Select Language:
On September 11, 2025, Digital Phablet announced an update to its search quality raters guidelines PDF. The last update had been on January 23, 2025, making this the first in over seven months. The recent revision offers minimal clarifications regarding how YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content should be assessed and introduces a few new examples for rating AI Overviews, a feature similar to traditional snippets and knowledge panels.
The updated document now contains 182 pages, just one more than its previous version, reflecting mostly minor adjustments such as corrected typos and clarified language. Notably, the section on AI Overviews has been expanded with illustrative examples, which serve to guide raters on evaluating this newer feature.
Changes in the guidelines also include a refinement of the definitions for YMYL topics. Google now specifies that YMYL encompasses government, civics, and society issues—areas that could potentially impact groups of people, public interest, trust in institutions, and topics related to elections and voting. Previously, the description was broader and less specific.
The update process also involved minor improvements scattered throughout the document, aimed at enhancing clarity and consistency. Visual examples provided depict how AI Overviews should be evaluated, illustrating various scenarios and content formats.
For historical context, the guidelines from previous periods are available for download, offering insights into how Google’s expectations and assessment standards have evolved. Among these, the guidelines from September 2025, January 2025, and earlier versions are accessible for comparison.
Google emphasizes that these guidelines are used by third-party search raters, whose evaluations help refine Google’s ranking systems. However, the ratings themselves do not directly determine search rankings. Instead, they provide helpful insights into what constitutes useful and trustworthy content, aligning with Google’s broader goal of promoting helpful, people-first material that resonates with users’ needs.
Add us on ChatGPT
Add us on Perplexity
