Google changes (and simplifies) its Search Quality Raters Guidelines
A minor update, with changes that do not disrupt the substance of the information and guidance but are intended to simplify some aspects that might have been more difficult, unclear or outdated. As of last November 16, Google published the new version of the Search Quality Raters Guidelines, which are the guidelines that serve as a compass for the evaluation work of its quality raters.
Guidelines for Google Search Quality Raters, the November 2023 update
Announcing the change is directly in a Search Central blog post by Elizabeth Tucker of the Google Search Quality team, who immediately points out that the update is intended to “simplify our guidelines.”
Specifically, Tucker explains that the intervention affected the NeedsMet scale definitions (which measure the satisfaction of user needs), with additional guidance added for different types of Web pages and modern examples, such as the inclusion of newer content formats (particularly shorts, short-form videos), the removal of outdated and redundant examples, and the expansion of the classification guidance for forums and discussion pages.
Google also adds one relevant piece of information: none of these involve major or fundamental changes in the guidelines.
What specifically changes with the new version
The previous version of the guidelines dated back to December 2022 and was (that one) particularly relevant and interesting because it officially added the E of Experience to the concept of EAT, thus paving the way for the new EEAT paradigm.
That document consisted of 176 pages, while the current one stops at 168 pages: the first novelty, then, lies in the quantitative reduction of information and probably ties in with the simplification work cited by Tucker to help quality raters.
Recall, also through the words of Search Engine Land, that Google