or most users.
Query: [who is the
chancellor of germany]
This is a specific Know Simple
query for the name of the current
User Location: New York,
Chancellor of Germany. While
New York
the answer is in the description
of the web result, it is not
User Intent: The user
displayed prominently in a way
wants to find the name of
that is very easy for mobile users
the current Chancellor of
to read.
Germany.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [broadway tickets]
The LP for this web result offers
many Broadway tickets for sale,
User Location: New York,
from a highly trustworthy source.
New York
While you have to zoom in and
scroll to navigate the site, this
User Intent: Research
result would be very helpful for
prices and/or purchase
many or most users because it is
tickets to a Broadway
so highly trustworthy.
show.
The LP for this mobile-friendly
web result offers many kids
backpacks for sale. The
Query: [kids backpacks]
company is well-known for
manufacturing and selling high
User Location: New York,
quality backpacks for kids of
New York
different ages. There is a lot of
product information and many
User Intent: Research
user reviews for each backpack,
prices and/or purchase
in addition to filter options that
backpacks for kids.
are easy to use on a phone. This
result would be very helpful for
many or most users.
Query: [poison ivy]
The LP for this mobile-friendly
web result is part of an
User Location: Atlanta,
authoritative government website
Georgia
and provides a lot of helpful
information about poison ivy.
User Intent: Find pictures
This result would be very helpful
of poison ivy plants,
for many or most users. A few or
information about how to
some users may wish to see
treat poison ivy, etc.
additional results.
Query: [michael jordan]
The LP of this web result is a
User Location : Boston,
mobile-friendly Wikipedia article
Massachusetts
about Michael Jordan. This
result would be helpful for many
User Intent: Find
or most users.
information, news, images,
etc. about Michael Jordan.
Users are looking for good or
Query: [dance video]
entertaining dance videos and
there are many options online.
User Location: New York,
New York
There are many on-topic results
for this query and this is one very
User Intent: Find a dance
popular video of a comedian
video to watch.
demonstrating dance styles from
previous decades.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [trestle bridge]
User Location: Colorado
Springs, Colorado
Seeing images of trestle bridges
is very helpful in understanding
User Intent: The user
this type of bridge. In this case,
wants to understand what
“a picture is worth a thousand
a trestle bridge is or learn
words”, meaning that a picture
more information about
may be more helpful than a text
them (e.g., what it looks
description due to the unique
like, how they are built,
design of the bridge.
types of materials,
well-known examples,
etc.).
Query: [purple
coneflowers]
This block contains many helpful
User Location: New York,
images, and the landing page
New York
shows even more images—it
Highly Meets the user intent.
User Intent: Find images
of or information about
purple coneflowers.
Query: [invasive species]
The result block has a good
User Location: St. Louis,
summary of what invasive
Missouri
species are, but some users
would probably want to see more
User Intent: Find more
information like examples,
information about invasive
impact, etc.
species.
For users in Sunnyvale,
California, the query [turmeric]
could have two different
interpretations: a popular
Query: [turmeric]
restaurant named Turmeric or
the spice turmeric. Because the
User Location:
user is located in Sunnyvale,
Sunnyvale, California
many mobile users are probably
looking for the restaurant.
User Intent: Find
However, it is not completely
information about the
clear because some users may
spice or the restaurant in
want to find information about the
Sunnyvale.
spice. This result about the
restaurant has satisfying
information for users who want to
visit —it Highly Meets the most
likely user need.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [how to get from
Even though the user has to
seattle to xpppzyfii]
re-enter the destination, the
result block recognizes that the
User Location: Seattle,
user was asking for directions
Washington
from Seattle. The user has to
enter the destination manually
User Intent: Get
because the name in the query
directions from Seattle to
(“xpppzyfii”) is so garbled that
another place. Note that
there is no good guess as to
the location in the query
what the user meant.
(“xpppzyfii”) is garbled and
it is impossible to know
Therefore, this block is satisfying
what the user wanted.
because it helps the user correct
(The name was likely
the request and then immediately
mistyped or mistranscribed
get the desired directions.
from a voice query.)
Query: [kristen wiig]
This is a fan site dedicated to
Kristen Wiig. The website has
User Location: New York,
comprehensive info including
New York
over 50,000 pictures and 300
video clips, interviews, articles,
User Intent: Find more
and more. This website Highly
information about the
Meets the need of many or most
actress, comedian, writer,
users.
and producer.
Query: [greek alphabet]
This is a broad query. Different
users may be looking for different
User Location: Albany,
things.
New York
This result shows multiple tables
User Intent: Find
of images with the letters in the
historical information about
Greek alphabet. This result
the Greek alphabet, the
would be helpful for many users.
names of the letters in the
Some users may wish to see
Greek alphabet, images of
additional results.
the letters, etc.
This is a broad query for an
actress. Different users may be
looking for different things.
Query: [jennifer aniston]
This result shows recent news
User Location: Dover,
about Jennifer Aniston. The
Delaware
articles are timely (at the time
this was written) and relatively
User Intent: Find images,
interesting, and not just common
recent news, gossip,
everyday news about the
information, etc. about
actress. Many users would be
Jennifer Aniston.
satisfied with the result and some
users may wish to see more
results.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
This is a broad query for a city.
Different users may be looking
Query: [seattle,
for different things.
washington]
The result contains a wide
User Location: Arlington,
variety of helpful information
Texas
such as a map, weather
information, several points of
User Intent: Find
interest, and has an option to see
information, news, maps,
more information containing
etc. related to Seattle,
nearby events and facts about
Washington.
the city. Moderately Meets+ to
Highly Meets is an appropriate
rating for this result.
This is a broad query for an
Query: [emily blunt]
actress. Different users may be
looking for different things.
User Location: Portland,
Oregon
The result contains a variety of
helpful information such as
User Intent: Find
images, brief biography, recent
biographical information
movies, and an option to see
(e.g., filmography) or
more. Moderately Meets+ to
current news/celebrity
Highly Meets is an appropriate
gossip about Emily Blunt.
rating for this result.
This page provides the
requested lyrics on Coldplay's
official website. Users can
also navigate around the site
Query: [coldplay yellow
to listen to the song, explore
lyrics]
all albums the song appears
on, listen to or view lyrics for
User Location: Billings,
other songs on the same
Montana
album, or learn more about
the artist overall.
User Intent: Find the
lyrics to the song
Additionally, users can trust
“Yellow”, which was
that the lyrics on the LP are
written by the band
100% accurate due to the
Coldplay.
uniquely authoritative nature
of the source, which makes
this result very helpful for
many or most users.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
The LP for this web result
contains authoritative information
Query: [1969 moon
about the Apollo 11 moon landing
landing]
on the official website of NASA,
which was the organization that
User Location: New
oversaw this mission in 1969.
Haven, Connecticut
The MC has a lot of helpful
information and content,
User Intent: Find accurate
including a detailed summary,
and authoritative
video footage, and images of the
information about this
moon landing that users can
historical event.
view and explore. This result
would be very helpful for many or
most users.
This is an informational query on
a fairly broad topic. Different
Query: [stem education]
users may be looking for different
things, yet accuracy and
User Location: Memphis,
credibility of the source are
Tennessee
important.
User Intent: Find
This LP is a news article
information or recent news
published on a reputable news
about education in STEM
website. The MC of the article
fields (i.e., Science,
covers recent efforts to reform
Technology, Engineering,
STEM education in the U.S., and
and Mathematics).
it includes citations from expert
sources. This result would be
helpful for many or most users.
Query: [mentos and coke
death]
This LP is on a well-known
fact-checking and debunking
User Location: Las
website. The page calls this
Vegas, Nevada
story "False", then provides a
credible explanation of how the
User Intent: Find accurate
authors came to that conclusion,
information about a rumor
including history of similar urban
that a mixture of Mentos
legends. This result would be
and Coca-Cola can cause
very helpful for users seeking to
death, which was spread
verify the credibility of this rumor.
on the Internet in 2006.
Query: [pj fleck]
This LP is an opinion piece
User Location:
written by the Editorial Board of
Minneapolis, Minnesota
the largest newspaper in the U.S.
state of Minnesota. The MC of
User Intent: Find
the article expresses
information or recent news
well-informed opinions about
about P.J. Fleck, who had
Fleck's upcoming tenure as head
just become the new head
coach, and it would likely be of
football coach at the
interest to many or most users
University of Minnesota a
when this query was issued.
few days before this
example was written.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Highly Meets Explanation
Query: [batman lego
movie review]
User Location: Orlando,
This LP is an in-depth review of
Florida
the queried movie by a film critic
at a reputable newspaper. This
User Intent: Find reviews
result would be very helpful for
of the 2017 film The LEGO
many or most users.
Batman Movie on credible
news or entertainment
sources.
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13.4 Moderately Meets (MM)
A rating of Moderately Meets is assigned to results that are helpful and satisfying for many users or very satisfying for some users.
Moderately Meets results have fewer valuable attributes than Highly Meets results. Moderately Meets results should stil “fit” the query, but they might be less comprehensive, less up-to-date, come from a less authoritative source, etc.
Moderately Meets results are not low quality, out-of-date, or inaccurate. Moderately Meets results are general y average to good.
13.4.1 Examples of Moderately Meets (MM) Result Blocks
Moderately Meets
Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Explanation
The LP for this web result is a
Query: [shutterfly]
high-quality page on
crunchbase.com—a member site
User Location: Boise,
on the TechCrunch
Idaho
network—with a profile of
Shutterfly. The MC has a lot of
User Intent: Go to the
helpful and accurate information
Shutterfly website or find
about the company and is easy
information about the
to read on a mobile device. This
company.
result would be helpful for many
users or very helpful for some.
The LP for this web result
contains information about Tom
Query: [tom cruise]
Cruise, which would be helpful
for many users or very helpful for
User Location:
some users. The photos and
Scottsdale, Arizona
main links can easily be
accessed on a phone.
User Intent: Find
biographical information or
Note that there are many, many
current news/celebrity
pages about Tom Cruise and this
gossip about Tom Cruise.
result is not helpful enough for a
rating of Highly Meets .
Query: [seattle,
This is a broad query for a city.
washington]
Different users may be looking
for different things.
User Location : Denver,
Colorado
The result shows a map of
Seattle, Washington and clicking
User Intent : Find
on the map brings up a more
information, news, maps,
detailed map. This result may be
etc. related to Seattle,
helpful for some users.
Washington.
Query: [city of angels]
This result reflects one of several
possible user intents, as the
User Location:
query is also the name of a
Los Angeles, California
movie, song, musical, and more.
However, since the user location
User Intent: Find
is near the school, this result
information about the
would be very helpful for some
movie, song, musical,
users—specifically, users who
school, or some other
are looking for the school.
entity by this name.
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Moderately Meets
Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Explanation
This is a result to download one
of the YouTube apps. Mobile
Query: [youtube]
users want answers and results
right away and may not be able
User Location: Tucson,
to spend a lot of time
Arizona
downloading and installing apps.
It is possible that users want one
User Intent: Go to the
of the YouTube apps, but it is
YouTube website.
probably not the dominant intent
for mobile users on the go.
Query: [nicaraguan
This result displays the name of
money]
Nicaraguan currency. Some
users may have their need met
User Location: Miami,
by learning the name of the
Florida
currency, but many users may
want images, know the exchange
User Intent: Find out what
rate, etc. This result would be
Nicaraguan currency is
helpful for many users or very
called, what it looks like,
helpful for some users.
the exchange rate, etc.
Query: [where is virginia
in the us]
The description in this result
block may be helpful for users
User Location: Louisville,
who are already familiar with this
Kentucky
area in the United States. Many
or most users would probably
User Intent: Find where
want to see a map or a clearer
the state of Virginia is
description.
located in the U.S.
Query: [every breath you
take lyrics]
The LP for this lyrics website
page has the requested lyrics.
User Location: Fort
There are many lyrics websites
Davis, Texas
on the web and many pages are
not 100% accurate. Moderately
User Intent: Find the
Meets is an appropriate rating for
lyrics to the song “Every
average pages with the
Breath You Take,” which
requested lyrics.
was written by Sting.
Query: [kristen wiig]
This is Kristen Wiig’s official
website, but the only content is
User Location: New York,
links to her talent and PR
New York
agencies, along with a note that
says she is not on any social
User Intent: Find more
networking sites. While this
information about the
information is helpful, many
actress, comedian, writer,
users would want to see more.
and producer.
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13.5 Slightly Meets (SM)
A rating of Slightly Meets is assigned to results that are helpful and satisfying for some or few users. Slightly Meets results may serve a minor interpretation, be low quality, have stale or outdated information, have some minor inaccuracies, be too specific, too broad, too niche for the general user population considering the query, etc. to receive a higher rating.
Important note: On mobile phones, the "cost of a click" is high. Many users decide which result to click or tap on based on the title of the web result on the search results page. (Note that these titles usual y come from webpages.) A result with a very misleading or exaggerated title should be rated Slightly Meets or lower, due to the poor user experience that occurs when the landing page does not match the expectation of the user when clicking or tapping on the result.
13.5.1 Examples of Slightly Meets (SM) Result Blocks
Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Slightly Meets Explanation
Query: [britney spears]
The LP of this mobile-friendly
User Location: Baltimore,
web result has a 2006 article
Maryland
about Britney Spears filing for
divorce. This is very old, stale
User Intent: Find
news, making the result helpful
information about Britney
for few users.
Spears (e.g., current
news, pictures).
Query: [honda odyssey]
Although the LP has
comprehensive information from
User Location: Miami,
a reputable source, and is easy
Florida
to use on a mobile device, the
information is about the 2010
User Intent: We will
Honda Odyssey. This
assume that users are
information would be considered
interested in the current
stale for the query today, making
Honda Odyssey model,
this result helpful for some or few
unless specified otherwise.
users.
The LP of this web result is about
Query: [hot dog]
the movie “Hot Dog,” which came
out in 1984 and is a minor
User Location:
interpretation of this query.
Sunnyvale, California
Because this is an unlikely
interpretation, this web result
User Intent: Find
would be helpful for few users,
information about hot
even though the landing page
dogs, such as recipes or
has good content from a
nutrition information.
reputable source, and is easy to
use on a mobile device.
This result provides contact
Query: [motorcycles]
information for one of the two
motorcycle shops in Potsdam,
User Location: Potsdam,
New York. It is possible this
New York
would be helpful for some users,
but many users would be looking
User Intent: Find
for information. Additionally,
information about
there is distracting
motorcycles.
information (a listing for an
insurance agent).
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Slightly Meets Explanation
This is a Wikipedia page that has
Query: [abe lincoln’s
birthdays for all U.S. presidents,
birthday]
including Abraham Lincoln.
However, his birthday is not
User Location: Fort
prominently displayed and it is
Davis, Texas
not obvious that the answer is
there—users have to do some
User Intent: Find this
work and search around on the
specific piece of
page to find the answer, making
information.
SM to SM+ an appropriate rating.
Query: [lack of sex and
The quality of writing in this
problems with my
article, which was created by a
marriage]
person without expertise in
marriage or relationship
User Location: Waco,
counseling, is poor. Even though
Texas
the article is about the query, the
page is low quality and
User Intent: Find help for
untrustworthy. It would be helpful
marital issues.
for few users.
Query: [nail spa]
Burke Williams is a day spa that
offers many treatments like
User Location: San Jose,
massage therapy, skin care, etc.
California
While it does have nail care
options, it is not a dedicated nail
User Intent: Find a nail
spa.
spa in or near San Jose.
Query: [what type of
sharks live in rivers]
This result block does not
User Location: Tucson,
contain enough information to be
Arizona
fully satisfying and mentions only
one type of shark. Most users
User Intent: Find
would need to do further
information about what
research.
types of sharks live in
rivers.
The answer in this result block is
really confusing. Even if users
Query: [210 area code]
can figure it out, they would likely
still have to click on the link, or
User Location: Austin,
go to another website, to confirm
Texas
the information.
User Intent: Find what
While there is a map, you would
area uses the 210 area
have to expand or click on it to
code for phone numbers.
see the details, so it is not that
helpful.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Slightly Meets Explanation
Query: [ibm]
User Location: Rockville,
This block contains images of the
Maryland
logo for IBM, but these images
are not particularly helpful for this
User Intent: Go to the
query.
IBM website or find
information about the
company.
The title of this article makes it
appear as though the article
Query: [where is nibiru]
describes an impending
catastrophe. Yet, the MC states
User Location: Oklahoma
in its third paragraph that Nibiru
City, Oklahoma
"doesn’t actually exist" and calls
believers in it "conspiracy
User Intent: Find the
theorists". The title contradicts
location of "Nibiru", which
the content of the article, and as
was a fictional planet in
a result could mislead users who
the movie Star Trek Into
don't read the full article.
Darkness , as well as a
pseudoscientific outer
Note: The "cost of a click" is high
planet in the solar system
on mobile phones. Results with
that doesn't actually exist.
very misleading or exaggerated
titles should be rated Slightly
Meets or lower.
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13.6 Fails to Meet (FailsM)
A rating of Fails to Meet should be assigned to results that are helpful and satisfying for no or very few users. Fails to Meet results are unrelated to the query, factual y incorrect (please check for factual accuracy of answers), and/or al or almost al users would want to see additional results. These results completely fail to meet the user intent, such as a lack of attention to an aspect of the query (or user location) that is important for satisfying user intent. Fails to Meet may also be used for results that are extremely low quality, have very stale or outdated information, be nearly impossible to use on a mobile device, etc.
Fails to Meet should be used for the fol owing types of Lowest Page Quality results:
●
Results that harm users (e.g., malicious download pages, "phishing" pages or websites, etc.). Note that if you encounter a malware warning or untrustworthy site warning from your browser ( example ), you can assume for rating purposes that the page is malicious without continuing to the page.
●
Pages or websites that misrepresent the website's owner or purpose, such as by impersonating a different site (e.g., copied logo or branding of an unaffiliated site, URL that mimics another site's name).
●
Pages or websites that appear to be deliberate attempts to misinform or deceive users by presenting factual y inaccurate content (e.g., fake product reviews, demonstrably inaccurate news, etc.).
●
Pages or websites with factual y inaccurate content that can cause harm to users, regardless of their purpose or intent (e.g., inaccurate medical information; inaccurate information about how to vote, obtain a visa or green card, pay government taxes, etc.).
The fol owing should also be rated Fails to Meet because they lead to very poor and upsetting user experiences:
●
Porn results for non-porn-seeking queries.
●
Upsetting or offensive results for queries that are not obviously seeking upsetting or offensive content.
●
Pages that directly contradict wel -established scientific or medical consensus for queries seeking scientific or medical information, unless the query indicates the user is seeking an alternative viewpoint .
●
Pages that directly contradict wel -established historical facts (e.g., unsubstantiated conspiracy theories), unless the query clearly indicates the user is seeking an alternative viewpoint .
13.6.1 Examples of Fails to Meet (FailsM) Result Blocks
Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [dogs]
This is a broad informational
User Location: Pittsfield
query for an animal. Different
Charter Township,
users may be looking for different
Michigan
things.
User Intent: Find
This result block shows
information (e.g., pictures,
visit-in-person information for
breeds, training details,
three different dog care providers
etc.) related to dogs.
near the user location. However,
the query is very broad and it is
Note: For this query, it is
unlikely users want to go
very unlikely users want to
anywhere in person.
go anywhere in person.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [mike]
This is a broad query and it is
unclear exactly what the user is
User Location: Eustis,
looking for.
Florida
This result block shows
User Intent: Find
visit-in-person information for two
information about
businesses that contain the
something related to Mike.
name Mike. However, the query
is very broad and it is very
Note: For this query, it is
unlikely these businesses are
unlikely users want to go
what users seek given the query.
anywhere in person.
Query: [tampa rays]
User Location: Tampa,
This result block shows
Florida
information to visit a sports card
store in person, which happens
User Intent: Find
to have the baseball team in the
information (e.g., scores,
name. However, remember that
roster, recent news) about
for this query, it is unlikely users
a professional baseball
want to go anywhere in person.
team in Florida called
Tampa Bay Rays.
Note: This business was
fabricated for the purposes of
Note: For this query, it is
this example, and does not exist
unlikely users want to go
in real life.
anywhere in person.
WRAL is a television news
station in North Carolina. Users
want to go to the website or find
Query: [wral]
information about the station.
User Location: Wake
In this example, clicking on the
County, North Carolina
blocks show information about
the businesses’ corporate
User Intent: Go to the
headquarters. Note that
WRAL website or find
television stations (like radio
other information about the
stations, newspapers, etc.)
news station in North
usually have special contact
Carolina.
information for the public that is
different than their corporate
Note: Users generally
headquarter information. Also,
would not go to a news
with the query just being the
station in person.
name of the station, it is very
unlikely that users want this kind
of information.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [texas farm
fertilizer]
This result block shows the
Texas Farm corporate office,
User Location: Dallas,
which is not helpful given the
Texas
user intent—users could not
physically go to the company’s
User Intent: Find
corporate office to buy or learn
information about, or
about the product. Fertilizer is
where to buy, fertilizer from
the kind of product that you
the company Texas Farm.
would have to buy at a store.
Query: [united 656]
This result shows information for
User Location: Skokie,
a church, an event venue, and
Illinois
the closest airport. However,
users clearly want to know
User Intent: Find
details about a specific flight, and
information about flight
there is absolutely no information
656 operated by United
in the block about the flight. This
Airlines (e.g., whether the
result Fails to Meet the user
flight is on time, what gate
intent.
it is departing from).
Query: [german cars]
This LP is the homepage of
Subaru, a Japanese car
User Location: Toledo,
company, not a German car
Ohio
company.
User Intent: Find
The page completely Fails to
information about German
Meet the user intent and would
cars or go to the official
be helpful for no or very few
homepage of a German
users.
automaker.
Query: [company to get
This LP is the homepage of a
rid of the possum in my
pest control company in
attic]
Australia. U.S. users would need
a U.S. company to take care of
User Location:
this problem. There is a
Naperville, Illinois
mismatch between the page and
the locale that makes this result
User Intent: Find a
helpful for no users—it
company to trap and
completely Fails to Meet the
remove a possum from the
user intent.
attic.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [starting jets
quarterback 2001]
Although this is a trustworthy
User Location: Chicago,
website for information about
Illinois
NFL football, this LP does not
contain the information
User Intent: Find the
requested by the user. This
name of the starting
result completely Fails to Meet
quarterback for the New
the user intent.
York Jets football team in
2001.
Query: [navigate to
yellowstone national park]
This web result (the official
homepage of Yellowstone
User Location: Denver,
National Park) completely fails to
Colorado
respond to the specific Device
Action query : to navigate to the
User Intent: Navigate to
park.
Yellowstone National Park
from the user’s location.
Query: [doctor salary]
User Location : San
The answer in this block is about
Francisco, California
the cost of education, not salary,
which is misleading and doesn’t
User Intent: Find
answer the user’s query.
information about doctor
salaries.
Query: [stony child
development center west
point phone number]
The answer in this block provides
the phone number for the West
User Location : West
Point Club, not the Stony Child
Point, New York
Development Center located in
West Point, New York. This
User Intent: Find the
result Fails to Meet the user
telephone number for the
intent.
Stony Child Development
Center in West Point, New
York.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [who invented
The answer provided in this
stairs]
result block is factually
inaccurate. Stairs have been a
User Location: Lubbock,
common architectural feature of
Texas
buildings, pathways, outdoor
structures, etc. since long before
User Intent: Find out
1948, and they were not invented
about the origin of stairs.
by a person named Werner
Bösendörfer.
This result includes several apps
to download, with an option to
see more apps. The user is
Query: [young famous
looking for information about app
app developers]
developers that are well-known ,
so it Fails to Meet the user
User Location: Lubbock,
intent.
Texas
Note: Unless you feel the user
User Intent: Find
intent to download an app is
information about, or a list
strong, results that allow users to
of, well-known app
download apps are generally
developers who are
less helpful. Mobile users want
young.
answers and results right away,
at that moment, and may not be
able to spend a lot of time
downloading and installing apps.
Query: [send text
message to john that i’m
running late]
Action: Send an email
The user clearly wants to send a
User Location: New York,
text message. The Device
New York
Subject:
Action result to “Send an email”
is incorrect and completely Fails
User Intent: Send a text
Recipient: John
to Meet user intent.
message to a contact
named John with the
Body: I'm running late
message “I’m running
late.”
Query: [weather]
The user clearly wants weather
information. The Device Action
User Location:
Query Time: 2013-4-23 6:00:12
result to set an alarm is
Mountain View, California
inappropriate (and even absurd)
Action: Set alarm
for this information query. This
User Intent: Find current
result completely Fails to Meet
weather information for
Alarm Time: 22:43:00
the user intent.
Mountain View, California.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [batman]
It is extremely unlikely
User Location: Anaheim,
(potentially a no-chance
California
interpretation) that this query is
looking for information on a city
User Intent: Find
in Turkey called Batman, given
information about the
that the user is located in the
fictional superhero that
United States. No or almost no
appears in American
users would be satisfied with this
comic books, movies, and
result.
television shows.
It is extremely unlikely
Query: [obama]
(potentially a no-chance
interpretation) that this query is
User Location: Austin,
looking for information on a city
Texas
in Japan called Obama, given
that the user is located in the
User Intent: Find
United States. No or almost no
information about Barack
users would be satisfied with this
Obama.
result.
Query: [weather paris,
texas]
This result completely fails to
satisfy the user intent, which is to
User Location: Paris,
find weather information for
Texas
Paris, Texas, and not Paris,
France. No users would be
User Intent: Find current
satisfied with this result.
weather information for
Paris, Texas.
Query: [what is the third
quarter earnings for ge]
This result does not answer the
User Location: New York,
user’s question to show third
New York
quarter earnings for GE. No
users would be satisfied with this
User Intent: Find this
result.
most recent third quarter
earnings information for
General Electric.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
This result reflects one of several
possible user intents, as the
query is also the name of a
Query: [city of angels]
movie, song, musical, and more.
User Location:
Since the user location is in
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago, very few or no users
would be interested in seeing
User Intent: Find
information about a school by
information about the
this name in Los Angeles that is
school, a movie by this
not well known outside of this
name, or some other entity
city. It is very unlikely that people
by this name.
outside of Los Angeles would
use this query to search for this
school.
This result block shows a go kart
Query: [go kart for sale]
arcade in Warrington,
Pennsylvania, and two other go
User Location:
kart arcades in the surrounding
Warrington, Pennsylvania
area. These arcades are places
to go ride go karts, not purchase
User Intent: Find go karts
them, so the result completely
for sale in the Warrington,
Fails to Meet the user intent . No
Pennsylvania area.
users would be satisfied with this
result.
Query: [ralphs]
User Location: San
Ralphs is a nationwide
Clemente, California
supermarket chain. These
locations are all in San Diego,
User Intent: There are
California, which is a major city
two possible user intents:
south of the user location (about
most users probably want
60 miles away). These results
to visit a nearby Ralphs
are too far to be helpful.
location or go to the
website.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Users issuing this query want to
go to the Amazon website.
Showing information about how
Query: [amazon]
to visit or call the corporate office
for an online company would not
User Location: Austin,
be helpful. Very, very few people
Texas
ever go to an Amazon corporate
office, which is not open to the
User Intent: Go to the
public. If someone needed to go
Amazon website.
to the office for an interview or
business visit, they would need
to get that information from
someone at the company or
would use a more specific query.
Query: [what is the closest
large city]
A news result is inappropriate
User Location: Myrtle
and completely unhelpful for this
Beach, South Carolina
query. No users would be
satisfied with this result.
User Intent: Find the
closest large city to Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina.
Query: [australian open
mens singles result 2008]
This LP is about the 2004
Australian Open, not the 2008
User Location: Kent,
Australian Open. It does not pay
Washington
attention to an aspect of the
query that is important for
User Intent: Find a page
satisfying user intent (i.e., 2008).
that displays the 2008
The result Fails to Meet the user
men’s singles result for
intent.
this tennis tournament.
Query: [tooth loss five
years old]
This LP has information about
tooth loss in pike fish and has the
User Location: Denton,
words “five years old” on the
Texas
page. This result Fails to Meet
the user intent because it has
User Intent: Find
keyword matches only and would
information about tooth
be helpful for no users.
loss in a five-year-old
child.
Query: [what is wedding in
spanish]
The translation in the result block
is completely wrong and
User Location: Denton,
inaccurate.
Texas
Mañana means “tomorrow,” not
User Intent: Find how to
“wedding.”
say the word “wedding” in
Spanish.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [american express]
The LP is a humorous blog post
User Location: Denton,
about a wife helping her husband
Texas
to buy a suit. The page mentions
“American Express,” but is
User Intent: Go to the
insufficiently related to the query
American Express card
to be helpful for users, so it Fails
website or get information
to Meet the user intent.
about the company and its
products and services.
Query: [how to quit
smoking]
This LP has gibberish text. Read
this sentence: “How do you make
User Location: Denton,
a cigarette symbol on the
Texas
keyboard? In.” The quality of the
landing page is so low that the
User Intent: Find
page Fails to Meet the user
information on ways to quit
intent.
smoking.
Query: [american beauty]
This is the official website of the
movie "American Beauty".
User Location: Mountain
However, the landing page is
View, California
extremely difficult to use (even
seems broken on a mobile
User Intent: Learn more
phone) and there is no satisfying
about the movie called
or helpful content on the page—it
"American Beauty".
Fails to Meet the user intent.
Query: [starting order for
today’s nascar race]
This result shows a NASCAR
User Location: Denton,
schedule, but does not have the
Texas
starting order. The content is not
what the user is looking for and
User Intent: Find
Fails to Meet the user intent.
information about the
starting order of the
Nascar race that day.
Remember that you should
Query: [air canada phone
check for the factual accuracy of
number]
answers. For this result, go to
the company’s page at
User Location: Seattle,
www.aircanada.com/en/customer
Washington
care/int/ and select USA to check the number shown here.
User Intent: Find the
According to the airline’s website,
customer service phone
the correct phone number is
number for the airline Air
1-888-247-2262. Because this
Canada.
answer is incorrect, it should be
rated Fails to Meet .
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Query: [obama news]
The MC of this page is an
example of a demonstrably
User Location: Norfolk,
inaccurate news report, including
Virginia
a fictitious quotation by Barack
Obama. Because the content is
User Intent: Find recent
presented as a factual news
news about Barack
article, it is inaccurate with an
Obama, the 44th president
intent to deceive users and
of the United States.
should be rated Fails to Meet.
Despite strong medical
consensus linking tobacco to
lung cancer—which can be found
at authoritative sources by
searching [lung cancer and
smoking]—this LP claims there is
Query: [does smoking
no connection between smoking
cause cancer]
and cancer by selectively
interpreting some experiments
User Location:
done on animals.
Scottsdale, Arizona
Additionally, this is a YMYL query
User Intent: Find out
on a medical topic, so accurate
whether smoking causes
and trustworthy information is
cancer.
highly important. This page
directly contradicts
well-established medical
consensus and may potentially
cause harm to users, so it should
be rated Fails to Meet.
Betty White was alive at the time
this example was written. This
LP is a social media profile page
Query: [betty white]
created by an unknown author
that was designed to look like a
User Location: Lexington,
memorial page for Betty White
Kentucky
and falsely states that she died.
This page is factually inaccurate
User Intent: Find
and deceptive to users, so it
information about the
should be rated Fails to Meet.
American actress Betty
White, such as
Remember: For informational
biographical info,
queries/results, it is important to
filmography, awards,
check other reputable sources to
current news, etc.
determine if the result is factually
accurate. A quick online search
for [betty white] would allow you
to confirm that she was still alive.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
Miley Cyrus was alive at the time
this example was written. This
LP is an article written by an
unknown author that was
designed to look like a news
story and falsely states that she
died. Furthermore, the page is
found on a low quality website,
Query: [miley cyrus]
and the article has not been
updated, clarified, or removed
User Location: Lexington,
even days after having been
Kentucky
proven false. This page is
factually inaccurate and
User Intent: Find
deceptive to users, so it should
information about the
be rated Fails to Meet .
American singer/actress
Miley Cyrus, such as
Remember: Just because a
biographical info,
website has the look and feel of
discography/filmography,
a traditional news site does NOT
current news, etc.
mean that you should consider
the reporting to be factually
accurate without further
research. Watch out for sites
that present themselves as
news, but were actually created
with the intent to mislead or
misinform users.
This query is seeking historical
information. The LP of this web
result is on a well-known white
supremacist hate site (read more
Query: [holocaust history]
here or here ). The discussion on this page is inaccurate and
User Location:
misleading, since the Holocaust
Cooperstown, New York
is an extremely well-documented
historical event.
User Intent: Find
historical information about
Remember: Pages that directly
the Holocaust.
contradict well-established
historical facts should be rated
Fails to Meet, unless the query
clearly indicates the user is
seeking an alternative viewpoint.
This LP is a blog post presenting
a factually unsupported
conspiracy theory that Angela
Query: [who is hitler's
Merkel is the daughter of Adolph
daughter]
Hitler. Because the MC is
inaccurate and misleading, it
User Location:
completely Fails to Meet the
Cooperstown, New York
user intent, even though the topic
of the page matches the query.
User Intent: Find the
name of or information
Note: A more helpful result for
about Adolf Hitler's
this query might confirm that
daughter, if Hitler in fact
Adolf Hitler had no children, or
had a daughter.
provide information on the novel
Hitler's Daughter by Jackie
French.
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Query and User Intent Result
Rating
Fails to Meet Explanation
This is a broad query seeking
information about Islam. The LP
was created for the purpose of
stating the author's opinion that
Islam is not a religion. The
Query: [islam]
author lacks expertise in the
topic; the writing has frequent
User Location: Lexington,
misspellings, typos, and
Kentucky
grammar errors; and the page
seems to exist to promote
User Intent: Find
intolerance or hate.
information about the
religion of Islam.
Remember: Upsetting or
offensive results for queries that
are not obviously seeking this
type of content should be rated
Fails to Meet.
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14.0 The Relationship between Page Quality and Needs Met
The Needs Met rating is based on both the query and the result. You must careful y think about the query and user intent when assigning a Needs Met rating.
The Page Quality rating slider does not depend on the query. Do not think about the query when assigning a Page Quality rating to the LP.
Some results don’t have a Page Quality slider. If a result block has no Page Quality rating slider, you do not have to give a Page Quality rating. If there is a Page Quality slider, please assign a Page Quality rating based on the landing page.
Here is some guidance about assigning Needs Met and Page Quality ratings:
●
Useless results should always be rated FailsM , even if the landing page has a high Page Quality rating. Useless is useless.
●
On-topic, helpful, but low Page Quality results should get lower Needs Met ratings than on-topic, helpful, and high Page Quality results. The Needs Met scale encompasses al aspects of “helpfulness,” and many users find low Page Quality results less helpful than high Page Quality results. Your ratings should reflect this.
●
The HM rating should be given to helpful, high Page Quality pages that are a good fit for the query. The HM
rating may also be used for results that are very helpful, medium quality, and have other very desirable characteristics, such as very recent information.
●
The HM rating may not be appropriate if a page has low Page Quality or has any other undesirable characteristics, such as outdated or inaccurate information, or if it is a poor fit for the query. We have very high standards for the HM rating.
●
SM is often an appropriate rating for low quality but on-topic pages. However, a page can have such low Page Quality that it is useless for nearly al queries. Gibberish pages are a good example of pages with low Page Quality that should be rated FailsM . An exception to this is queries with clear website intent, where the target website should be rated FullyM even if the page has low Page Quality.
●
Remember that if a page lacks a beneficial purpose, it should always be rated Lowest Page Quality - regardless of the page’s Needs Met rating or how wel -designed the page may be. Please review Section 7.0 for a summary of other types of Lowest Page Quality pages.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
Needs Met : This page would be
helpful for few users.
Page Quality : Read this content
out loud. The article on the LP is
shallow and unintentionally
humorous. The MC has four
paragraphs of text, but it basically
Query: [how do electric
says that electric cars use
cars work]
electricity and have to be
charged. The page also lacks
User Location: Dallas,
E-A-T. Low is an appropriate
Texas
rating.
User Intent: Find
Needs Met : The query asks how
information about how
electric cars work, but the article
electric cars work.
on the LP is about mobility
scooters.
Page Quality : There is a lot of
helpful MC on the landing page
on Wikipedia.org. The page has
high E-A-T. Medium+ to High is
an appropriate rating.
Needs Met : Even though the
article is topical, the information is
not reliable and potentially
misleading or dangerous.
Page Quality : This is a YMYL
Query: [symptoms of
topic. This page has no evidence
dehydration]
of medical expertise/authority and
is not trustworthy.
User Location:
Memphis, Tennessee
User Intent: Find
information about the
symptoms of
Needs Met : This result would be
dehydration.
very helpful for most users.
Page Quality : This is a YMYL
topic. This page is on a highly
authoritative medical website and
has a lot of reliable and accurate
MC. This page is very
trustworthy.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
Needs Met : This block shows the
number of octaves on a piano, not
a guitar. Even though this SCRB
Query: [how many
has a link to a high quality landing
octaves on a guitar]
page about pianos, it is irrelevant
to the query. Useless results are
User Location:
useless. This result Fails to Meet
Cleveland, Ohio
the user intent.
User Intent: Find out the
Page Quality : There is a lot of
number of octaves on a
helpful MC on the landing page.
guitar.
The page has medium to high
E-A-T. Medium+ to High is an
appropriate rating.
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15.0 Rating Porn, Foreign Language, Did Not Load, and Upsetting-Offensive Results You wil assign Porn , Foreign Language , Did Not Load , and Upsetting-Offensive flags to result blocks when appropriate. Some rating tasks may ask you to identify Not-for-Everyone results. Al flags are query-independent, meaning that they do not depend on the query. Here is a screenshot of the flags:
Click on the flag name to select it. The flag block wil turn red and change the “No” to “Yes.” For example, here is a result that shows when the Porn flag should be used.
Query and User Intent Result Block, Needs Met Rating, Flag
Explanation
Query: [freeones],
English (US)
This LP is the homepage
of the Freeones website,
User Location:
a porn site.
Mountain View,
California
This result merits a
FullyM rating and the
User Intent: Go to the
Porn flag.
Freeones website.
15.1 Porn Flag
Please assign the Porn flag to al porn pages, whether the query is porn-seeking or not. The Porn flag does not depend on the query or user intent.
This flag should be used if the content inside the result block, or the content on the LP, is pornographic, including porn images, links, text, pop-ups, and/or prominent porn ads. An image may be considered porn in one culture or country, but not another. Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
Remember : The Porn flag is used to indicate that the result is porn. It doesn’t matter whether the query “asks for porn”.
15.2 Needs Met Rating for Porn Results
15.2.1 Needs Met Rating for Clear Non-Porn Intent Queries
If the user intent is clearly not porn-seeking, a landing page that has porn for its MC should be rated Fails to Meet .
●
When the user intent is clearly not porn, a porn result should be considered unhelpful or useless.
●
Uninvited porn is a very bad experience for many users.
The fol owing queries should be considered non-porn intent queries: [girls], [wives], [mature women], [gay people], [people kissing], [boy speedos], [moms and sons], [pictures of girls], [pictures of women], [mothers and daughters], [cheerleaders], etc.
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Remember to assign the Porn flag for al porn pages. Use your judgment and represent users in your locale .
Query
User Intent
Landing Page
Rating
Porn Flag?
Example
[toys], English (US)
Find toys to buy.
FailsM
Yes
Warning – this page is porn.
Find the answer to this
Example
[how tall is a camel], English (US)
FailsM
Yes
question about camels.
Warning – this page is porn.
Example
[car pictures], English (US)
Find pictures of cars.
FailsM
Yes
Warning – this page is porn.
15.2.2 Needs Met Rating for Possible Porn Intent Queries
Some queries have both non-porn and porn interpretations. For example, the fol owing English (US) queries have both a non-porn and an erotic or porn interpretation: [breast], [sex]. We wil cal these queries “possible porn intent” queries.
For "possible porn intent" queries, please rate as if the non-porn interpretation were dominant, even though some or many users may be looking for porn. For example, please rate the English (US) query [breast] assuming a dominant health or anatomy information intent.
Query
User Intent
Landing Page
Rating
Porn flag?
Find anatomy or health
[breasts], English (US)
Example
HM
No
information about breasts.
Find anatomy or health
Example
[breasts], English (US)
FailsM
Yes
information about breasts.
Warning – this page is porn.
15.2.3 Needs Met Rating for Clear Porn Intent Queries
For very clear porn intent queries, assign a rating to the porn landing page based on how helpful it is for the user. Even though there is porn intent, the page should stil be assigned a Porn flag.
Do not simply rate al porn pages for porn queries as MM or HM . Even though the query is porn and the result is porn, the page must fit the query and be helpful to get a high Needs Met rating.
Pages that provide a poor user experience, such as pages that try to download malicious software, should also receive low ratings, even if they have some images appropriate for the query.
Query
User Intent
Landing Page
Rating
Porn Flag?
Example:
Navigate to the Freeones
[freeones], English (US)
http://www.freeones.com
FullyM
Yes
homepage.
Warning – this page is porn.
Example:
Navigate to the Freeones
[freeones], English (US)
http://www.baberoad.com
FailsM
Yes
homepage.
Warning – this page is porn.
Example
[anime sex pictures], English (US) Find anime sex pictures.
MM to HM
Yes
Warning – this page is porn.
Find porn pictures of
Example
[cheerleader porn], English (US)
MM to HM
Yes
cheerleaders.
Warning – this page is porn.
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15.3 Reporting Illegal Images
Child Pornography
Note: When working on rating projects in any task location or locale, you must fol ow United States federal law, which considers child pornography to be il egal.
Definition of Child Pornography
An image is child pornography if it is a visual depiction of someone who appears to be a minor (i.e., under 18 years old) engaged in sexual y explicit conduct (e.g., vaginal or anal intercourse, oral sex, bestiality or masturbation as wel as lascivious depictions of the genitals), or sadistic or masochistic abuse. The image of sexual y explicit conduct can involve a real child; a computer-generated, morphed, composite or otherwise altered image that appears to be a child (think of images that have been altered using “Photoshop”); or an adult who appears to be a child; and the image can be non-photographic (e.g., drawings, cartoons, anime, paintings, or sculptures) so long as the subject is engaging in sexual y explicit conduct that is obscene. If it is indistinguishable from child pornography, it is child pornography.
Even if the pornographic image depicts children in a literary (think of the famous book "Lolita"), political (think of political cartoons), artistic, or scientific context, please send the link to your employer/company as instructed below.
Depiction of the genitals does not require the genitals to be uncovered. Thus, for example, a video of underage teenage girls dancing erotical y, with multiple close-up shots of their covered genitals, or images of children with opaque underwear that focus on the genitalia could be considered child pornography.
An image of a naked child (e.g., in the bathtub or at a nudist colony) is not considered child pornography as long as the child is not engaging in sexual y explicit conduct, or the focus is not on the child’s genitalia. Visual depictions of adults who look like children (e.g., a 35-year-old man play-acting in diapers, or an obvious woman dressed as a school girl) are not child pornography. If you don't think it's a minor, it probably isn’t child pornography. However, if you cannot tel that the person in the image is over 18 (e.g., an under-developed 18-year-old whose body hair has been waxed), that is child pornography.
Reporting Instructions
Please report images containing child pornography (URLs only) as instructed by your employer/company .
15.4 Foreign Language Flag
15.4.1 Using the Foreign Language Flag
Please assign the Foreign Language flag when the language on the landing page is NOT one of the fol owing:
●
The task language
●
A language that is commonly used by a significant percentage of the population in the task location
●
English
For example, most Catalan-speaking users in Spain also speak Spanish. Therefore, for rating tasks in Catalan (ES), the Foreign Language flag should NOT be assigned to landing pages in Catalan, Spanish, or English.
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Here is a screenshot of a result block that shows when the Foreign Language flag would be used.
Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Flag Explanation
This LP is the homepage
Query: [baidu]
of the Baidu website.
The result is the target
Locale: English (US)
page of the query, but is
in a foreign language
User Location:
(Chinese).
Anchorage, Alaska
This result merits a
User Intent: Go to the
FullyM rating and the
Baidu website.
Foreign Language flag.
Important :
●
Please assign the Foreign Language flag even if you personal y understand the language, but most users in your locale do not.
●
Please assign the Foreign Language flag based on the language of the landing page, not the appearance of the result block.
●
Please remember to flag al foreign pages with the Foreign Language flag, even if most users in your locale would expect or want a foreign language page for the query.
●
Sometimes it is difficult to determine what language the landing page is in. The LP may have multiple languages or no words at al . In these cases, try to represent users in your locale. Does it feel like a foreign language page?
When in doubt, don’t use the Foreign Language flag.
15.4.2 Needs Met Rating for Foreign Language Results
You must assign a Needs Met rating for al result blocks in your task, even if the result blocks have a foreign language landing page.
In most cases, pages you flag as Foreign Language should be rated FailsM , because they cannot be understood by most users in your locale and are therefore useless. Remember that if users in your locale can read the language, then you shouldn’t be using the Foreign Language flag. Occasional y, you wil encounter helpful Foreign Language pages.
If the query clearly indicates that most users would expect or want a foreign language result, then the Needs Met rating of the foreign language page should not be FailsM . For example, please assign the FullyM rating and Foreign Language flag for baidu.com if the query is [baidu.com], English (US).
Videos are often an example where foreign language pages are helpful and desired. Think about user intent and what pages are good for users. If the query “asks” for a foreign language song, band, film, sporting event, etc., then a video of the song, band, film, sporting event, etc. is helpful since it can probably be understood or enjoyed even though it is in a foreign language. For these types of queries, foreign language results are often expected.
If the video is someone talking about the song, band, film, or event, the result probably cannot be understood or enjoyed and should be assigned a FailsM rating and the Foreign Language flag.
Note: If you are unable to evaluate the Page Quality rating of a Foreign Language result, you do not need to assign a Page Quality rating and can leave the slider at N/A .
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Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [video of celine dion
singing s’il suffisait d’aimer]
This video is just what English (US) users are
Locale: English (US)
looking for, even though the video is not in
English. The language of the LP is mostly
User Location: Lansing,
English (even though the video is in French), so
Michigan
the Foreign Language flag is not needed.
User Intent: Watch a video of
Celine Dion singing this song.
Query: [alex c]
The query is for the German composer, Alex C.
The landing page has a video with one of his
Locale: English (US)
songs sung by Y-ass (misspelled as “Yass” in
the YouTube title) in German. It would be
User Location: Davenport, Iowa
helpful for some or many English (US) users
who type the query, even though it is not in User Intent: Watch a video or
English. The language of the landing page isn’t
listen to a song by this German
clear. Use your judgment when deciding
composer or find information
whether to assign the Foreign Language flag.
about him.
Query: [kasal, kasali, kasalo]
The query is for “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo,” a
Locale: English (US)
Filipino film. The LP is a clip from the movie in
Filipino (Tagalog), the language spoken in the
User Location: Daly City,
Philippines. It would be helpful for many
California
English (US) users who type the query, even
though it is not in English. Use your judgment
User Intent: Watch a trailer of
when deciding whether to assign the Foreign
this Filipino film or find information
Language flag.
about it.
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15.5 Did Not Load Flag
15.5.1 Using the Did Not Load Flag
Did Not Load is used to indicate technical problems with the webpage that prevent users from viewing any LP content.
Use the Did Not Load flag when:
●
The MC of the landing page is a web server or web application error message and there is no other content on the page: no navigation links, no home link, no SC, and no Ads. See here for a Wikipedia page on different types of error messages.
●
The landing page is completely blank: no MC, no SC, and no Ads.
Assign the Did Not Load flag based on the landing page, not the result block.
Here is an example of a Did Not Load landing page. You cannot tel that the landing page doesn’t load by looking at the result block.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Flag
Explanation
Query: [douglas instruments]
This page displays a generic 404
message. There is no MC, SC, or
User Location: South Bend,
Ads on the page.
Indiana
This result merits a FailsM rating
User Intent: Navigate to the
and the Did Not Load flag.
homepage of this website.
Here are screenshots of other types of landing pages that should be assigned the Did Not Load flag: DNL1 , DNL2 .
You should not use the Did Not Load flag for:
●
Malware warnings, such as “Warning – visiting this site may harm your computer!” ( example ).
●
Pages that have removed or expired MC (e.g., expired classified listing, removed social media post, products or services unavailable).
●
Pages that are inaccessible because you need a subscription to view the MC.
15.5.2 Needs Met Rating and the Did Not Load Flag
Al result blocks must be given a Needs Met rating. If the landing page truly doesn’t load, assign the Did Not Load flag and rate the page FailsM . True Did Not Load pages are useless.
Sometimes the page partial y loads or has an error message. Give Needs Met ratings based on how helpful the result is for the query. Error messages can be customized by the webmaster and are part of a wel -functioning website.
Sometimes these pages are helpful for the query.
Note: If you are unable to evaluate the Page Quality rating of a Did Not Load result, you do not need to assign a Page Quality rating and can leave the slider at N/A .
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Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality
Query and User Intent
Explanation
Rating, Flags
Needs Met : The MC has an error
message, but the LP has a lot of SC.
Query: [boys pink snow
However, the page has no information
shoes]
about boys pink snow shoes and is
unhelpful for the query.
User Location: South
Bend, Indiana
Page Quality : This LP is on a well-known,
reputable merchant website. Despite the
User Intent: Find
error message, this page does a nice job
information about or
of explaining the issue and providing a
purchase boys’ snow
search box, including helpful search tips
shoes.
and customer service information.
Do not assign the Did Not Load flag.
Needs Met : In spite of the customized “No
results found” message on the LP, it has
links to all passages in the Bible, organized
Query: [bible passages]
by book. It would be very helpful for most
users.
User Location: South
Bend, Indiana
Page Quality : This page is a well-known,
reputable reference website. In addition to
User Intent: Find
links to all passages in the Bible, this error
specific passages in the
page provides a search box as well as a
Bible.
suggestion explaining how to refine
searches.
Do not assign the Did Not Load flag.
Query: [broadway
tickets]
Clicking on this result block leads to a
User Location: Nyack,
malware warning. You can assume that
New York
the page is malicious without continuing to
the page. As discussed in Sections 7.4.2
User Intent: This is a
and 13.6, you should assign a FailsM
Know query or Do
Needs Met rating and Lowest Page
query. The user wants
Quality rating.
to search prices and/or
purchase tickets to a
Do not assign the Did Not Load flag.
Broadway show in New
York City.
Query: [paranormal
activity]
This page cannot be reached because the
site's server IP address was not found.
User Location: Santa
There is no MC, SC, or Ads on the page.
Rosa, California
This result merits a FailsM Needs Met
User Intent: Learn more
rating, and no Page Quality rating is
about the 2007 film
required.
Paranormal Activity or
the associated film
Assign the Did Not Load flag.
series.
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15.6 Upsetting-Offensive Flag
The Internet contains al sorts of content, including content that many users find offensive or upsetting. People of al ages, genders, races, religions, and political affiliations use the Internet to understand the world and other points of view. Users may issue queries on sensitive topics to understand why people believe, say, or do upsetting or offensive things. Search engines exist to al ow users to find the information they are looking for.
Please assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag to al results that contain upsetting or offensive content from the perspective of users in your locale, even if the result satisfies the user intent.
In addition, some rating tasks may ask you to identify Not-for-Everyone results in order to flag content that you feel may be uncomfortable for some users.
15.6.1 Using the Upsetting-Offensive Flag
Assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag to results that contain upsetting or offensive content, whether the content is inside the result block or on the LP. Please represent users in your locale and use your judgment to determine what constitutes upsetting or offensive content. As a general rule of thumb, Upsetting-Offensive results contain content that is so upsetting or offensive that it should only be shown if the query is explicitly seeking this type of content.
Upsetting-Offensive content typical y includes the fol owing:
●
Content that promotes hate or violence against a group of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
●
Content with racial slurs or extremely offensive terminology without context or beneficial purpose.
●
Depiction of graphic violence without context or beneficial purpose.
●
Explicit how-to information about harmful activities (e.g., how-tos on human trafficking or violent assault).
●
Other types of content that users in your locale would find extremely upsetting or offensive.
Important: Please think about the purpose of the page and how the content is presented when determining whether to assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag. There are many results around the web that focus on sensitive topics such as child abuse, violence, or racism; however, you should assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag based on the purpose, type, and/or presentation of the content on the page —not because the topic itself is sensitive or potential y upsetting.
For example, a result with content that encourages child abuse should be flagged as Upsetting-Offensive . However, an accurate informational page about child abuse (such as child abuse statistics, prevention, how to recognize signs of abuse, etc.) should not be flagged, even though child abuse itself is a sensitive topic that users may find upsetting.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Flags
Explanation
This result is a discussion of how
to convince others that the
Holocaust never happened.
Because of the direct relationship
between Holocaust denial and
anti-Semitism, many people
would consider it offensive.
Query: [holocaust
history]
This result should receive the Upsetting-Offensive flag,
Locale: English (US)
regardless of what the query was.
User Location: New
While the Holocaust itself is a
York, NY
potentially upsetting topic for
some, this result is a factually
User Intent: Find
accurate source of historical
historical information
information. Furthermore, the
about the Holocaust.
page does not exist to promote
hate or violence against a group
of people, contain racial slurs, or
depict graphic violence.
Do NOT assign the
Upsetting-Offensive flag,
regardless of what the query was.
The purpose of this page is to
argue that black people are
inferior. It falsely represents a
Query: [racism against
scientific study, and many people
blacks]
would consider it offensive.
Locale: English (US)
This result should receive the Upsetting-Offensive flag,
User Location: New
regardless of what the query was.
York, New York
User Intent: Find
This Wikipedia page provides a
information, news, or
well-informed and historically
other resources about
accurate overview of racism and
racism against Black
ethnic discrimination in the U.S.
people.
Do NOT assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag,
regardless of what the query was.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Flags
Explanation
The purpose of this page is to
explain the author's belief that
Islam is evil. The page seems to
exist to promote intolerance or
hate, and the content would likely
Query: [islam]
offend many people.
Locale: English (US)
This result should receive the
Upsetting-Offensive flag,
User Location: New
regardless of what the query was.
York, New York
User Intent: Find
This is a high-quality article on a
information about the
reputable site, with an accurate
religion of Islam.
summary of the major beliefs and
practices of Islam.
Do NOT assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag,
regardless of what the query was.
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15.6.2 Needs Met Rating for Upsetting-Offensive Tolerant Queries
Remember that people of al ages, genders, races, religions, and political affiliations use search engines for a variety of needs. One especial y important user need is exploring subjects that may be difficult to discuss in person. For example, some people may hesitate to ask what racial slurs mean. People may also want to understand why certain racial y offensive statements are made. Giving users access to resources that help them understand racism, hatred, and other sensitive topics is beneficial to society.
When the user's query seems to either ask for or tolerate potential y upsetting or offensive content, we wil cal the query a
"Upsetting-Offensive tolerant query". For the purpose of Needs Met rating, please assume that users have a dominant educational/informational intent for Upsetting-Offensive tolerant queries. Al results should be rated on the Needs Met rating scale assuming a genuine educational/informational intent.
In particular, to receive a Highly Meets rating, informational results about Upsetting-Offensive topics must: 1. Be found on highly trustworthy, factual y accurate, and credible sources, unless the query clearly indicates the user is seeking an alternative viewpoint.
2. Address the specific topic of the query so that users can understand why it is upsetting or offensive and what the sensitivities involved are.
Important:
●
Do not assume that Upsetting-Offensive tolerant queries "deserve" offensive results.
●
Do not assume Upsetting-Offensive tolerant queries are issued by people who hold upsetting or offensive views.
●
Do not assume users are merely seeking to validate an offensive or upsetting perspective.
Here are some examples of how to interpret user intent for queries about possibly Upsetting-Offensive topics.
Query
User Intent and Explanation
Users may want to understand why there is discrimination against women or why people
[are women evil], English (US)
may say "women are evil".
Assume the intent for this statement is the same as the question, "are women evil?"
[women are evil], English (US)
Users may want to understand why people would say "women are evil".
Users want factually accurate information about the Holocaust or information about the
[did the holocaust happen?], English (US) issue of Holocaust denial.
Users are looking for information about how Christians and the Christian church view the
[christians worship the devil], English (US) devil and whether Christians worship the devil.
[racist whites], [racist blacks], (etc.),
Users are looking for information about racism among people belonging to the ethnicity English (US)
mentioned in the query.
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Here are some ful rating examples. Remember that you should assign the Upsetting-Offensive flag to al upsetting/offensive results, even if they satisfy the user intent.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating, Flags
Query: [holocaust history]
Locale: English (US)
User Location: Seattle,
Washington
User Intent: Find historical
information about the Holocaust.
Important: Though there are
some upsetting/offensive results
on the topic of this query, the
query [holocaust history] should
not be considered an
Upsetting-Offensive tolerant
query.
Query: [stormfront.org]
Locale: English (US)
User Location: New York, New
York
User Intent: Go to the homepage
of the website Stormfront.org.
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16.0 Rating Queries with Multiple Interpretations and Intents
Some queries real y only have one meaning. Consider the query [iphone], English (US). There may be different user intents for this query (research iPhones, buy an iPhone, go to the iPhone page on Apple’s website), but al users are basical y referring to the same thing: the phone made by Apple, Inc.
Some queries truly have different possible meanings. Consider the query [apple], English (US). Some users may want to find more information on the computer brand or the fruit. We refer to these different meanings as query interpretations.
When giving Needs Met ratings for results involving different query interpretations, think about how likely the query interpretation is and how helpful the result is.
●
A very helpful result for a dominant interpretation should be rated Highly Meets , because it is very helpful for many or most users. Some queries with a dominant interpretation have a FullyM result.
●
A very helpful result for a common interpretation may be Highly Meets or Moderately Meets , depending on how likely the interpretation is.
●
A very helpful result for a very minor interpretation may be Slightly Meets or lower because few users may be interested in that interpretation.
●
There are some interpretations that are so unlikely that results should be rated FailsM . We cal these “no chance” interpretations.
16.1 Rating Queries with Both Website and Visit-in-Person Intent
Some queries have two possible strong intents:
1. Go to the website intent: in order to, for example, find out information, buy something online, make a reservation, schedule an appointment, interact with customer support, or fulfil some other need that can be satisfied online 2. Visit-in-person intent: user wants to visit the store, business, etc. in person We know the user intent is to accomplish one or the other, but it is unclear which one the user wants. For these queries, result blocks that only satisfy one intent should NOT get a Fully Meets rating.
Query and User Intent Result Block and LP
Needs Met Rating and Explanation
Query: [target]
The result block shows three popular
User Location:
Target locations in Jacksonville, with
Jacksonville, Florida
information that is especially helpful
for users who want to visit the store.
User Intent: There are
This fulfills the user intent to find a
two possible strong user
nearby Target location.
intents: most users
probably want to visit a
nearby Target location or
go to the website to shop
online, research
products, find prices, etc.
The result is very satisfying and fulfills
the user intent to shop online or
otherwise use the website.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP
Needs Met Rating and Explanation
Query: [dmv]
User Location:
The result block shows two nearby
Belmont, California
DMV locations, with information that is
especially helpful for users who want
User Intent: There are
to visit the locations. This fulfills the
two possible strong user
user intent to find a nearby DMV
intents: most users
location.
probably want to visit a
nearby DMV location or
go to the DMV website
to renew a license, pay a
fee, find some
information, etc.
The result is very satisfying and fulfills
the user intent to find information or
otherwise use the website (e.g., to
review a license, pay a fee).
Query: [citibank]
The result block shows three nearby
Citibank locations in the user location
User Location: Palo
of Palo Alto. The information is
Alto, California
especially helpful for users who want
to visit the bank. This fulfills the user
User Intent: There are
intent to find a nearby Citibank
two possible strong user
location.
intents: most users
probably want to visit a
nearby Citibank location
or go to the website to
bank online.
The result is very satisfying and fulfills
the user intent to do online banking or
otherwise use the website.
17.0 Specificity of Queries and Landing Pages
Some queries are very general and some queries are specific. Here are some examples that compare levels of specificity of English (US) queries:
Query
More Specific Query
Even More Specific Query
[chair]
[dining room chair]
[ikea “henriksdal” highback upholstered chair]
[library]
[harvard library]
[harvard anthropology library]
[interview questions]
[interview questions for teachers] [practice interview questions used for teach for america]
[restaurants]
[chinese restaurants]
[takeout chinese restaurants in downtown Austin]
[coffee shops]
[starbucks]
[red rock coffee mountain view]
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Results for specific queries are easier to rate on the Needs Met scale because we know more about what the user is looking for. Giving a Needs Met rating for results for general queries can be difficult. As always, your rating is based on how helpful the result is for the query, not the specificity fit.
When the query is a broad category, such as [cafes] [restaurants] [hotels] [books] [tourist attractions in paris] etc., popular and prominent examples may be considered very helpful. Please do web research to help you understand what is popular and prominent in different locations.
Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
Even though there are many options, a
page for an individual company that offers
different cards could be very helpful.
Needs Met : This LP is more specific than
the query, but could still be helpful for
many or most users because Visa is a
popular credit card company.
Page Quality : Visa is a credit card
company with high E-A-T that offers
services for credit cards, banking, etc. and
has a good reputation. High+ to Highest
is an appropriate rating.
Even though there are many options, a
page for an individual company that offers
different cards could be very helpful.
Needs Met : This LP is more specific than
the query, but could still be helpful for
many or most users because Discover is a
Query: [credit cards]
popular credit card company.
User Location:
Page Quality : Discover is a company with
Phoenix, Arizona
high E-A-T that offers services for credit
cards, banking, etc. with a good reputation.
User Intent: Users are
High+ to Highest is an appropriate rating.
probably looking to sign
up for a credit card
This page offers a list of top credit cards in
online, or want to
a variety of categories.
research credit cards
before signing up.
Needs Met : This LP fits the query. It
would be helpful for most users.
Page Quality : This website helps
consumers make money decisions. It has
a good reputation, high E-A-T, and has
been recommended by several major
newspapers. High is an appropriate
rating.
This page describes a credit card that
requires union membership.
Needs Met : Since the credit card requires
union membership, the page would be
helpful for some users.
Page Quality : This company is an expert
on its own credit card, which is issued by
HSBC Bank, a financial services
organization with a good reputation and
high E-A-T. High is an appropriate rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
This is a popular travel aggregator website,
and the hotel page on the site can help
users find hotels in the U.S. Users can
read reviews, compare hotels, or make a
reservation.
Needs Met : This LP fits the query. It
would be very helpful for most users.
Page Quality : Orbitz is a popular website
with high E-A-T and a good reputation.
High is an appropriate rating.
This is a very popular hotel chain with
hotels available in the majority of the U.S.
at many different price points.
Even though the list of possible hotel
chains is long, the homepage of an
individual chain that offers different prices,
features, and location options could be
very helpful.
Query: [hotels]
Needs Met : This LP is more specific than
User Location:
the query, but it would still be helpful for
Jacksonville, Florida
many or most users because the Marriott
is a popular chain of hotels.
User Intent: Users are
probably planning a trip,
Page Quality : The Marriott website gives
but this query is very
information on Marriott hotels, a popular
general and vague.
chain of hotels. Marriott has a good
reputation and is an expert on Marriott
hotels, making the information on this page
highly authoritative. High+ to Highest is
an appropriate rating.
This is the webpage of the Marriott
Courtyard hotel in Emeryville, California.
Needs Met : The LP is too specific for the
query, but this is a well-known brand and
users can navigate to other Marriott hotels
from this page. Few users would find this
page helpful.
Page Quality : The Marriott website gives
information on Marriott hotels, a popular
chain of hotels. Marriott has a good
reputation and is an expert on Marriott
hotels, making the information on this page
highly authoritative. High+ to Highest is
an appropriate rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
Needs Met : The result block shows three
popular Target locations in Jacksonville,
with information that is especially helpful
for users who want to visit the store.
No Page Quality rating
required
The LP is the Target website.
Needs Met : The result is very satisfying
Query: [target]
for mobile users that want to go to the
website.
User Location:
Jacksonville, Florida
Page Quality : Target is a popular
shopping website in the U.S. with high
User Intent: Go to
E-A-T and is trusted by users for online
target.com or find a
purchases. High to High+ is an
nearby Target store.
appropriate rating.
The LP is the “store locator” page on the
Target website.
Needs Met : The LP is more specific than
the query, but many or most users would
be interested in this page.
Page Quality : Target is the expert about
where its stores are located. This page is
the most authoritative page on this topic.
High to Highest is an appropriate rating.
The LP is the “electronics” page on the
Target website.
Needs Met : The LP is more specific than
the query, but many or most users would
be interested in this page.
Page Quality : Target is a popular
shopping website in the U.S. with high
E-A-T and is trusted by users for online
purchases. High to High+ is an
appropriate rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
Needs Met: While this result block has
some helpful content, most people
searching for Target are not looking for
the stock price or the names of the CEO
and Founder. Slightly Meets
Query: [target]
to Slightly Meets+ is an appropriate
rating.
User Location:
Jacksonville, Florida
User Intent: Go to
target.com or find a
No Page Quality rating
nearby Target store.
required
The LP on the Target website is for a
specific type of women’s pants.
Needs Met : The LP is much more specific
than the query and would be helpful for
very few users.
Page Quality : Target is a popular
shopping website in the U.S. with high
E-A-T and is trusted by users for online
purchases. High to High+ is an
appropriate rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
This LP has many chicken recipes (with
reviews) on a popular recipe website.
Needs Met : This LP fits the query. It
would be very helpful for most users.
Page Quality : Food Network is a popular
website with high E-A-T and a good
reputation for providing high quality recipes
and cooking information. High+ to
Highest is an appropriate rating.
This LP has a single recipe for chicken
parmesan.
Needs Met : This is a popular type of
chicken recipe on a popular website, but
the LP is more specific than the query.
Some or few users would find this page
helpful.
Query: [chicken recipes]
Page Quality : Food Network is a popular
website with high E-A-T and a good
User Location: Austin,
reputation for providing high quality recipes
Texas
and cooking information. High+ to
Highest is an appropriate rating.
User Intent: Users
probably want to make a
This LP has over 25 recipes for fried
chicken dish and are
chicken, a popular chicken dish.
looking for some recipes
to choose from. Users
Needs Met : Even though there are over 25
probably expect and
different recipes on the LP, they are all for
want a list of recipes.
the same basic dish. Therefore, this LP is
also more specific than the query. Some
or few users would find this page helpful.
Page Quality : Allrecipes.com is a popular
website with high E-A-T and a good
reputation for providing high quality recipes
with lots of reviews. High+ to Highest is
an appropriate rating.
This is a fake search page for chicken
recipes.
Needs Met : It should be rated FailsM as it
would be helpful for no users.
Page Quality : Ads should never disguise
themselves as the MC of the page. Pages
with Ads that are designed to look like MC
do not have a beneficial purpose. Since
this page deceives users, it should receive
the Lowest rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
This LP is the official website for the
museum store.
Needs Met : The result is very satisfying for
mobile users that want to go to the
website.
Page Quality : This is the website of a
popular museum store with a good
reputation and high E-A-T. The museum is
the expert on information about the store,
including hours, phone numbers,
membership information, etc. High+ to
Highest is an appropriate rating.
Query: [smithsonian air
and space museum
store]
User Location:
Washington, DC
Needs Met : While the result is about the
museum, the hours, address, and
User Intent: Go to the
directions are the same as the museum
store website or find
store. This information is helpful for users
information, such as
searching for the store.
opening hours, about the
museum’s store in
Washington, DC.
No Page Quality rating
required
This LP has information about how to
volunteer at the museum.
Needs Met : The LP is more specific than
the query and would be helpful for few
users.
Page Quality : This is the volunteer page
for a popular museum with a good
reputation and high E-A-T. The museum is
the expert on their own volunteer
opportunities. High+ to Highest is an
appropriate rating.
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Query and User Intent Result Block & LP, Needs Met & Page Quality Ratings Explanation
Query: [smithsonian air
and space museum
store]
User Location:
Washington, DC
Needs Met : This is not the museum
requested in the query so the result Fails
User Intent: Go to the
to Meet the user intent.
store website or find
information, such as
opening hours, about the
museum’s store in
Washington, DC.
No Page Quality rating
required
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18.0 Needs Met Rating and Freshness
Some queries demand very recent or “fresh” information. Users may be looking for “breaking news,” such as an important event or natural disaster happening right now. Here are different types of queries demanding current/recent results.
Type of Query
Example Queries
Explanation
Assume users need the information right away.
“Breaking news” queries [tornado], [tsunami]
Imagine someone who needs immediate weather information because
a big storm is coming. Information about last year's weather would
not be helpful.
Assume users are looking for the most recent or current information
about the event.
Recurring event queries,
[olympics], [american idol],
such as elections, sports
For example, if the Olympics are happening right now, users
[redsox schedule], [tax forms],
events, TV shows,
searching [olympics] want information about the current Olympics, not
[elections]
conferences, etc.
results from years ago. If the next Olympics are a few months away, users are probably interested in the
upcoming Olympics.
[population of paris], [amount of
Current information
Assume users are looking for the most current information, such as
u.s. debt], [airfare from ny to sfo],
queries
prices or airfare.
[next federal holiday]
[iphone], [toyota camry], [windows Assume users are looking for information about the most recent Product queries
operating system]
model/version for these product queries.
When a query demands recent content, only pages with current, recent, or updated content should get high Needs Met ratings. For these queries, pages about past events, old product models and prices, outdated information, etc. are not helpful. They should be considered “stale” and given low Needs Met ratings. In some cases, stale results are useless and should be rated FailsM .
For some queries, there may be “newsy” or recent information user intent, as wel as more “timeless” information user intent. Users issuing queries for celebrities or politicians may be interested in biographical information, or users may be looking for the latest news or gossip.
Freshness is general y less of a concern for Page Quality rating. “Stale” pages can have high Page Quality ratings. For example, some highly reputable news websites maintain “archival” content. However, unmaintained/abandoned “old”
websites or unmaintained and inaccurate/misleading content is a reason for a low Page Quality rating.
Note : The date the page was created may be different from when the content was last updated or modified. When content is updated, the page wil sometimes show the date of the update, not the date the page was created. Some websites always show the current date, regardless of when the content was last updated. If you are curious about the content of a page, see here to try the “Wayback Machine” on the Internet Archive. Not al pages are available, but this tool may help you understand how some pages were created and how their content has changed over time.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
Query: [nasa mars
This LP has an article about the
landing]
“Curiosity” rover landing,
published on the same day as the
User Location: San
landing, which is the day this
Francisco, California
example was written.
User Intent: On the date
this example was
written, NASA had just
landed the “Curiosity”
rover on Mars. Most
This LP has an article about the
users are probably
launching of the “Curiosity” rover,
looking for breaking
published nine months before its
news and pictures about
landing on Mars. The content on
the event.
this page would be considered
stale for the query.
Query: [los angeles
This LP shows traffic conditions in
traffic]
Los Angeles on August 7, 2012,
which is the day this example was
User Location: Los
written.
Angeles, California
User Intent: Users are
looking for current
information about traffic
conditions in Los
Angeles. Even pages
This LP shows traffic conditions in
about traffic conditions
Los Angeles on August 6, 2012.
the day before would be
It is stale and useless for the
considered stale for the
query even though it is only one
query.
day old.
Query: [nobel peace
This LP on the New York Times
prize winner]
website has information about the
most recent winner of this prize,
User Location: San
based on the date when this
Diego, California
example was written.
User Intent: Find the
name of the most recent
winner of this prize. This
is a Know Simple query.
At the time this example
was originally written,
This LP on the BBC website has
2011 was the most
information about the 2006 winner
recent year that the
of this prize. This page is stale
Nobel Peace Prize was
for the query.
awarded.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
Query: [arthritis]
Medline Plus is an authoritative
User Location:
website that regularly updates its
Philadelphia,
content.
Pennsylvania
User Intent : Users are
looking for information
about this disease.
Because there is
ongoing research done
on treatments and cures
for most diseases, users
This 2006 article would be
are probably looking for
considered stale for this medical
authoritative, up-to-date
query.
information on arthritis.
Query: [when was
franklin d roosevelt born]
User Location:
This LP has the information users
Chicago, Illinois
are looking for.
User Intent: Users want
to find this well
understood fact.
We couldn’t find a stale page for this query.
N/A
19.0 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries and Results
19.1 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries
You wil notice that some queries are misspel ed or mistyped. Here are some examples of queries that are obviously misspel ed:
Misspelled Query
Query Interpretation
[federal expres], English (US)
The only reasonable query interpretation is the company named Federal Express.
[new england patroits], English US)
The only reasonable interpretation is the NFL football team.
[byonce knowles], English (US)
The only reasonable interpretation is the famous singer/actress, Beyonce Knowles.
Some misspel ed or mistyped queries are more difficult to interpret. Use your judgment and do query research.
For obviously misspel ed or mistyped queries, you should base your rating on user intent, not necessarily on exactly how the query has been spel ed or typed by the user.
For queries that are not obviously misspel ed or mistyped, you should respect the query as written, and assume users are looking for results for the query as it is spel ed.
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19.2 Name Queries
Consider the query [john stuart], English (US). There is a very famous Jon Stewart, the comedian and former host of a popular U.S. television show. However, we should not assume that the query [john stuart] has been misspel ed. There are many people named John Stuart. We wil respect the query as written and assume the user is looking for someone named “John Stuart.”
Query and Possible
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating
Explanation
User Intents
The page lists all
members of the LinkedIn
site named “Micheal
Jordan.” LinkedIn is a
very popular social
networking website for
professionals in the U.S.
Query: [mich ea l jordan],
This result would be very
English (US)
helpful for many or most
users trying to find
User Location: San
information about
Francisco, California
someone named
“Micheal Jordan.”
User Intent: There are
many people named
“Micheal Jordan.”
Helpful results for more
prominent people named
LinkedIn page for
Micheal Jordan should
Mich ea l Jordan, a
receive higher ratings
facilities services
than helpful results for
professional in Atlanta,
less prominent people
Georgia.
named Micheal Jordan.
Because Michael Jordan
is such a famous
athlete/celebrity, we will
consider Michael Jordan
to be a minor
interpretation.
Michael Jordan’s player
profile page on the NBA
basketball website.
20.0 Non-Fully Meets Results for URL Queries
Raters sometimes ask the question, “For a wel -formed working URL query, are the only acceptable Needs Met ratings for a result either Fully Meets or Fails to Meet ?” The answer is no. There can be other helpful results for URL queries.
Some users issue URL queries to find information about a website, such as reviews or recent news. We recommended this to you as one method of reputation research in the PQ guidelines. Real users do this too. Results that give reviews and reputation information can be very helpful for a URL query.
However, websites that offer usage statistics about a website are not usual y helpful results for URL queries. Most users aren’t interested in this kind of information.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
This LP is the target of the query.
Query:
[potterybarn.com]
Online coupon codes are very
popular in the U.S. and this LP
User Location: Palo
(from a well-known coupon site)
Alto, California
displays codes for online
purchases on the Pottery Barn
User Intent: Pottery
website. Users may be interested
Barn is a home
in coupon codes and this would
furnishing store. Users
be very helpful for those shopping
may want to go to the
online at potterybarn.com,
website, do research, or
especially frequent shoppers.
find more information on
the company.
This LP (from a well-known
review site) has reviews of the
potterybarn.com website. Users
may be interested in reading
reviews when considering
whether to make purchases at
potterybarn.com, especially new
shoppers.
This LP is the target of the query.
Query:
[ratemyprofessors.com]
User Location: Los
This LP is a Huffington Post
Angeles, California
article dated August 31, 2012
about ratemyprofessors.com.
User Intent: Go to
The article was newly published
www.ratemyprofessors.c
when it was added to the
om , a website where
guidelines. Some users might be
students can rate their
interested in this article.
college professors.
This LP is an article dated April
17, 2006 about the
ratemyprofessors.com website.
Few or no users would be
interested in this outdated
information.
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21.0 Product Queries: Importance of Browsing and Researching
Some product queries, such as [ipad reviews], have a clear information-seeking ( Know ) intent. Other product queries, such as [buy ipad], have a clear purchase ( Do ) intent. And some product queries, such as [ipad store.apple.com], have a clear navigation ( Website ) intent. However, most product queries don’t obviously specify one type of intent.
Keep in mind that many users enjoy browsing and visual y exploring products online, similar to window shopping in real life. Give high Needs Met ratings to results that al ow users to research, browse, and decide what to purchase.
Users may not always plan to buy products online that they are browsing and researching, for example, cars or major appliances. Even though the ultimate goal may be to purchase a product, many other activities may take place first: researching the product (reviews, technical specifications), understanding the options that are available (brands, models, pricing), viewing and considering various options (browsing), etc.
Important : Page Quality ratings for product results need extra care and attention.
Often, the results for product queries are YMYL pages. Users need high quality information from authoritative sources when researching products, especial y when products are expensive or represent a major investment/important life event (e.g., cars, washing machines, computers, wedding gifts, baby products, hurricane shutters, large fitness equipment).
When buying products, users need websites they can trust: good reputation, extensive customer service support, etc.
Results for product queries may be important for both your money and your life (YMYL)!
Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating, Page Quality Rating Explanation
Query: [high definition
tv]
This LP has comprehensive
User Location: Los
information about different types
Angeles, California
of high definition TVs (plasma,
LCD, LED), as well as reviews
User Intent: This query
about many specific models. The
doesn’t specify a size or
website is known for having
brand of TV. Users are
helpful reviews and information
probably doing research
about electronics.
before making a
purchase.
Query: [girl toddler jeans
size 3T]
This is a helpful page for
User Location: Los
browsing and shopping for toddler
Angeles, California
girls jeans. There are many
options for jeans in size 3T. This
User Intent: The query
is a high quality store known for
is very specific. The
selling jeans.
user wants to browse
and find an item to buy.
Query: [cufflinks]
This LP has a large collection of
User Location: Los
cufflinks from a very reputable
Angeles, California
retailer. There are many options
and styles. This is a good page
User Intent: Most users
for browsing. There are helpful
probably want to find
features at the top to choose
different cufflink styles
styles, price ranges, etc.
and options to browse or
purchase.
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Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [twist of fate ring pandora]
This result has a variety of
User Location: Philadelphia,
images of the ring, showing
Pennsylvania
different angles and materials.
Knowing what the ring looks like
User Intent: The user is looking
is very helpful to users who are
for a specific ring sold by the
researching the product and
Pandora brand and likely wants to
browsing options that are
research the ring, see what it
available.
looks like, find options to browse
or purchase, etc.
22.0 Rating Visit-in-Person Intent Queries
When there is a user location for a visit-in-person intent query and a location has not been specified in the query itself, such as [chinese restaurants] with a user location of Boston, MA , results in or near the user location are the most helpful.
How close is “near”? The type of business and/or entity should be taken into consideration when deciding if the distance of the visit-in-person result is too far. For example, most people are not wil ing to travel very far for a gas station, coffee shop, supermarket, etc. Those are types of businesses that most users expect to find nearby.
However, users might be wil ing to travel a little farther for certain kinds of visit-in-person results: doctors’ offices, libraries, specific types of restaurants, public facilities like swimming pools, hiking trails in open spaces, etc. Sometimes users may accept results that are even farther away, such as a very specialized medical clinic.
In other words, when we say users are looking for results “nearby,” the word “nearby” can mean different distances for different queries. As always, please use your judgment.
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22.1 Examples Where User Location Does (and Does Not) Matter
As previously mentioned, the user location may not always change our understanding of the query and user intent. Below is one example where user location plays an important role, and two examples where user location does not matter.
Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
This SCRB displays the complete and
correct answer prominently in the result
block, in a way that is easy for users on
mobile devices to read.
Note : Assume that the result shows
current information for users at the time
this example was written. If you were
rating this task, you would need to verify
that the minimum wage rate in this SCRB
is accurate for the state of Kansas.
Query: [minimum wage
rate]
User Location: Wichita,
Kansas
This is the official Kansas state website
page on minimum wage for Kansas.
User Intent: Find out
what the current
minimum wage is.
Different states in the
U.S. have different
minimum wage rates.
Users might be
This LP has the minimum wage rates for
interested in the
all states. It is on the official U.S.
minimum wage in their
Department of Labor website, which has
state and how it
high E-A-T on the topic, but it takes some
compares to other
work to find the information specific to
places.
Kansas.
This is the official California state website
page on minimum wage for California.
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Query and User Intent Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [pictures of
The LP is a page full of kitten pictures.
kittens]
The result block has a nice assortment of
pictures as well that would highly satisfy
User Location:
users.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
User Intent: Users are
looking for pictures of
kittens. This is a
non-visit-in-person intent
query. There is no
obvious user intent to
find pictures of kittens in
Pittsburgh. The user
location plays no role in
This is a local listing of pets needing
the Needs Met rating.
homes in the Pittsburgh area. There are
no pictures of any pets directly on this
page and few pictures on the individual
listings.
The user is looking for a job at Google and
there is no information in this result block
that will help the user explore job
opportunities—it Fails to Meet the user
Query: [google jobs]
need.
User Location: Miami,
Florida
User Intent: Users are
looking for job
opportunities at Google.
This is Google’s official page on careers
and jobs at Google, where users can
search for currently open opportunities.
This page is exactly what the user is
looking for—it Fully Meets the user need.
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23.0 Rating English Language Results in Non-English Locales
The following rating guidance is for raters in non-English locales. You may stop reading this section if your task language is English, such as English (US), English (IN), English (NG), etc.
Your Needs Met ratings should reflect how helpful the result is for users in your locale. When the query is in the language of your locale, assume that users want results in that language. We know that you can read English (you are reading this document!), but you should only give high Needs Met ratings to English results if users in your locale would expect or want them for a particular query. Unless requested by the query, English results should be considered useless if most users in the locale can't read them.
However, rating can be more difficult when the query includes English names, words, etc., or when it's unclear whether English results would be satisfying for a particular query. Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale to determine the appropriate rating.
Important: Please keep in mind that every locale wil have unique considerations regarding the number and variety of languages (such as official languages, regional languages, local dialects, etc.), writing systems, and keyboard input languages commonly in use. While this guideline may not include examples for your locale, it is important that you represent users in your task location and culture in order to interpret the query and rate results. When in doubt, please assume that users would prefer results in the task language unless the query clearly indicates otherwise.
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23.1 Examples of English (and Non-English) Results in Non-English Locales
The section includes some examples using Hindi (IN) and Korean (KR) as the locales. In both cases, we cannot assume that users in these locales—i.e., Hindi-speaking users in India, or Korean-speaking users in Korea—are able to read English. Unless most users in the locale would be satisfied by English results for the query, we wil consider them unhelpful or even useless ( FailsM ).
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
This Hindi language Wikipedia
page on राजा र व वमा is very
helpful for Hindi (IN) users.
Query: [ राजा र व वमा ]
Locale: Hindi (IN)
User Location: Delhi, India
User Intent: The user wants to
This English Wikipedia page
find information
about राजा र व वमा has similar
about राजा र व वमा, an Indian artist.
content to the Hindi Wikipedia
page. Although there are some
helpful images on the page, few
Hindi users would be able to read
this page.
This Korean language Wikipedia
page on Barack Obama is very
Query: [ 버락 오바마 ]
helpful for Korean (KR) users.
Locale: Korean (KR)
User Location: Seoul, Korea
User Intent: 버락 오바마 is Barack
This English Wikipedia page
Obama in Korean, so the user
about Barack Obama has similar
wants to find information about
content to the Korean Wikipedia
Barack Obama.
page. Although there are some
helpful images on the page, very
few Korean users would be able
to read this page.
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Here are two examples where the query includes proper nouns typed in Latin script, such as famous people, places, titles of books or films, etc. For these queries, users would prefer to see results in the language of their locale.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Although the query was typed in
Latin script, most Hindi users
would want to see information
about this person in Hindi. This
Hindi language Wikipedia page
Query: [ ronaldo ]
on Cristiano Ronaldo is very
helpful for Hindi IN) users.
Locale: Hindi (IN)
User Location: Delhi, India
User Intent: The user wants to
This English Wikipedia page
find information about Cristiano
about Cristiano Ronaldo has
Ronaldo, a famous footballer.
similar content to the Hindi
Wikipedia page. Although there
are some helpful images on the
page, few Hindi users would be
able to read this page.
Although the query was typed in
Latin script, most Korean users
would expect to see Korean
language reviews or Korean
Query: [titanic 1997]
stores for purchasing the movie.
This Korean result on a Korean
Locale: Korean (KR)
website is very helpful.
User Location: Seoul, Korea
User Intent: T he user wants to
purchase a DVD or find
This English language landing
information about the movie
page has helpful content for users
“Titanic,” released in 1997.
who can read English. Although
there are some helpful images on
the page, very few Korean users
would be able to read this page.
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Here are two additional examples where the query was typed in Latin script (including some English words), yet users would stil prefer to see results in the language of their locale.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Although the query includes some
English words, it is a Hindi query
typed in Latin script. Most Hindi
Query: [ mahila cricket sri lanka
users would expect to see Hindi
ka match]
results, like this helpful article.
Locale: Hindi (IN)
User Location: Delhi, India
User Intent: The user wants to
find information about a women’s
This English language landing
cricket match against Sri Lanka
page has helpful content for users
on February 17, 2016.
who can read English, but few
Hindi (IN) users would be able to
read this page.
Although the query was typed in
Latin script and includes some
English words, most Korean
users would expect to see the
Query: [samsung tablet]
Korean page on the Samsung
website. This Korean result is
Locale: Korean (KR)
very helpful.
User Location: Seoul, Korea
User Intent: The user wants to
purchase, find information, or go
This English language page on
to the Galaxy tablet page on the
the website of Samsung, the
Samsung website.
company that makes this tablet,
has helpful content. Although
there are some helpful images on
the page, very few Korean users
would be able to read this page.
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On the other hand, there may be queries where the needs of most users would actual y be satisfied by English language results, even if the query itself is typed in the task language.
For example, for queries about global businesses and organizations, users may expect or want to visit the English language version of the business/organization's official website in some locales. Similarly, for queries seeking technical information such as manufacturer part numbers, product specs, scientific or chemical formulas, etc., the answer to the query may be typical y expressed in the English language in some locales.
For these queries, users may expect or want to see English results in order to satisfy their need. Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale to determine the appropriate rating.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [ हावड वेबसाइट]
Locale: Hindi (IN)
This is the official website of
User Location: Delhi, India
Harvard University . Even though
the query was typed in Hindi, this
User Intent: हावड वेबसाइट is
English website is clearly what
"Harvard website" in Hindi. Users
users are looking for. Users
want to go to the official website
would be fully satisfied by this
of Harvard University, which is a
result.
well-known research university in
Cambridge, Massachusetts .
Query: [시스코 카탈리스트 스위치
IOS 복원하기]
This article comes from a blog
that contains lots of technical
information and troubleshooting
Locale: Korean (KR)
tips about IT operations and
programming. The landing page
User Location: Seoul, Korea
provides step-by-step instructions
in Korean, along with the exact
User Intent: This Korean query
commands in English that users
can be translated as "recovering
would need to type into a console
IOS on Cisco Catalyst switches".
in order to recover the operating
The user wants to find out how to
system for the queried device.
restore the IOS operating system
This tutorial would be very helpful
on a Cisco Catalyst switch, which
and easy to follow for Korean
is a specific brand/model of
users who are familiar with this
computer networking device.
type of networking device.
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Final y, in some locales, English is one of the official languages or a commonly spoken language. In these locales, English websites are easy to use and could be helpful, depending on the query.
For example, the Singapore government recognizes four official languages: English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, but English is the first and most dominant language in Singapore.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
This Wikipedia page in English
about Obama would be very
Query: [barack obama]
helpful to users in Singapore.
Locale: English (SG)
User Location: Singapore,
Singapore
User Intent: Find information
about Barack Obama.
This Wikipedia page in Chinese
about Obama would also be very
helpful to users in Singapore.
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24.0 Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries
When assigning Needs Met ratings for dictionary and encyclopedia results, careful attention must be paid to the user intent. Like al results, the helpfulness of dictionary and encyclopedia results depend on the query and user intent.
Dictionary and encyclopedia results may be topical y relevant for many searches, but often these results are not helpful for common words that most people in your rating locale already understand. Reserve high Needs Met ratings for dictionary and encyclopedia results when the user intent for the query is likely "what is it" or "what does it mean" and the result is helpful for users seeking that type of information.
Important : Think very careful y about the helpfulness of dictionary and encyclopedia results for ordinary words and common items. If few users would benefit from a dictionary or encyclopedia result for a common word, a Slightly Meets rating may be appropriate. If very few or no users would benefit, then Fails to Meet is appropriate.
Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [ obsequious ]
This is a vocabulary word often
User Location: Milwaukee,
studied in secondary school and
Wisconsin
found on college entrance exams.
Many users may be looking for a
User Intent: Users are probably
definition and would find this
looking for the definition of this
dictionary result helpful.
vocabulary word.
Query: [ rainbow ]
Most users probably already
User Location: Lincoln,
know what a rainbow is and
Nebraska
would not be looking for a
definition. Even if the user needs
User Intent: This is a broad
help understanding the word,
query. Users could be looking for
images or a simple description
many things, including images of
would be more helpful than this
rainbows, brands or local
dictionary result.
stores/organizations with
"rainbow" in their name, etc.
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Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [ cafeteria ]
Most users are looking for a place
User Location: Eugene, Oregon
to eat rather than general
information about cafeterias.
User Intent: Most
Even though this is an in-depth
English-speaking users in the US
encyclopedia article that matches
are familiar with cafeterias. Users
the topic of the query, it would be
are most likely looking for a place
helpful for few users.
to eat.
Query: [ history of ATM machines ]
The user wants to learn more
information about the history of
User Location: Birmingham,
ATM machines. This
Alabama
encyclopedia article includes an
extensive section on ATM
User Intent: Find information
machine history. This result
about the history of ATM
would be very helpful for users
machines (e.g., the inventor,
looking to learn more about the
when it was invented, its
history of ATM machines.
evolution, etc.).
Query: [ atm near me ]
The user intent is to find a nearby
ATM machine. This encyclopedia
User Location: Livingston,
article fails to meet the need of
Wyoming
the user because it has no
information about nearby ATM
User Intent: Find ATMs near the
locations.
user location.
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Query and User Intent
Result Block and LP, Needs Met Rating
Explanation
Query: [ atm ]
This encyclopedia article about
User Location: El Paso, Texas
ATMs is a minor interpretation of
the query. This result would be
User Intent: Most users are
helpful for fewer users; most
probably looking for ATMs nearby.
users would be looking for
Fewer users would be looking for
locations of ATMs nearby.
general information about ATMs
(history, how they work, etc.).
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Appendix 1: Using the Evaluation Platform
25.0 Overview
The Evaluation Platform is the system you wil use to acquire and rate tasks. You can access the Evaluation Platform by going to this link: http://www.raterhub.com/evaluation/rater
As a Search Quality Rater, you wil work on many different types of rating tasks. This section provides guidance on how to use certain features of the Evaluation Platform that you wil encounter frequently in Page Quality (PQ) and Needs Met (NM) rating tasks. Some of these concepts may apply to other types of rating tasks as wel .
Important: Many tasks that you receive wil display project -specific instructions on the task page. You should always fol ow these project-specific instructions when they are provided.
26.0 Acquiring Tasks
Here is a simplified screenshot of the task acquisition page on the Evaluation Platform. Please note that changes are sometimes made to the appearance of this page, so it may not look exactly as it appears below.
A few notes about how to acquire tasks from this page:
●
rater@gmail.com: Make sure you are logged in to the account you used to sign up for the rating program.
●
Acquire if available: Click this button to acquire a new task.
●
Headphones or speakers required: This label indicates that the task requires headphones or speakers (for example, to listen to an audio file).
Please note you may see other types of labels next to the button on the task acquisition page. Sometimes there wil be only one button, while other times you may see more than one button displayed to distinguish tasks with different requirements. When there is more than one displayed, you may choose the one you want to acquire.
27.0 Rating Tasks Using the Rating Interface
Here is a general outline of the steps you should fol ow upon acquiring a task: 1. Read the instructions: Pay close attention to any project-specific instructions and examples if provided.
2. Fill out the task: Assign ratings to result blocks, provide comments, answer questions, etc. (as applicable).
3. Check your work: Verify that you entered your ratings as intended. Additional y, make sure that you provided a response to al required questions.
4. Submit the task: Click the "Submit" button at the end of the page to submit the task and continue rating.
Alternatively, click "Submit and Stop Rating" to submit the task and return to the Evaluation Platform homepage.
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Additional y, here are a few general things to keep in mind when rating tasks:
●
Result blocks are sometimes slow to load: Before assigning any ratings, please scan the task page to make sure that al result blocks have loaded. Please note that result blocks may be slow to load and/or that the task page may need reloading if there are empty result blocks. If the result blocks fail to load after refreshing a few times, please release the task by fol owing the instructions in Section 28.0 below.
●
Sometimes a side will not have any result blocks: If one side displays the message “This side did not generate any results,” please do not release the task.
●
Do not refresh the task page after assigning ratings: If you refresh the page after assigning ratings, you wil lose them and they wil have to be entered again.
28.0 Releasing Tasks
Most raters have difficulty rating some tasks now and then. Some queries are about highly technical topics (e.g., computer science or physics) or involve very specialized areas of interest (e.g., gaming or torrents).
You wil report problems and release tasks using the “Report a Problem / Release this Task” button in the rating interface.
Here is what the “Report a Problem / Release this Task” button looks like:
Clicking the red button displays a menu with several reporting and release options: Please note that changes are sometimes made to this menu, so it may not look exactly as it appears above.
In general, you should choose whichever option best describes your reason for releasing the task. If you are unsure, please select the closest option, or contact your employer/company for further guidance.
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Please leave a comment explaining the release when it makes sense to provide additional information, for example, when you are releasing for a “technical problem.”
Here are some examples for the "lack expertise” and “technical problem” release options.
Lack expertise: These queries require specialized knowledge and may be difficult for some raters.
Query
General Query Topic
[cortisol secretion shows a blank pattern of secretion]
Scientific query
[minecraft gun and vehicles 1.1 mod instal er]
Gaming query
[python pandas index like matrix]
Technical query
Technical problem: These result blocks have question marks and other characters where text should be.
Note: Based on the number and/or type of tasks that you release, you may be asked to provide additional details about the reason for some of the releases.
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29.0 Understanding the User Location on the Task Page
The location of the user should be inferred from the map provided. The map can help clarify where the user was physical y located when the query was issued.
On the map, the user location can be precise (blue dot), approximate (blue rectangle or circle), or missing altogether if the user location is unknown. Here are some examples of what you might see at the top of the task: A precise user location
Sometimes you will see
is represented by a blue
a shaded blue circle
around the blue dot. The
dot (
).
blue dot is the user’s
most likely location, but
it is possible they are
located anywhere within
the larger shaded blue
region.
The user can be located
The map includes a
anywhere within the
response pin, which is a
blue rectangle on the
marker for a
map.
visit-in-person result
block in the task. If
there are three
visit-in-person result
blocks in the task, there
should be three
response pins on the
map.
30.0 Reporting Duplicate Results in Tasks
In some rating tasks, you may be asked to determine whether any results are Duplicates (dupes). This section provides guidance and examples of how to report duplicate results In Needs Met (NM) rating tasks.
30.1 Pre-Identified Duplicates
Some duplicate results are automatical y detected and wil be pre-identified for you. They wil be annotated by the text
“ Same as ...” right below the slider and above the result block.
This is what these pre-identified dupes look like:
Left Side
Right Side
Please note : You cannot unselect dupes that have been automatical y detected and pre-identified.
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30.2 Rater-Identified Duplicates
You are also asked to help identify duplicate results that have not been automatical y detected. Please mark two results as dupes if they have essential y the same content on the main landing page AND you would not want a search engine to return both results for the query.
Please note that in Needs Met rating and other query-based tasks, dupe identification is query-dependent .
●
Specific queries : For queries where the user is looking for a specific piece of content (such as queries looking for song lyrics, queries looking for a specific article, etc.), obtaining that piece of content from different sites could be helpful for users to verify the information, so they should not be rated as dupes.
●
Broad queries : If the query is broad, then returning the same piece of content is not what the user is looking for, and hence those results should be flagged as dupes. Results may be considered dupes even if they have minor content differences on the page (such as different ads, images, or related links).
Please identify dupes both within the same side and across sides. Even for cross-side results, you should stil ask yourself the question, “Would users want to see both results if they were returned by the same search engine?”
Note : If two result blocks have very different types of content or very different appearances, do not mark them as duplicates even if they have the same landing page URL. For example, these two blocks should not be marked as duplicates of each other.
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30.3 Reporting Duplicate Results
When you notice that the results in two or more result blocks are duplicates, please click on the Select Dupe link at the top of one of the results. The current result (the result you clicked on) wil be highlighted in red at the top of the block.
You can then check results that are duplicates of the current result, and the checked results wil be highlighted in yel ow.
You must select the “ Dupe of …” button.
The duplicate results that you checked wil be annotated by " Dupe of ..." text at the top of the block. After selecting al dupes, click on the finish selecting dupes link to return to the normal rating mode. The link’s name wil change back to Select Dupes , and you wil be able to report other sets of dupes, if there are any. If you change your mind, you can always uncheck a result.
Dupes
QUERY: [choosing and instal ing a motorcycle battery]
URL 1: http://www.caimag.com/wordpress/2010/03/06/motorcycle-battery-how-to-choose-instal
URL 2: http://www.articlesbase.com/motorcycles-articles/choosing-and-instal ing-a-motorcycle-battery-47798.html
Reason : Both of these results display the same article (which also appears on many other pages on the web). The only real difference between the landing pages are the Ads displayed around the article. The query is broad enough that users would not benefit by search engines returning more than one of these results.
Dupes
QUERY: [jason castro]
URL 1: http://www.myspace.com/jasoncastromusic
URL 2: http://www.myspace.com/jasoncastromusic?MyToken=503599bf-01cf-4427-bdf4-d63920c107f9
Reason : These two results have the same landing page, even though the URLs are different. Users would not benefit by search engines returning both results.
Not Dupes
QUERY: [material girl lyrics]
URL 1: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/madonna/material+girl_20086925.html
URL 2: http://www.lyrics007.com/Madonna%20Lyrics/Material%20Girl%20Lyrics.html
Reason : Even though both pages display the lyrics to the song “Material Girl,” users would probably want to have the option to visit both pages so that they could verify the accuracy of the lyrics. Users could benefit by search engines returning more than one page with the lyrics to the song.
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31.0 Simplified Needs Met Tasks
Some Needs Met rating tasks may not require ratings for al blocks. In these blocks, the Needs Met and Page Quality rating scales wil be greyed out and annotated with the text "No Rating Required".
The greyed-out results (sometimes referred to as "contextual results") are shown to help you understand the query and inform your ratings. You can click on them when you feel like they wil be helpful in determining your ratings.
Here is an example:
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Appendix 2: Guideline Change Log
This guideline is updated regularly to remain relevant over time. Changes from the past two years (October 2018 -
October 2020) are summarized below.
Date Published
Summary of Changes
October 2020
●
Added note to clarify that ratings do not directly impact order of search results
●
Emphasized ' The Role of Examples in these Guidelines ' as an independent
section in the introduction
●
Added clarification that Special Content Result Blocks may have links to landing pages; added il ustrative example
●
Updated guidance on how to rate pages with malware warnings and when to
assign the Did Not Load flag; added il ustrative examples
●
Changed the order of Rating Flags section and Relationship between Page Quality
and Needs Met section for clarity
●
Added ' Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries ':
Emphasizes the importance of understanding the user intent and query for Needs
Met rating; added il ustrative examples
●
Minor changes throughout (updated examples and explanations for consistency;
simplified language regarding raters representing people in their locale; fixed
typos; etc.)
December 2019
●
Added ' Introduction to Search Quality Rating ': Describes the overal search user
experience and the purpose of search quality rating
●
Added definitions and clarifications to explain key search concepts
●
Minor changes throughout (removed obsolete QR code; revised language for
consistency across sections; fixed typos; etc.)
September 2019
●
Revised ' Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) ' definition to include more granular
subcategories; modified YMYL labels in Page Quality examples to align with new
definition
●
Added guidance on distinctions between different types of content found on
websites
●
Emphasized that original content may provide justification for Highest Page Quality ratings and added il ustrative example; updated existing PQ example ratings and
explanations accordingly
●
Minor changes throughout (removed outdated examples; removed rating platform
dependency on any particular mobile OS type; revised language for consistency
across sections; etc.)
May 2019
●
Renamed E-A-T rating slider to Page Quality (PQ) slider to emphasize more
holistic concept of quality; updated PQ rating guidance and examples for
consistency and clarity accordingly
●
Minor language and screenshot updates to reflect program changes and technical
changes in rating platform interface
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Jun 9, 2021
Long Standing Webmasters Guidelines
