Ask most people and they will tell you that Google uses algorithms, not humans, to help “rank” websites. Although they are right about Google using algorithms, thousands of Google employees train those algorithms. In the end, these people have a profound impact on the results we see when we search on Google.

Before we dive into the 13 most important things you should know about Google’s search quality raters’ guidelines, let’s look at the fundamental reason that Google needs more than ten thousand full-time employees physically looking at websites like yours.

The Purpose of Google’s Search Quality Raters

The purpose behind these guidelines is to ensure users get high-quality results for every search. In order to do this, Google has hired a small army to manually rate the quality of search results.

As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve and mobile devices become more popular, search quality raters have begun to increasingly emphasize mobile searches, compared to their earlier focus on content creators and site reputation.

Google has developed a strict process that helps ensure raters conduct their jobs in the most efficient way possible. Here’s what you need to keep in mind when building your site.

What Does a Google Page Quality Rater Do?

Page quality raters have the important task of making sure that top search results deliver what a searcher actually wants to find. But what does their job entail, and how can you leverage the knowledge of what they are looking for to your brand’s advantage?

Google Search Quality Raters follow this six-step process that helps them review and rate search results:

1. They Ask Questions
At this stage, raters ask initial questions about the landing page they are tasked to look at. These questions are designed to better allow raters to judge the quality and utility of the page.

2. They Record Their Observations
Next, raters will record their observations on landing page quality and characteristics. This documented information is key to updating algorithms.

3. They Check the Site on Mobile Search
Remember, these raters are increasingly focused on mobile searches. Because of this, the third step in their process is to run the same search on a mobile device and rate the quality there as well.

4. They Consider Website and Creator E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
The fourth step in the process is a very important one. It is here that raters will determine a website’s and its creator’s reputation by evaluating their Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

5. They Rate the Page
Now, raters officially record their overall page quality rating on the rating sidebar.

6. They Explain Their Rating
Finally, raters leave a comment explaining their rating to others, so that they can come to a consensus. This allows for accurate adjustments to Google’s algorithms.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the 13 things you should know about Google Search Raters Guidelines.

13 Items Google Search Quality Raters Use to Rank Websites

The following 13 items provide a brief overview of the most important items you should understand about the process. All 13 items are condensed from Google’s comprehensive 164-page document titled “Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines”.

1. Page Quality

In essence, the page quality rating will determine how well your page meets its purpose. As long as you are meeting this standard and your page is serving the purpose that you’re saying it’s for, your page will not be negatively rated with one exception.
Google search raters assign the lowest page quality rating to sites that are created to harm or deceive users in any way.

2. Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Pages

The majority of websites are separated into two distinct categories by Google’s raters: “Your Money” or “Your Life”, also known as YMYL.
This distinction is important: these pages are scrutinized more heavily than others because they can potentially influence a user’s life. Examples of these pages include those that deal with:

• Shopping or finance (Your Money).
• Financial information (Your Money).
• Legal information (Your Money).
• Medical information (Your Life).
• Pages dedicated to user safety (Your Life).
• News or public/official information (Note that all news articles are either YM or YL).

If your site is geared toward any of the above areas, it’s especially important that you take the time to optimize it for Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. By doing so, your page’s ranking won’t be penalized because of increased scrutiny.

3. Page Type and Purpose

In addition to YMYL pages, there are page types. These pages are ones that:

• Share information about specific topics (i.e. a blog).
• Share personal or social information (i.e. Facebook).
• Share pictures, videos, or other media (i.e. YouTube).
• Entertain (i.e. Netflix).
• Allow users to post and answer questions (i.e. Yahoo! Answers).
• Allow users to share and download files and software (i.e. CNET).

Understanding which category your webpage falls under can help you tailor your content to achieve better search rankings.

4. E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)

If you want your website to score well on its Page Quality score, you have to consider E-A-T.

E-A-T refers to the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the webpage, the main content, and the webpage’s creator.

Individuals and sites who score highly on all three will enjoy high Page Quality rankings.

Let’s take a look at some good E-A-T examples to see how it can be used to determine final rankings:

• Professionally-Produced Journalism: High-quality news enjoys higher Page Quality rankings. These pages have journalistic integrity and can accurately inform the reader of important information.
• Medical Advice from Medical Professionals: If you make a page that offers medical advice, make sure that you’re a medical professional. Google’s search raters will provide low scores to sites and pages that offer medical advice from individuals with no medical training.
• Legal and Financial Advice from Experts: Likewise, if you give legal or financial advice, make sure that you’re also qualified to do so. Because these topics are considered YMYL, they’ll be under especially-heavy scrutiny—as will medical advice.
• Hobbies: If you’re teaching users how to ride a skateboard, make sure that you know how to do it yourself.

In short, be sure you have the appropriate credentials to post your content with Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

5. Content Quality

In addition to webpage content, it’s important to understand the different parts to a webpage.
These parts are:

• Main Content (MC): The reason you made the webpage in the first place, which is one of the most important determinants of the final Page Quality rating.
• Supplementary Content (SC): Content that either adds or detracts from the page’s MC (ex. the site’s navigation tab).

In order for content to score highly, it needs to be relevant and fresh for users. This will help better position it in the final rankings.

Some content, for instance, might require that the information be recent. If your page isn’t up-to-date in this area, it won’t be awarded a “Needs Met” rating.

Other webpages may not have the “newsy” or fresh intent behind them. In this case, they may be more targeted at those looking for “timeless” content.

Finally, if you stop updating your webpage or have inaccurate information on it, be prepared to be slapped with a low E-A-T rating.

6. Finding Website Information

Website information shouldn’t be hard to come by.

The different pages on your site should be clear. If you have two homepages, raters will only rate the one that has the most relevant information on it, so be mindful of this as you develop your site. Additionally, raters should quickly be able to tell who made the website and who created the page’s content.

7. Reviewing Website Reputation

It’s nearly impossible to get a high Page Quality rating if you don’t establish a good reputation. For this reason, it’s important to understand the criteria that determine how your reputation is calculated.

Your reputation will depend on user experience, as well as the professional opinions of those who have expert knowledge of your topic. The more accurate it is, the better.

Raters will also look for outside information about the website. This may include references, reviews, and expert recommendations regarding your site.

8. Page Quality Guidelines for Mobile

It’s important that mobile users have quick and convenient access to their content. If your page doesn’t provide this, it will suffer in quality rankings.

Make sure that your page meets the following standards:

• Easily adaptable to different mobile screen sizes.
• Mobile versions are easy to use on the phone.
• Users with slow internet connections aren’t overloaded by your webpages.
• Data, such as login or card information, is easy to enter.

9. Classifying and Understanding Queries

It’s also important to recognize that users conduct searches with specific intent, and you can get a higher rating if your page directly answers one of these queries.

These include the:

• Do Query: Users want their phones to perform an action.
• Know Query: Users are attempting to find information regarding a specific topic.
• Website Query: Users are attempting to find a specific website.
• Visit-in-person Query: Users are looking for a business or location in their area.

Additionally, many users enjoy the process of virtual window shopping.

In order to get a high Needs Met rating, sites must funnel users through proper research and browsing on their customer-user journey. This higher-funnel information should come from a reputable source, especially for products that can dramatically impact one’s quality of life, like home remodeling.

10. Local Search Queries

Mobile searches have impacted the way users make search queries. Determining locale is crucial to making a more appropriate interpretation of a user’s query. Smartphone searches have increased the number of “do queries” and the importance of understanding a resident’s location.

For example, a user based in the UK may expect a different result for the term “football” than a user based in the US. Or, if a person uses the voice command “Coffee shop near me”, Google will need to pull up the closest coffee shops to that phone.

11. Establishing Correct Query Interpretations

It’s common for a query to have a meaning that is different than what shows up on Google’s search pages. Google categorizes these as Dominant, Common, or Minor Interpretations.

Dominant Interpretations are what most users mean when typing a query. Common Interpretations are what many users would expect to find from a query, while Minor Interpretations are sought by comparatively fewer users.

For example, a Dominant Interpretation of the query [apple] would be the company, Apple. A Common Interpretation would be the fruit, apple, and a Minor Interpretation could be the name of a place in the US: Apple, Oklahoma.

12. Needs Met Rating Guidelines

A page’s Needs Met rating is directly influenced by its ability to help mobile users.

Consider the following guidelines for Needs Met ratings:

• Fully Meets (FullyM)—Most, if not all, users are immediately satisfied with your page. This means they won’t have to look at another to get their needs met.
• Highly Meets (HM)—Users who go to these sites have been helped, but they likely would want to see additional results from another source.
• Moderately Meets (MM)—This may be helpful for some mobile users, or many users in general, but there are many who want to see additional results as well.
• Slightly Meets (SM)—Pages that meet this standard are helpful, but they aren’t directly related to the query in question. Because of this, most users will likely want to see additional results.
• Fails to Meet (FailsM)—The needs of the users are not met, and they will seek another source for more information.

13. Overall Page Quality Rating

Once the important factors above are all computed, the page will receive a final rating.

Final ratings are outlined below:

• Highest Quality Pages

Highest quality pages deliver definitive benefits. Their pages are clear with ample amounts of MC that fully support the page’s purpose. All necessary information is transparent and easy to find. Furthermore, the page’s reputation establishes very high Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.

• High Quality Pages

Pages have a clear purpose which is effectively outlined to users. Information satisfies users and they are not compelled to search other sites. A good reputation and a high E-A-T are established.

• Medium Quality Pages

These pages are satisfying to most users and deliver on their purpose moderately well. Their E-A-T and reputation aren’t as high as others, but they still provide accurate information that readers can trust. These pages may be lacking in MC when compared to others of a higher quality.

• Low Quality Pages

Low Quality Pages fail to deliver on their purpose. These pages have a good intent but poor reputation and low E-A-T. Main content is lacking, and the site’s information may be difficult to locate.

• Lowest Quality Pages

These pages are intended to do harm to others. Pages that promote violence, theft, or deception of any kind fall under this category. Their E-A-T and reputation are rock bottom.

Ok, so now you’re an expert. What’s next?

It is important to consider the above factors when building your webpage. In order to ensure a high page rating, you need to make sure that you have:

• A clear page purpose that is delivered upon.
• Title tags and Meta descriptions that clearly outline the landing page.
• Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) in your topic.
• An ample amount of high-quality Main Content.
• Information about the site and the creator of the MC in an easy-to-find location.
• A strong author reputation, as well as a high website reputation.

With this in mind, it’s important that you start optimizing your webpages right away. Have you noticed any potential ways to improve your site? Don’t wait to implement those changes, because if you don’t, your competitors will!

If you’re feeling stuck and don’t know how to give your website the boost it needs, feel free to reach out to us here and subscribe to our newsletter for industry trends and important insights delivered to your inbox.

LinkedIn hit the scene in 2003 as just another networking site. Fast forward to 2018 and now they have over 500 million users, it’s the #1 channel B2B marketers use to distribute content, and it accounts for over 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs. Mic drop.

If you’re not effectively using LinkedIn for B2B lead generation marketing, it’s time to start. But just like any other business decision, you want to be methodical and strategic about how you use LinkedIn in order to get the most out of it. Luckily for you, we have compiled 3 strategies that will draw people to your business and ultimately help generate qualified leads, and increase revenue.

Gear your company page towards lead generation with SEO in mind

You must work for great leads; they don’t just happen. Think of your company page on LinkedIn as a pipeline for generating leads to your company website. Rather than simply describing what your business does, create a thought-provoking pitch that speaks directly to your target audience. Remember that the most important part is the first few lines, because that’s all LinkedIn displays until the users clicks “see more”.

Use an image that commands attention and sparks interest. Get creative and have fun with it. Regularly post updates that are aimed at your target audience so that you’ll stay fresh in their minds, and be sure to make these clickable and conversion-focused.

From an SEO perspective, your company page can be a powerful tool if properly optimized. Google will feature roughly the first 150 characters of your company overview description in their search results, so be sure to weave your important keywords into this portion. Putting these targeted keywords front and center will increase your chances of engagement on LinkedIn.

SAP is a great example of a quality company page geared toward SEO:

It’s engaging, and they place the keyword “enterprise application software” in the beginning of the description.

Take advantage of Advanced Search

Advanced Search is LinkedIn’s most powerful tool for effective prospecting. It provides a great way to narrow down your search.

Advanced Search allows you to filter people by location, industry, current company, past company, profile language, school, and nonprofit interests. You can continue to use filters without having to re-do your initial search. This allows you to easily see how the applied filters affect your initial search, providing results that are focused and actionable. In this way, you can gain invaluable insight into a certain group that might be a better fit for prospecting.

Pro Tip: Upgrading your sales team to LinkedIn Navigator can help provide them access to additional filtering options, and a wealth of data and information not available in free version.

Utilize “Showcase Pages”

LinkedIn created Showcase Pages for companies looking to promote individual offshoot brands. These are a great way to connect directly with a more specific target audience—the point being to generate better leads. Who doesn’t want that? According to LinkedIn, “it makes sense to create a Showcase Page when you want to represent a brand, business unit, or company initiative. These pages are intended to develop a long-term relationship with a specific audience.”

HP effectively utilizes Showcase Pages to highlight their business segments such as HP Graphic Arts, HP Labs, and HP Sales Engagement. Here’s their HP Labs showcase page:

Make this page as effective as possible by:

1. Putting a keyword in the page name that this audience will relate to; keeping the page name short, so the entire name shows up in the sidebar,
2. Making the page conversion-focused, and
3. Regularly posting meaningful and relevant updates.

Using Showcase Pages with these LinkedIn B2B marketing strategies in mind is a surefire way to step up your lead generation.

If you are in need of some hands on help with LinkedIn marketing, please contact us today!

It seems like every company, big or small, has a blog nowadays, but does blogging help SEO? It sure does, and few companies capitalize on their blog content to drive SEO gains, which can be a crucial component in a growing business’ success.

Here are 9 essential steps that can help your company reap SEO blogging benefits:

1. Create a captivating title tag for your blog.

Don’t just name your website’s blog title “Blog”. There are 100s of blogs out there, and the first step you can take in making your blog section stand out from the rest is through unique branding. Naming your blog is an optimization opportunity, so when you name your blog, ask yourself a few questions:

• What is the overarching theme of your blog?
• What would be a captivating description in your industry?
• Can you incorporate important SEO keywords in the blog title/name?
• More specifically, WHO are you trying to reach?

Additionally, the meta description should accurately describe the purpose of your blog. This is where you can increase the click-through rate (CTR). Like the title tag, it’s important to have a unique meta description that includes a call to action!

2. Reach your targeted audience with EVERY blog post.

The ideal way to increase your blog’s popularity is to keep your targeted audience in mind while creating every blog post. This is especially true if you practice an account-based marketing approach to customer targeting. Continuing to create content that is relevant and rewarding to a segment of your targeted audience will increase your authority in the industry. Each blog post should have target keywords that relate to the specific needs of your customers.

Creating content that is new and specific to your targeted audience will keep them coming to your site again and again.

Another important aspect to keep in mind when targeting keywords on specific blog posts is to focus on a maximum of 1-2 keywords/phrases. Throwing in too many keywords/phrases into your posts can hurt your SEO, because search engines view this as keyword stuffing. Uphold the readership and integrity of your blog posts by honing in on essential keywords and using them in a natural manner.

3. Implement a smart URL structure.

While URL structure may not directly impact rankings, an efficient structure can improve CTR and make your links more appealing in the SERPs.

When creating URLs for individual blog posts, marketers often resort to including every single word in the title of that blog post, creating overly long and hard to read URLs. The key here is to create a blog URL that is both descriptive of what is on the page, but also concise.

Another consideration for URL structure is reporting efficiency. Oftentimes companies do not include “/blog/” in their URL structure. This can make it difficult to track page progress within Google Analytics. By including “/blog/” in your URL structure, you improve the ease of reporting for your site.

4. Continue to optimize your blog posts.

One of the best ways you can continue to generate steady traffic to your blog is by optimizing your existing blog posts on a regular basis. Reviewing your current blog posts and identifying on-page revisions for SEO will be your key to success. Here are a few SEO tips for optimizing your blog pages:

• Add an internal linking structure to other pages within your site.
• Add optimized images or begin to optimize existing images.
• Link one blog post to another related blog post, such as this post on SEO blogger writing.
• Review all of your blog title tags and meta descriptions. Make sure all include target keywords and fall within Google’s title tag/meta description length.

Optimizing your site’s already existing blog posts will save your company time and resources.

5. Identify where your blog is lacking.

Take a closer look on your own or meet with your team to identify the high-priority keywords/phrases for which you want your site to rank. Does your website/blog lack the content to rank for these industry keywords? If it does, then these are great topics for new blog posts. Keeping the SEO tips listed here in mind when creating new content will boost the organic growth of your site!

6. Add optimized images into your blog posts.

Including images on your blog posts helps create positive user engagement! Adding easy-to-understand ALT tags helps describe the image to Google and other search engines. This tactic is also great for people with vision impairments who are using screen readers.

Additionally, instead of raw image filenames like “IMG2684286.jpg,” try optimizing images for SEO by writing something more descriptive (like with ALT tags). For example, “skydiver.jumping.sky.jpg.” Having descriptive image filenames is helpful for users who find your images in search, as well as for Google, which uses these filenames as a snippet of search results.

In other words, the more descriptive your blog post images are, the better!

7. Mark up your blog posts.

You’ve got those SEO blogging basics down, but don’t forget about structured data markups! Structured data helps provide Google explicit clues about the meaning of a page. Structured data markups can be added to your HTML code and may help improve the way your page is shown on the SERP.

Be sure you are following Google’s structured data guidelines here, and get on your way to rich results display.

8. Make sure your blog is mobile-friendly.

Mobile usage has surpassed desktop usage, especially when it comes to content consumption. It’s important to know that Google has been displaying mobile-friendly results FIRST since the Penguin algorithm in April 2015, so ensuring your site/blog is mobile-friendly should be of the highest priority.

Has your site been disregarding its mobile usability? If so, make sure your site has a “responsive design.” In other words, it should have an interchangeable user experience on both desktop and mobile. If the design of your site is different on mobile than it is on desktop, user experience may be considered poor. Make sure your designs align and ensure URLs are the same on all devices.

9. Take advantage of your social media presence.

Sharing your blog posts on social media has many advantages:

• Your social media channels will remain current and relevant. Companies often struggle with what they should post on their social media. Blog posts are a great option!
• It helps keep your target audience engaged. By sharing your blog posts on various social media channels, you are increasing the likelihood of users viewing it, as well as keeping them interested!
• Google considers the social signals of your site. Having a social media presence improves your SEO results and increases referral traffic.

You should always share your blog posts on social media channels. When sharing them, be sure to include a couple of sentences briefly summarizing the blog post. Include those targeting keywords and watch those rankings soar.

Keep in mind, a blog is one of the many ways you can boost traffic to your site. If you are looking to optimize your blog to help with SEO, following these steps will be hugely beneficial in the engagement of your blog. Don’t be alarmed if you’re not seeing immediate growth, as SEO is a gradual process that takes time. If you are mindful in your choices while blogging for SEO and patient in the process, you’ll be pleasantly SERP-rised.

We put out tips like these every week. Subscribe to our newsletter for industry trends and more important insights delivered to your inbox.

If you need help implementing any of these steps in optimizing your blog for SEO or if you have questions about your site’s current performance, contact us for a free consultation of your website today.