Google`s Quality Rater Guidelines Leaked - Useful and Relevant
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Useful
I believe Google builds 80 percent of its search results with this measurement:
A rating of Useful is assigned to pages that contain some or all of the following characteristics: highly satisfying, comprehensive, high in quality, and authoritative. Useful pages answer the query just right; they are neither too broad nor too specific.
The document also lists types of useful pages:
a timely and informative article.
a page that allows the user to complete the intended transaction.
an important subpage on a correct site.
a home page of a correct site for a specific product. If the query "asks" for a list, then a directory (a collection of links) can be Useful, e.g. [ fudge recipes ], [ books about sharks ].
A search engine optimization campaign should aim towards getting pages classified as "useful."
We can come to a conclusion with which you're already familiar: "Content is King." I personally spend a lot of time developing the best content in the industry for personal and internal projects, aiming to be classified as:
The duo listed above forms a powerful alliance and makes both Google and users happy. A good example is Aaron's article on search engine algorithms.
Relevant
This rating is lower than useful and doesn't get as many kudos from raters as a "useful" page does.
A rating of Relevant is assigned to pages that have fewer valuable attributes than were listed for Useful pages. Relevant pages might be less comprehensive, come from a less authoritative source, or cover only one important aspect of the query.
If you read blogs and SEO articles, you are probably familiar with the words: "Provide useful and relevant content to users." This is what most decent websites do, and I believe this is not enough to set you apart. I come back often to the wonderful examples by SEOmoz, wiep.net, and Aaron Wall, who kill in the area of "useful and relevant content," providing super industry standard articles. This is the content that gathers links.
Relevant content is easy to produce, so aim higher.
Sometimes you'll be classified as "merely" relevant because there are few sources available and you're the closest thing. I wouldn't worry about those.
Non Relevant / Off Topic / Didn't Load / Foreign Language
This is common sense. Pages that don't load or that are off topic are removed from search results. I believe Google also automatically removes 404s and other error messages.
Refer to the document for a full list.
There are three more sections: Unratable, Pornography and Malicious, but they are of little use (unless you're in the porn business or attach viruses to your pages).
Next: Inside the Raters HUB >>
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