Search quality rater guidelines - 2022

The latest version of Google search quality rater guidelines (Jul.,28, 2022)

General Guidelines

July 28, 2022

General Guidelines Overview

Introduction to Search Quality Rating

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0.0 The Search Experience

0.1 The Purpose of Search Quality Rating

0.2 Raters Must Represent People in their Rating Locale

0.3 Browser Requirements 0.4 Ad Blocking Extensions 0.5 Internet Safety Information

0.6 The Role of Examples in these Guidelines

Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline 1.0 Introduction to Page Quality Rating 2.0 Understanding Webpages and Websites

2.1 Important Definitions

2.2 What is the Purpose of a Webpage? 2.3 Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Topics 2.4 Understanding Webpage Content 2.4.1 Identifying the Main Content (MC)

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2.4.2 Identifying the Supplementary Content (SC) 2.4.3 Identifying Advertisements/Monetization (Ads)

2.4.4 Summary of the Parts of the Page

2.5 Understanding the Website 2.5.1 Finding the Homepage

2.5.2 Finding Who is Responsible for the Website and Who Created the Content on the Page 2.5.3 Finding About Us, Contact Information, and Customer Service Information

2.6 Reputation of the Website and Creator of the Main Content

2.6.1 Research on the Reputation of the Website and Creator of the Main Content

2.6.2 Sources of Reputation Information 2.6.3 Customer Reviews of Stores/Businesses 2.6.4 How to Search for Reputation Information

2.6.5 What to Do When You Find No Reputation Information

3.0 Overall Page Quality Rating

3.1 Page Quality Rating: Most Important Factors

3.2 Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)

4.0 High Quality Pages

4.1 Characteristics of High Quality Pages

4.2 A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content

4.3 Clear and Satisfying Website Information: Who is Responsible and Customer Service

4.4 Positive Reputation

4.5 A High Level of Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T)

4.6 Examples of High Quality Pages

5.0 Highest Quality Pages

5.1 Very High Quality MC 5.2 Very Positive Reputation 5.3 Very High Level of E-A-T

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5.4 Examples of Highest Quality Pages

6.0 Low Quality Pages

6.1 Lacking Expertise, Authoritativeness, or Trustworthiness (E-A-T)

6.2 Low Quality Main Content

6.3 Unsatisfying Amount of Main Content

6.4 Distracting Ads/SC

6.5 Mixed or Mildly Negative Reputation of the Website or Creator of the Main Content 6.6 Unsatisfying Amount of Information about the Website or Creator of the Main Content

6.7 Examples of Low Quality Pages

7.0 Lowest Quality Pages

7.1 Harmful to Self or Other Individuals 7.2 Harmful to Specified Groups 7.3 Harmfully Misleading Information 7.4 Untrustworthy Webpages or Websites

7.4.1 Inadequate Information about the Website or Creator of the MC for the Purpose of the Page

7.4.2 Lowest E-A-T and Lowest Reputation of the Website or Creator of the MC

7.4.3 Deceptive Page Purpose and Deceptive MC Design

7.4.4 Deliberately Obstructed or Obscured MC

7.4.5 Suspected Malicious Behavior

7.5 Spammy Webpages

7.5.1 Cannot Determine a Purpose, No MC, Little MC, or Lowest Quality MC

7.5.2 Hacked, Defaced, or Spammed Pages

7.5.3 Auto-generated MC

7.5.4 Copied MC

7.5.5 How to Determine if Content is Copied

7.6 Examples of Lowest Quality Pages

8.0 Medium Quality Pages

8.1 Examples of Medium Quality Pages

9.0 Page Quality Rating Tasks

9.1 Instructions for Rating Page Quality Tasks

9.2 Reputation and E-A-T: Website or the Creators of the Main Content?

10.0 Page Quality Criteria for Specific Types of Pages

10.1 Ratings for Encyclopedia Pages

10.2 Ratings for Pages with Error Messages or No MC

10.3 Ratings for Forums and Q&A pages

11.0 Page Quality Rating FAQs

Part 2: Understanding Search User Needs

12.0 Understanding Search Users, Queries, and Results

12.1 Important Rating Definitions and Ideas

12.2 Understanding the Query 12.3 Locale and User Location

12.4 Queries with an Explicit Location

12.5 Queries with Multiple Meanings

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12.6 Query Meanings Can Change Over Time

12.7 Understanding User Intent

12.7.1 Know and Know Simple Queries

12.7.2 Do Queries

12.7.3 Website Queries

12.7.4 Visit-in-Person Queries and User Location

12.7.5 Queries with Multiple User Intents

12.8 Understanding Result Blocks

12.8.1 Web Search Result Block Examples 12.8.2 Special Content Result Block Examples

Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline

13.0 Rating Using the Needs Met Scale

13.1 Rating Result Blocks: Block Content and Landing Pages

13.2 Fully Meets (FullyM)

13.2.1 Examples of Fully Meets (FullyM) Result Blocks

13.2.2 Examples of Queries that Cannot Have Fully Meets Results

13.3 Highly Meets (HM)

13.3.1 Examples of Highly Meets (HM) Result Blocks

13.4 Moderately Meets (MM)

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13.4.1 Examples of Moderately Meets (MM) Result Blocks

13.5 Slightly Meets (SM)

13.5.1 Examples of Slightly Meets (SM) Result Blocks

13.6 Fails to Meet (FailsM)

13.6.1 Examples of Fails to Meet (FailsM) Result Blocks 14.0 The Relationship between Page Quality and Needs Met 15.0 Rating Porn, Foreign Language, and Did Not Load Results

15.1 Porn Flag

15.2 Needs Met Rating for Porn Results

15.2.1 Needs Met Rating for Clear Non-Porn Intent Queries 15.2.2 Needs Met Rating for Possible Porn Intent Queries 15.2.3 Needs Met Rating for Clear Porn Intent Queries

15.3 Reporting Illegal Images 15.4 Foreign Language Flag

15.4.1 Using the Foreign Language Flag

15.4.2 Needs Met Rating for Foreign Language Results

15.5 Did Not Load Flag

15.5.1 Using the Did Not Load Flag

15.5.2 Needs Met Rating and the Did Not Load Flag

15.6 Additional Flags in Some Rating Tasks

16.0 Rating Queries with Multiple Interpretations and Intents

16.1 Rating Queries with Both Website and Visit-in-Person Intent

17.0 Specificity of Queries and Landing Pages 18.0 Needs Met Rating and Freshness 19.0 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries and Results

19.1 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries

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19.2 Name Queries

20.0 Non-Fully Meets Results for URL Queries

21.0 Product Queries: Importance of Browsing and Researching

22.0 Rating Visit-in-Person Intent Queries

22.1 Examples Where User Location Does (and Does Not) Matter 23.0 Rating English Language Results in Non-English Locales 23.1 Examples of English (and Non-English) Results in Non-English Locales 24.0 Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries

Appendix: Using the Evaluation Platform

25.0 Overview

26.0 Acquiring Tasks

27.0 Rating Tasks Using the Rating Interface

28.0 Releasing Tasks

29.0 Understanding the User Location on the Task Page

30.0 Reporting Duplicate Results in Tasks

30.1 Pre-Identified Duplicates 30.2 Rater-Identified Duplicates 30.3 Reporting Duplicate Results

31.0 Simplified Needs Met Tasks

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 will 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.

Introduction to Search Quality Rating 0.0 The Search Experience

The World Wide Web is a vast collection 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 all 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. Finally, search results should help people. Search results should provide authoritative and trustworthy information, not lead people astray with misleading content. Search results should allow people to find what they're looking for, not surprise people with unpleasant, upsetting, offensive, or disturbing content. Harmful, hateful, violent, or sexually 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 will help evaluate search engine quality around the world. Good search engines give results that are helpful for people in their specific language and locale. No single rating can directly impact how a particular webpage, website, or result appears in Google Search, nor can they cause specific webpages, websites, or results to move up or down on the search results page. Using ratings to position results on the search results page would not be feasible, as humans could never individually rate each page on the open web. Instead, ratings are used to measure how effectively search engines are working to deliver helpful content to people around the world. Ratings are also used to improve search engines by providing examples of helpful and unhelpful results for different 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. 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 specifically instructed to do so in the project-specific instructions. 0.5 Internet Safety Information In the course of your work, you will visit many different webpages. Some of them may harm your computer unless you are careful. Please do not download any executables, applications, or other potentially 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 generally considered safe if antivirus software is in place. ● .txt (text file) ● .ppt or .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint)

● .doc or .docx (Microsoft Word) ● .xls or .xlsx (Microsoft Excel) ● .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.

0.6 The Role of Examples in these Guidelines The examples throughout these guidelines are very important to illustrate how the concepts defined in each section should be applied in rating tasks. Please view each example and keep the following in mind: ● Webpages and websites change rapidly, so we use images or "snapshots" of webpages in most of our examples. ● The information in the examples was accurate at the time it was added, but content and websites may change over time. ● Some examples show pages on desktop and some show pages on mobile devices.

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 well 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'll need to be a successful Page Quality rater: ● Your experience using the web as an ordinary user in your rating locale. ● In-depth knowledge of these guidelines. ● And most importantly4practice doing PQ rating tasks!

2.0 Understanding Webpages and Websites PQ rating requires an in-depth understanding of websites. We'll start with the basics. Along the way, we'll 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 all 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 usually 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 will use the word <website= to refer to a collection of pages owned and controlled by a single entity (individual, business, etc.). But we will 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 usually 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 usually find the homepage of a website by clicking on a <home= link or logo link on subpages of a website.

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 https://finance.yahoo.com/news 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! 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 people, thus having a beneficial purpose. Some pages are created merely to make money, with little or no effort to help people. Some pages are even created to harm users. The first step in understanding a page is figuring out its purpose. 2.2

Why is it important to determine the purpose of the page for PQ rating?

● The goal of PQ rating is to determine how well a page achieves its purpose. In order to assign a rating, you must understand the purpose of the page and sometimes the website. ● By understanding the purpose of the page, you'll better understand what criteria are important to consider when evaluating that particular page. ● Websites and pages should be created to help people. If that is not the case, a rating of Lowest may be warranted. More on this later. As long as the page is created to help people, we will 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 all different types and purposes: shopping pages, news pages, forum pages, video pages, pages with error messages, PDFs, images, gossip pages, humor pages, homepages, and all other types of pages. The type of page does not determine the PQ rating4you have to understand the purpose of the page to determine the rating.

Common helpful or beneficial page purposes include (but are not limited to):

● To share information about a topic. ● To share personal or social information. ● To share pictures, videos, or other forms of media. ● To express an opinion or point of view. ● To entertain. ● To sell products or services. ● To allow users to post questions for other users to answer. ● To allow 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. To sell or give information about the product.

Shopping page

Video page

To share a cute video of a cat.

Currency converter page

To calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.

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. Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Topics Pages on the World Wide Web are about a vast variety of topics. Some topics have a high risk of harm because content about these topics could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. We call these topics <Your Money or Your Life= or YMYL. 2.3

YMYL topics may significantly impact or harm one or more of the following: ● the person who is directly viewing or using the content ● other people who are affected by the person who viewed the content ● groups of people or society affected by the actions of people who viewed the content

YMYL topics can directly and significantly impact people’s health, financial stability or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society, because of the following reasons: ● The topic itself is harmful or dangerous . For example, there is clear and present harm directly associated with topics related to self-harm, criminal acts, or violent extremism. ● The topic could cause harm if the content is not accurate and trustworthy . For example, mild inaccuracies or content from less reliable sources could significantly impact someone's health, financial stability, or safety, or impact society, for topics like: symptoms of a heart attack, how to invest money, what to do if there is an earthquake, who can vote, or needed qualifications for obtaining a driver’s license. To determine whether a topic is YMYL, assess the following types of harm that might occur: ● YMYL Health or Safety : Topics that could harm mental, physical, and emotional health, or any form of safety such as physical safety or safety online. ● YMYL Financial Security : Topics that could damage a person's ability to support themselves and their families. ● YMYL Society : Topics that could negatively impact groups of people, issues of public interest, trust in public institutions, etc. ● YMYL Othe r: Topics that could hurt people or negatively impact welfare or well-being of society. It's possible to imagine a hypothetical harmful page for any non-harmful topic, such as the science behind rainbows or shopping for pencils: for either of these topics, someone could build a page that has a malicious computer virus download. However, for a specific topic to be YMYL, the topic itself must potentially impact people’s health, financial stability, or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society. Many or most topics are not YMYL and do not require a high level of accuracy or trust to prevent harm . Because YMYL assessment is a spectrum, it may be helpful to think of topics as clear YMYL , definitely not YMYL or something in between. Pages on clear YMYL topics require the most scrutiny for Page Quality rating.

Not or unlikely YMYL Topic Music award winners Explanation : This topic is unlikely to cause harm.

Type of topic

Clear YMYL Topic

May be YMYL Topic

Evacuation routes for a tsunami Explanation : Inaccurate information on evacuation routes could cause significant harm to people.

Weather forecast Explanation : In most

Information Could significant harm result from inaccurate information?

situations, slightly inaccurate information about the weather forecast will not cause harm. People often ask family members "what's the weather today".

When to go to the emergency room

How often to replace a toothbrush

How frequently to wash j eans Explanation : This topic is unlikely to cause harm.

Advice about an activity Could significant harm result from poor advice?

Explanation : Bad advice on when to go to the emergency room could cause significant harm.

Explanation : This is a casual health topic people commonly discuss with friends. A slightly imperfect suggestion is unlikely to significantly impact health or safety. Personal opinion about why an exercise is inferior Explanation : While there may be a health concern if the exercise is extreme or risky, most discussions of jogging vs News about a car accident Explanation : The accident itself may have been harmful, but there is likely little risk of future harm from small inaccuracies in reporting about an incident. swimming, etc. involve personal preference. A hot sauce challenge Explanation : While some people may experience some discomfort by tasting various hot sauces, it is unlikely that sharing about such challenges would cause significant harm. Review of a type of car Explanation : While cars are big purchases, many people ask friends and family about cars.

Personal opinion about why a racial group is inferior Explanation : Pages on this topic have been used to justify or incite violence against groups of people.

Personal opinion about why a rock band is inferior Explanation : This topic is unlikely to cause harm, although there may be strong opinions involved!

A personal opinion What impact could this opinion have on other people and society?

News about ongoing violence

News about a local high school basketball game Explanation : This topic is unlikely to cause harm.

News about current events Could this topic significantly impact people and society? For societal impact, consider issues such as elections and trust in public institutions that benefit society. Sharing on social media Could the social media post cause significant harm? Could it hurt individuals? Could it damage society if widely shared?

Explanation : People need accurate information to stay safe. Society may also be impacted by information about ongoing violence, as citizens and governments make civic decisions accordingly. A tide pod challenge post Explanation : This harmful social media challenge was responsible for deaths.

A music video Explanation : This type of content generally has little risk of harm.

Purchasing prescription drugs Explanation : Prescription drugs have the potential to cause harm and require purchase from licensed pharmacies.

Purchasing pencils Explanation : Pencils and other everyday items are unlikely to cause harm.

Online commerce and product reviews

Consider the product. Could the product cause significant harm?

If you are having trouble deciding whether a topic is YMYL, consider the following questions: 1. Would a careful person seek out experts or highly trusted sources to prevent harm ? Could even minor inaccuracies cause harm? If yes, then the topic is likely YMYL. 2. Is the specific topic one that most people would be content with only casually consulting their friends about? If yes, the topic is likely not YMYL. Important note : For pages about clear YMYL topics, we have very high Page Quality rating standards because low quality pages could potentially negatively impact a person’s health, financial stability, or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society. Page Quality rating examples in these guidelines about YMYL topics will be labeled as YMYL to illustrate the high rating standards for clear YMYL topics that impact a person’s health, financial stability, or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society. 2.4 Understanding Webpage Content All of the content on a webpage can be classified as one of the following: Main Content (MC), Supplementary Content (SC), or Advertisements/Monetization (Ads). In order to understand the purpose of a webpage and do PQ rating, you will 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 allow users to make informed decisions about what pages to visit. Helpful titles summarize the MC on the page.

Type of Page and Purpose

MC Highlighted in Yellow

News website homepage: the purpose is to inform users about recent or important events. News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic. Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product. ● Content behind the Reviews, Shipping, and Safety Information tabs are considered to be part of the MC.

MC - News Homepage

MC - News Article

MC - Shopping Page

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 controlled by webmasters and is an important part of the user experience. One common type of SC is navigation links that allow 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. Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.

SC - News Article 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. Usually, 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 will consider a website responsible for the overall quality of the Ads displayed. Important: For the purpose of this guideline, we will 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 Ads - Video Page

Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.

Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show. Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.

Ads - Blog Post Page No ads 3 Shopping Page

2.4.4 Summary of the Parts of the Page Let's put it all together. ● 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. ● Supplementary Content (SC) is also important. SC can help a page better achieve its purpose or it can detract from the overall experience. ● 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. Copyright 2022 14

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 Highlighted

Type of Page and Purpose

News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic. Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.

Summary - News Article Summary - Shopping Page Summary - Video Page Summary - Currency Converter Summary - Blog Post Page Summary - Bank Login Page

Video page: the purpose is to share a video about cats.

Currency converter page: the purpose is to calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.

Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show. Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to log in to the bank online.

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 usually very eager to tell you all about themselves! You must also look for reputation information about the website. What do 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, trust the independent sources. 2.5.1 Finding the Homepage The homepage of a website usually contains or has links to important information about the website. Webmasters usually 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 usually at the top of the page. 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. Occasionally, your rating task will 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 https://finance.yahoo.com/calendar 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 following examples, we have included the URL of the page to be evaluated in the rating task, as well 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 will 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 homepage

URL of the Task Page

Homepage of the Website

Williams-Sonoma Homepage

http://www.williams-sonoma.c om/products/shun-premier-7- piece-knife-block-set

http://www.williams-sonoma.com

This <WILLIAMS-SONOMA= logo shown in the upper center of the page is clickable and takes users to the homepage of the website.

Harvard Medical School Facts and Figures Page

http://hms.harvard.edu In this case, we will consider the Harvard Medical School page at http://hms.harvard.edu to be the homepage, rather than http://www.harvard.edu (which is the homepage of Harvard University). Clicking the logo at the top of http://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures takes users to http://hms.harvard.edu, not to http://www.harvard.edu.

http://hms.harvard.edu/about- hms/facts-figures

This <Harvard Medical School= logo in the upper left part of the page is clickable and takes users to the homepage of the Harvard Medical School website.

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 usually 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 usually 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 will view the business or organization as responsible for the content on every single page, as well 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. Finally, 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 will 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.

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'll ask you to do some special checks. Look for contact information4including 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 smaller 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. Occasionally, 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 allow 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 will 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 and Creator of the Main Content An important part of PQ rating is understanding the reputation of the website. If the creator of the MC is different from the creator of the website, it’s important to understand the reputation of the creator as well. A website's reputation is based on the experience of real users, as well 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. Knowing more about the reputation of a website and content creator can also help you understand what a website is best known for, and as a result how well 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 tell users how great they are. Some webmasters have read these rating guidelines and write <reviews= on various review websites. But for PQ rating, you should aim to find independent sources of reputation information about the website and creator of the MC rather than relying solely on what the website itself or content creator has to say. Your job is to evaluate the reputation of the website and creator of the MC. Please research the website and content creator to find out what other people and experts have to say. 2.6.1 Research on the Reputation of the Website and Creator of the Main Content Use reputation research to find out what real users, as well 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. User reviews are often helpful sources of reputation for websites that offer products or services. You may consider a large number of detailed, trustworthy positive user reviews as evidence of positive reputation. For other kinds of websites, sources of reputation information will vary according to the topic or type of company/organization/entity that the website represents. For example, you might find that a newspaper (with an associated website) has won journalistic awards. Prestigious awards or a history of high quality original reporting are strong evidence of positive reputation. For individual authors and content creators, biographical information articles can be a good source of reputation information. For YMYL informational topics, the reputation of a website or content creator should be judged by what experts in the field have to say. Recommendations from expert sources, such as professional societies, are strong evidence of a very positive reputation. Carefully consider the purpose of the page, whether or not the topic is YMYL, and the kind of reputation information that would be most applicable. For example, customer ratings and reviews may be helpful for reputation research of online stores, but much less so for medical information websites.

Reputation research is necessary for all websites and content creators you encounter, to the extent that an established reputation can be found. Do not just assume websites you personally 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 all be sources of reputation information. Look for independent, credible sources of information. Sometimes, you will 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. When interpreting customer reviews, try to find as many as possible. Any store or business 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 overall website.

2. Using ibm.com as an example, try one or more of the following 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.

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