Google has just announced its updates to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines for the first time since March 2024.
The new version expanded the document from 170 pages to now 181 – with a lot of the focus of the new document looking at AI content evaluation, web spam policies, enhanced quality assessment as well as some technical refinements.
What are Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines?
The Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines is a detailed guide used by real human reviewers, who test the effectiveness of Google’s search results to satisfy a user’s query.
The reviewers will be analysing the quality and relevance of the websites populating for search results.
Google uses this feedback to better improve their search results and the experience of the searcher.
It’s important to note, that while the guidelines directly affect your website’s likelihood to rank, it gives you an insight into what Google’s framework is for high-quality content.
What Were The January 2025 Updates To Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines?
AI Written Content Evaluation: There is now a formal directive for generative AI written content. Reviewers are now guided to check if the AI content is of high quality and offers unique value to the users.
Spam Prevention: The guidelines now more closely align with Google’s Web Spam Policies and include more examples of spam, such as expired domain abuse and large-scale AI-generated content.
Technical Refinements: Some modest changes through the document have included updated rating ranges, removing some examples that are now outdated, and fixed some typos.
Can You Use AI To Write Your Content?
You can use LLMs to write content on your site however, be cautious to make sure the content being produced provides genuine value to readers.
Moreover, when using AI for your business, where possible you should leverage your own experience and expertise. More often than not, our clients are the experts in their space and their depth of knowledge is invaluable to high quality, rankable content.
AI shouldn’t be used to create poor-quality content that presents a poor user experience, has inaccurate information or reads as spammy. If this is the type of content you are using AI for, expect to have rankings suffer.
Looking to roll out a content strategy for your business? Contact us and let your strategy be thoughtfully curated by our team of SEO experts.
