Telus General_Guidelines 2.pdf

General Guidelines Version 9.0.1 February 6, 2023 General Guidelines Overview 5 Introduction to Search Quality Rating...

General Guidelines Version 9.0.1 February 6, 2023 General Guidelines Overview 5 Introduction to Search Quality Rating 6 0.0 The Search Experience 6 0.1 The Purpose of Search Quality Rating 6 0.2 Raters Must Represent People in their Rating Locale 7 0.3 Browser Requirements 7 0.4 Ad Blocking Extensions 7 0.5 Internet Safety Information 7 0.6 The Role of Examples in these Guidelines 8 Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline 9 1.0 Introduction to Page Quality Rating 9 2.0 Understanding Webpages and Websites 9 2.1 Important Definitions 9 2.2 Understanding the Purpose of a Webpage 10 2.3 Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Topics 11 2.4 Understanding Webpage Content 13 2.4.1 Identifying the Main Content (MC) 13 2.4.2 Identifying the Supplementary Content (SC) 14 2.4.3 Identifying Advertisements/Monetization (Ads) 14 2.4.4 Summary of the Parts of the Page 14 2.5 Understanding the Website 15 2.5.1 Finding the Homepage 15 2.5.2 Finding Who is Responsible for the Website and Who Created the Content on the Page 16 2.5.3 Finding About Us, Contact Information, and Customer Service Information 18 3.0 Overall Page Quality Rating 19 3.1 Page Quality Rating Considerations 19 3.2 Quality of the Main Content 21 3.3 Reputation of the Website and Content Creators 22 3.3.1 Reputation of the Website 22 3.3.2 Customer Reviews as Reputation Information 23 3.3.3 How to Search for Reputation Information about a Website 23 3.3.4 Reputation of the Content Creators 25 3.3.5 What to Do When You Find No Reputation Information 25 3.4 Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-E-A-T) 26 3.4.1 YMYL Topics: Experience or Expertise? 28 4.0 Lowest Quality Pages 29 4.1 Types of Lowest Quality Pages 31 4.2 Harmful to Self or Other Individuals 32 4.3 Harmful to Specified Groups 33 4.4 Harmfully Misleading Information 34 4.5 Untrustworthy Webpages or Websites 35 4.5.1 Inadequate Information about the Website or Content Creator for the Purpose of the Page 35 Copyright 2023 1  4.5.2 Lowest E-E-A-T and Lowest Reputation of the Website or Content Creator 36 4.5.3 Deceptive Page Purpose and Deceptive MC Design 36 4.5.4 Deliberately Obstructed or Obscured MC 37 4.5.5 Suspected Malicious Behavior 38 4.6 Spammy Webpages 38 4.6.1 Cannot Determine a Purpose, No MC, Little MC, or Lowest Quality MC 39 4.6.2 Hacked, Defaced, or Spammed Pages 39 4.6.3 Auto-generated MC 39 4.6.4 Copied MC with No Added Value 40 4.6.5 How to Determine if Content is Copied 40 4.7 Examples of Lowest Quality Pages 42 5.0 Low Quality Pages 50 5.1 Lacking E-E-A-T 51 5.2 Low Quality Main Content 51 5.3 Distracting Ads/SC 53 5.4 Mildly Negative Reputation of the Website or Content Creator 53 5.5 Unsatisfying Amount of Information about the Website or Content Creator 53 5.6 Examples of Low Quality Pages 54 6.0 Medium Quality Pages 57 6.1 Types of Medium Quality Pages 58 6.2 Examples of Medium Quality Pages 58 7.0 High Quality Pages 60 7.1 High Quality Main Content 61 7.2 Positive Reputation 61 7.3 High Level of E-E-A-T 62 7.4 Examples of High Quality Pages 63 8.0 Highest Quality Pages 66 8.1 Very High Quality MC 67 8.2 Very Positive Reputation 67 8.3 Very High Level of E-E-A-T 67 8.4 Examples of Highest Quality Pages 68 9.0 Page Quality Criteria for Specific Types of Pages 74 9.1 Ratings for Encyclopedia Pages 74 9.2 Ratings for Pages with Error Messages or No MC 74 9.3 Ratings for Forums and Q&A Pages 76 10.0 Page Quality Rating Tasks 80 10.1 Instructions for Rating Page Quality Tasks 80 11.0 Page Quality Rating FAQs 81 Part 2: Understanding Search User Needs 83 12.0 Understanding Search Users, Queries, and Results 83 12.1 Important Rating Definitions and Ideas 83 12.2 Understanding the Query 84 12.3 Locale and User Location 84 12.4 Queries with an Explicit Location 85 12.5 Queries with Multiple Meanings 85 12.6 Query Meanings Can Change Over Time 87 Copyright 2023 2  12.7 Understanding User Intent 87 12.7.1 Know and Know Simple Queries 88 12.7.2 Do Queries 89 12.7.3 Website Queries 89 12.7.4 Visit-in-Person Queries and User Location 90 12.7.5 Queries with Multiple User Intents 92 12.8 Understanding Result Blocks 93 12.8.1 Web Search Result Block Examples 93 12.8.2 Special Content Result Block Examples 94 Part 3: Needs Met Rating Guideline 98 13.0 Rating Using the Needs Met Scale 98 13.1 Rating Result Blocks: Block Content and Landing Pages 98 13.2 Fully Meets (FullyM) 101 13.2.1 Examples of Fully Meets (FullyM) Result Blocks 101 13.2.2 Examples of Queries that Cannot Have Fully Meets Results 107 13.3 Highly Meets (HM) 108 13.3.1 Examples of Highly Meets (HM) Result Blocks 108 13.4 Moderately Meets (MM) 118 13.4.1 Examples of Moderately Meets (MM) Result Blocks 118 13.5 Slightly Meets (SM) 120 13.5.1 Examples of Slightly Meets (SM) Result Blocks 120 13.6 Fails to Meet (FailsM) 123 13.6.1 Examples of Fails to Meet (FailsM) Result Blocks 123 14.0 The Relationship between Page Quality and Needs Met 132 15.0 Rating Porn, Foreign Language, and Did Not Load Results 135 15.1 Porn Flag 135 15.2 Needs Met Rating for Porn Results 135 15.2.1 Needs Met Rating for Clear Non-Porn Intent Queries 135 15.2.2 Needs Met Rating for Possible Porn Intent Queries 136 15.2.3 Needs Met Rating for Clear Porn Intent Queries 136 15.3 Reporting Illegal Images 137 15.4 Foreign Language Flag 137 15.4.1 Using the Foreign Language Flag 137 15.4.2 Needs Met Rating for Foreign Language Results 138 15.5 Did Not Load Flag 140 15.5.1 Using the Did Not Load Flag 140 15.5.2 Needs Met Rating and the Did Not Load Flag 140 15.6 Additional Flags in Some Rating Tasks 142 16.0 Rating Queries with Multiple Interpretations and Intents 142 16.1 Rating Queries with Both Website and Visit-in-Person Intent 142 17.0 Specificity of Queries and Landing Pages 144 18.0 Needs Met Rating and Freshness 152 19.0 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries and Results 154 19.1 Misspelled and Mistyped Queries 154 19.2 Name Queries 155 20.0 Non-Fully Meets Results for URL Queries 155 Copyright 2023 3  21.0 Product Queries: Importance of Browsing and Researching 157 22.0 Rating Visit-in-Person Intent Queries 158 22.1 Examples Where User Location Does (and Does Not) Matter 159 23.0 Rating English Language Results in Non-English Locales 161 23.1 Examples of English (and Non-English) Results in Non-English Locales 162 24.0 Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries 166 Appendix: Using the Evaluation Platform 169 25.0 Overview 169 26.0 Acquiring Tasks 169 27.0 Rating Tasks Using the Rating Interface 169 28.0 Releasing Tasks 170 29.0 Understanding the User Location on the Task Page 172 30.0 Reporting Duplicate Results in Tasks 172 30.1 Pre-Identified Duplicates 172 30.2 Rater-Identified Duplicates 173 30.3 Reporting Duplicate Results 174 31.0 Simplified Needs Met Tasks 175 Copyright 2023 4 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. Copyright 2023 5 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. 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 own specific language and locale. No single rating can directly impact how a particular webpage, website, or result appears in Google Search, nor can it 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 hyphen) in your searches or try using advanced search options. Copyright 2023 6 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 files).ppt or.pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint).doc or.docx (Microsoft Word).xls or.xlsx (Microsoft Excel).pdf (PDF files) (Adobe Acrobat) 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. Copyright 2023 7 0.6 The Role of Examples in these Guidelines The rating concepts in these guidelines apply to all types of content. The examples throughout these guidelines are very important to illustrate how the concepts defined in each section should be applied in rating tasks for different types of webpages and different types of content. 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. Because some types of content are difficult to view in "snapshot" form, a description of the webpage is provided for each example. 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. Copyright 2023 8 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 as you explore the landing page and the website associated with the URL. The goal of PQ rating is to evaluate how well the page achieves its purpose. 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 importantly—practice doing PQ rating tasks! 2.0 Understanding Webpages and Websites Page Quality 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. 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 string of letters, numbers, and punctuation 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 website owner is the person, company, or organization who is responsible for a website. Copyright 2023 9 A content creator is the individual(s) or entity (business, organization, etc.) who created the content on a webpage. 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! 2.2 Understanding 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. 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 rating—you 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 a personal experience, perspective, or feelings on a topic. To share pictures, videos, or other forms of media. To demonstrate a personal talent or skill. To express an opinion or point of view. To entertain. To offer 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. Shopping page To sell or give information about the product. 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. Copyright 2023 10 2.3 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. 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 Other: 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. Copyright 2023 11  Not or Unlikely YMYL Type of Topic Clear YMYL Topic May be YMYL Topic Topic Evacuation routes for a Weather forecast Music award winners tsunami Explanation: In most Explanation: This topic is Information Explanation: Inaccurate situations, slightly inaccurate unlikely to cause harm. information on evacuation information about the weather Could significant harm result routes could cause significant forecast will not cause harm. from inaccurate information? harm to people. People often ask family members "what's the weather today". When to go to the How often to replace a How frequently to wash emergency room toothbrush jeans Advice about an activity Explanation: Bad advice on Explanation: This is a casual Explanation: This topic is when to go to the emergency health topic people commonly unlikely to cause harm. Could significant harm result room could cause significant discuss with friends. A slightly from poor advice? harm. imperfect suggestion is unlikely to significantly impact health or safety. Personal opinion about why Personal opinion about why Personal opinion about why a racial group is inferior an exercise is inferior a rock band is inferior A personal opinion Explanation: Pages on this Explanation: While there may Explanation: This topic is What impact could this opinion topic have been used to justify be a health concern if the unlikely to cause harm, have on other people and or incite violence against exercise is extreme or risky, although there may be strong society? groups of people. most discussions of jogging vs opinions involved! swimming, etc. involve personal preference. News about ongoing News about a car accident News about a local high News about current events violence school basketball game Explanation: The accident Could this topic significantly Explanation: People need itself may have been harmful, Explanation: This topic is impact people and society? accurate information to stay but there is likely little risk of unlikely to cause harm. safe. Society may also be future harm from small For societal impact, consider impacted by information about inaccuracies in reporting issues such as elections and ongoing violence, as citizens about an incident. trust in public institutions that and governments make civic benefit society. decisions accordingly. A tide pod challenge post A hot sauce challenge A music video Sharing on social media Explanation: This harmful Explanation: While some Explanation: This type of Could the social media post social media challenge was people may experience some content generally has little risk cause significant harm? responsible for deaths. discomfort by tasting various of harm. Could it hurt individuals? hot sauces, it is unlikely that Could it damage society if sharing about such challenges widely shared? would cause significant harm. Purchasing prescription Review of a type of car Purchasing pencils Online commerce and drugs product reviews Explanation: While cars are Explanation: Pencils and Explanation: Prescription big purchases, many people other everyday items are Consider the product. Could drugs have the potential to ask friends and family about unlikely to cause harm. the product cause significant cause harm and require cars. harm? purchase from licensed pharmacies. Copyright 2023 12 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: For pages about clear YMYL topics, we have very high Page Quality rating standards because low quality pages on such topics could potentially negatively 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. MC can be text, images, videos, page features (e.g., calculators, games), and it can be content created by website users, such as videos, reviews, articles, comments posted by users, etc. Tabs on some pages lead to even more information (e.g., customer reviews) and can sometimes be considered part of the MC. 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. MC - News Homepage News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic. MC - News Article 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 MC - Shopping Page part of the MC. 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 Copyright 2023 13 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 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. In some cases, content behind tabs may be considered part of the SC. 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. SC - News Article Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product. SC - Shopping 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 many 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. Ads may change when you reload the page, and different users may see different Ads on the same page. Website owners 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 these guidelines, 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 Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show. Ads - Blog Post Page Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product. No ads – 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. On some pages, user reviews and comments 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. Copyright 2023 14 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. Type of Page and Purpose MC, SC, & Ads Highlighted News article page: the purpose is to communicate information about an event or news topic. Summary - News Article Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product. Summary - Shopping Page Currency converter page: the purpose is to calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies. Summary - Currency Converter Blog post page: the purpose is to share music used on a TV show. Summary - Blog Post Page Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to log in to the bank online. Summary - Bank Login Page 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 understanding the website that the page belongs to. To understand a website, start by finding out who is responsible for the website and who created the content on the page (more information provided in Section 2.5.2). Then, look for information about the website and/or content creators on the website itself. Websites and content creators are usually very eager to tell you all about themselves! You must also look for reputation information about the website and/or content creators. What do outside, independent sources say about them? When there is disagreement between what the website or content creators say about themselves and what reputable independent sources say, 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. Website owners usually make it easy to get to the homepage from any page on the site. Here's how to find the homepage of a website: 1. Examine the landing page of the URL in your PQ rating task. 2. Find and click on the link labeled with the name or logo of the website (occasionally labeled as “home" or “main"), which usually appears 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,” “.fr,” 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. Copyright 2023 15 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. URL of the Task Page Homepage of the Website Where to click to get to the Homepage Williams-Sonoma Homepage http://www.williams-sonoma.c http://www.williams-sonoma.com om/products/shun-premier-7- piece-knife-block-set This “WILLIAMS-SONOMA” logo shown in the upper center of the page is clickable and takes users to the homepage of the website. http://hms.harvard.edu Harvard Medical School Facts and Figures Page In this case, we will consider the Harvard Medical School page at http://hms.harvard.edu to be the http://hms.harvard.edu/about- homepage, rather than http://www.harvard.edu hms/facts-figures (which is the homepage of Harvard University). Clicking the logo at the top of This “Harvard Medical School” logo in the upper http://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures left part of the page is clickable and takes users takes users to http://hms.harvard.edu, not to to the homepage of the Harvard Medical School http://www.harvard.edu. 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 individuals, company, business, organization, government agency, etc.) is responsible for the website. Who (what individuals, company, business, organization, government agency, etc.) created the content on the page you are evaluating. Note that for pages on websites such as forums and social media platforms, people may post content using an alias or username in order to avoid sharing personally identifiable information online. In these cases, the alias or username is an acceptable way to identify the content creator. Websites are usually very clear about who is responsible for the website and who created the content on the page. There are many reasons for this: People may want to showcase their own personal talent, experiences, and perspectives. Artists, authors, musicians, and other original content creators may want to be known and appreciated. Commercial websites may have copyrighted material they want to protect. Businesses and organizations may want people to know who they are and what they do. Stores want customers to feel comfortable buying their products online. 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. Here are some examples: Google Official Blog Marriott Blog Southwest Airlines Blog Netflix Tech Blog Copyright 2023 16 In PQ rating tasks, you will need to identify who created the MC on the page. To help you do so, the table below describes the primary content creators for common webpage types. These types can overlap (e.g., a page may have multiple articles, some written by individual authors or journalists and others written by the website owner). Webpage Type Examples Primary Content Creator(s) The website owner created the page Homepage of a business The website itself can be viewed as the and much of the MC on the page website primary content creator. Website owners Introductory page on a may have content created on their behalf The page may have comments, reviews, personal website (e.g., a small business may hire a or other content posted by users, but the Product page on an online professional web developer to build their page itself is the responsibility of the merchant website website), but they are ultimately website. responsible for the MC. User comments and reviews may play a significant role on the page. As long as the website creates and actively maintains the page, the website is considered to be the primary content creator. The website owner created the page, Newspaper opinion piece The primary content creators are the and the MC is produced by authors or written by the editorial journalists, scientists, etc. listed as other content creators identified by board authors of the content. Often the content the website Magazine article written by creators are individuals, but an an individual journalist organization, company, or institution may The website decides what to publish and Scientific journal paper also be the content creator. is responsible for the content, but there written by a team of are distinct authors or content creators academic researchers User comments may be present, but they who provide the MC on the page. typically are not the focus of the page. The webpage consists of social media Social media post The primary content creator is the person post(s) from a single account Local business profile or organization who created the account representing an individual content page on a social media and is posting the MC. There may be creator or organization website information about the content creator on Video channel on a video a profile page found on the website. The social media website owner enables sharing website people and organizations to create Other user comments and reactions such accounts to post text, images, videos, as "likes" may be considered part of the and other types of content under their MC. account. The webpage is created by multiple Forum discussion thread The people posting are the content users engaging in discussion or Q&A question page creators. posting on social media Search results page on a social media website There is no single primary content The website owner enables people to showing content from creator, and people may be identified post text, images, and videos or have many different users only by aliases or usernames. conversations with other users of the website. Copyright 2023 17 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 information—including 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 or content creator with a legitimate reason for anonymity. For example, personal websites may omit 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 themself 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 official social media page. Be a detective! Note that different locales and different social media platforms may have their own conventions and standards for what information should be available on the website. Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale. Copyright 2023 18 3.0 Overall Page Quality Rating Now that you are an expert in understanding websites and webpages, here are the high-level steps of Page Quality rating: 1. Assess the true purpose of the page. If the website or page has a harmful purpose or is designed to deceive people about its true purpose, it should be rated Lowest. 2. Assess the potential of the page to cause harm as described in these guidelines. Websites or pages that are harmful to people or society, untrustworthy, or spammy as defined in these guidelines should be rated Lowest. 3. Otherwise, the PQ rating is based on how well the page achieves its purpose as described in these guidelines. Important: There are harmful pages that are seemingly “official”, “expert”, or “authoritative”. Any type of website may have pages with harmful MC, from user-uploaded videos and forum posts to harmful products sold online to pages to pages that mimic the look of scientific papers or encyclopedia entries. All pages should be evaluated for harm—including pages on government websites, academic institutions, reputable online stores, charities, or other types of generally helpful websites. On Page Quality rating tasks, you will use the Page Quality sliding scale (slider) to assign the overall PQ rating. The slider looks like this: You may also use the in-between ratings of Lowest+, Low+, Medium+, and High+. Please interpret the “+” as “+ ½,” meaning that the Lowest+ rating is halfway between Lowest and Low, Low+ is halfway between Low and Medium, etc. Identifying Lowest and Low quality pages can be the most difficult part of PQ rating. The guidance in the sections on Lowest and Low is more extensive to help you rate accurately. High and Highest quality pages are typically easier to identify, but be sure to apply the standards and examine the examples throughout these guidelines to help calibrate your ratings. As might be expected, Medium quality pages are commonly found online. 3.1 Page Quality Rating Considerations The following table summarizes the things that you should consider in Page Quality rating. Upcoming sections of these guidelines will elaborate on these considerations and explain how they apply to pages across the PQ rating scale. Consideration Why it's Important for Page Quality Rating The purpose of the page If the page has a harmful purpose, or if it is designed to deceive people about its true purpose or who is responsible for the content, it should be rated Lowest. Otherwise, PQ rating is the process of determining how well a page achieves its purpose. The potential for the page or website Websites or pages that are harmful to people or society, untrustworthy, or to cause harm as described in these spammy as described in these guidelines should be rated Lowest. guidelines The topic of the page and the extent The topic of the page helps determine the standards for your overall PQ to which that topic is YMYL assessment. Pages on YMYL topics have higher standards than pages on non-YMYL topics. Copyright 2023 19  Consideration Why it's Important for Page Quality Rating The type of website Different types of websites and webpages have different expectations for PQ rating. For example, PQ expectations may differ for: Small hobbyist websites vs. large corporate websites Websites involving financial transactions vs. websites that do not require payment or collect personal information Websites with content created by ordinary people on a volunteer basis vs. websites with content created by professionals Information provided by the website While the information that websites and content creators provide about and content creator themselves isn't always trustworthy, it can provide an important starting point. Quality of the MC Consider the extent to which the MC is satisfying and helps the page achieve its purpose. The title of the page The title of the page is considered part of the MC. Descriptive MC titles that summarize the page allow people to make informed decisions about what pages to visit. The role of Ads and SC on the page Consider the ways in which the Ads and SC contribute to how people experience the page. Remember: Many websites need monetization to share content with users. The presence or absence of Ads alone is not a consideration for PQ rating. Reputation of the website and content Research the reputation of the website and the content creator to learn about creator how others view the website and who is behind it. Trustworthiness of the page: E-E-A-T Assess how trustworthy the page is. Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness can help with your assessment of Trust. Some types of pages require a high level of Trust. Important: These considerations overlap. For example, while examining the quality of the MC, you may notice factual inaccuracies that lower your assessment of Trust. While conducting reputation research, you may find information about the expertise of the content creator which increases your level of Trust. This is how PQ rating is designed to work! Copyright 2023 20 3.2 Quality of the Main Content The quality of the Main Content (MC) is one of the most important considerations for PQ rating. The MC plays a major role in determining how well a page achieves its purpose. The unifying theme for evaluating the quality of the MC is the extent to which the MC allows the page to achieve its purpose and offers a satisfying user experience. For most pages, the quality of the MC can be determined by the amount of effort, originality, and talent or skill that went into the creation of the content. For informational pages and pages on YMYL topics, accuracy and consistency with well established expert consensus is important. Effort: Consider the extent to which a human being actively worked to create satisfying content. Effort may be direct, such as a person translating a poem from one language to another. Effort may go into designing page functionality or building systems that power a webpage, such as the creation of a page that offers machine translation as a service to users. On the other hand, the automatic creation of thousands of pages by running existing freely available content through existing translation software without any oversight, manual curation, etc., would not be considered to have human effort. For pages like social media posts or forum discussions, the level of participation and depth of conversation is an important part of effort. Contributions from multiple individuals on such pages can add up to a significant amount of total human effort. Originality: Consider the extent to which the content offers unique, original content that is not available on other websites. If other websites have similar content, consider whether the page is the original source. Talent or Skill: Consider the extent to which the content is created with enough talent and skill to provide a satisfying experience for people who visit the page. Accuracy: For informational pages, consider the extent to which the content is factually accurate. For pages on YMYL topics, consider the extent to which the content is accurate and consistent with well-established expert consensus. The purpose of the page, topic of the page, and type of website all play a role in how to evaluate the quality of the MC. For example, consistency with well-established expert consensus is important for medical advice. Skill is important for how-to videos. Talent and originality is important for artistic expression. The amount of effort expected for a short video shared on social media is less than for a full-length, professionally produced documentary on a streaming video website, but both need sufficient effort to create satisfying content for their purpose. Think about what effort, originality, talent, or skill looks like for the type of page that you are evaluating. For each page you evaluate, spend a few minutes examining the MC before drawing a conclusion about it. Read the article, watch the video, examine the pictures, use the calculator, play the online game, etc. Remember that MC also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out. For example, if the page is a product page on a store website, put at least one product in the cart to make sure the shopping cart is functioning. If the page is an online game, try to play the game yourself. Do your best to imagine that you are someone who's very interested in the topic, functionality, or purpose served by the page, then think about how satisfying the MC would be for that person. High and low quality MC comes in all formats (e.g., text, audio, video, images) and all lengths (e.g., short-form videos and full-length professional documentaries). High and low quality content also exists on all types of websites, from small personal sites to large corporate sites, from forums and social media to websites that handle financial transactions. Think carefully about what helps the page achieve its purpose and what makes the MC satisfying for users. Copyright 2023 21 3.3 Reputation of the Website and Content Creators An important part of PQ rating is understanding the reputation of the website. If the website is not the primary creator of the MC, it’s important to research the reputation of the content creator as well. Reputation research should be performed according to the topic of the page. For example, if the page contains medical information, research the reputation of the website and content creator for providing medical information. It's possible for a website to be a go-to source for one type of content (e.g., humorous videos), but an untrustworthy source for a different type of content (e.g., financial information). A website's or content creator's reputation can also help you understand what a website or content creator is best known for. For example, newspapers may be known for high quality, independent investigative reporting while satire websites may be known for their humor. An individual journalist (content creator) may be known for the clarity of their scientific articles while a food blogger (content creator) may be known for the deliciousness of the recipes they post online. Note that a company or person may create content on many different websites. For example, a newspaper might have their own website, upload their video content to a video sharing website, post updates on social media, and contribute content to a TV channel. An expert on a topic might publish research papers, have a lengthy blog, and share short updates on social media. In these cases, you should research the underlying company or content creator. Reputation research is especially important for detecting untrustworthy websites and content creators. Content may look great on the surface, but reputation research can expose scams, fraud, or other signs of harm. You never know what you will find unless you look! Therefore, reputation research is required for all PQ rating tasks. 3.3.1 Reputation of the Website A website's reputation is based on the experience of real users and the opinions of people who are experts. Websites may represent real companies, organizations, and other entities. Reputation research applies to both the website and the actual company, organization, or entity that the website is representing. Many websites are eager to tell users how great they are. Your job is to independently evaluate the Page Quality of the website, not just accept information that appears on one or two pages of the website without further verification. Be skeptical of claims that websites make about themselves, particularly when there is a clear conflict of interest. Instead, look for independent reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other sources of credible information about the website. Look for information written by a person or organization, 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 great sources of reputation information. For YMYL topics, the reputation of a website 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 positive reputation. Sources of reputation information will also 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 news websites. Note that some types of information about a website is not related to its reputation. For example, websites like Similarweb have information about Internet traffic to the website, but do not provide evidence of positive or negative reputation. You can ignore this type of information since it's not helpful for PQ rating. Copyright 2023 22 3.3.2 Customer Reviews as Reputation Information Customer reviews can be helpful for assessing the reputation of a store, business, or any website that offers products or services to users. You may consider a large number of detailed, trustworthy, positive user reviews as evidence of positive reputation for a store or business. However, you should interpret customer reviews with care, particularly if there are only a few. Keep the following in mind: Be skeptical of both positive and negative reviews. Anyone can write them, including the website owner or someone whom the store or business hires for this purpose. Try to find as many reviews as possible. Any store or business can get a few negative reviews—this is completely normal and expected. Large stores and companies receive thousands of reviews, and most receive some negative ones. Read the reviews because the content of the reviews matter, not just the number or star rating. Credible, convincing reports of fraud and financial wrongdoing is evidence of extremely negative reputation. On the other hand, 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. 3.3.3 How to Search for Reputation Information about a Website 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 content creator, 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. Note: When searching for reputation information, try to find sources that were not written or created by the website or the company itself. For example, IBM might have official social media 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. 3. Look for articles, references, recommendations by experts, and other credible information written by people about the website. High quality news articles and informational articles may be good sources of reputation information. Search for such articles. For example, try [ibm site:en.wikipedia.org]. News articles and informational articles can help you learn about a company and may include information specific to reputation, such as awards and other forms of recognition, or also controversies and issues. Note that some informational articles include a message warning users that there are disagreements on some of the content, or that the content may be outdated. This may be an indication that additional research is necessary. 4. Make sure the information you find is appropriate for judging the reputation of the website. For example, reputation information for YMYL topics should come from sources that have expertise in the associated YMYL topic. Copyright 2023 23 Here are some examples of reputation information: Website Reputation Information About the Website Description Positive reputation information: Users in the U.S. Search results for [annualcreditreport.com can obtain free credit reports on this website by -site:annualcreditreport.com] providing their Social Security Number. Note that annualcreditreport.com the Wikipedia article tells us that Wikipedia article about annualcreditreport.com “AnnualCreditReport.com is the only federally mandated and authorized source for obtaining a Reputable article about annualcreditreport.com free credit report.” Search results for [clevelandclinic.org] Positive reputation information: According to Wikipedia, the Cleveland Clinic “is currently Wikipedia article about clevelandclinic.org regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United clevelandclinic.org States” which can be confirmed by reputable news Reputable article about the best hospitals in the articles cited in the references section. Users can U.S. trust medical information on this website. Positive reputation information: Notice the Search results for [csmonitor.com highlighted section in the Wikipedia article about -site:csmonitor.com] The Christian Science Monitor newspaper, which csmonitor.com tells us that the newspaper has won several Wikipedia article about The Christian Science prestigious awards. From this information, it can be Monitor inferred that the csmonitor.com website has a positive reputation. Positive reputation information: According to the Wikipedia article, “Kernel.org is a main repository of source code for the Linux kernel, the base of the Search results for [kernel.org –site:kernel.org] popular Linux operating system. It makes all kernel.org Wikipedia article about kernel.org versions of the source code available to all users. It also hosts various other projects, like Google Android. The main purpose of the site is to host a repository for Linux kernel developers.” Search to find reputation information Extremely negative reputation information: This website appears to be a perfectly fine-looking store; Search to find reviews however, much evidence of negative reputation can Site selling children’s Negative review on a business review page 1 be found. The business has a very low rating on a jungle gym business review site. There is a news article about Negative review on a business review page 2 financial fraud. There are many reviews on different Negative news article websites describing users sending money and not receiving anything. Search to find reputation information Extremely negative/malicious reputation information: This website engaged in criminal Negative review on a business review page Site selling products behavior such as physically threatening users. related to eyewear Wikipedia article Article about business' criminal behavior Negative review 1 Extremely negative reputation information: There are many detailed negative articles on news Organization serving the Negative review 2 sites and charity watchdog sites about this hospitalized veteran organization describing fraud and financial Negative review 3 community mishandling. Negative review 4 Copyright 2023 24 3.3.4 Reputation of the Content Creators For individual authors and content creators, biographical information articles and online discussions can be a good source of reputation information. Expect to find more formal reputation information about people who create content in a journalistic, scientific, academic, or other traditionally professional capacity, as they often need online credibility for professional success. Educational degrees, peer validation, expert co-authors, and citations can be evidence of positive reputation information for professionals who publish their work. Employment history can also support a positive reputation for topics where training, credentials, or experience are important. Influencers and other individual content creators who earn income on social media platforms often have reputation information available as well, ranging from from biographical details or news articles to less formal reputation sources such as comments by other influencers in their fields. For non-professional content creators including ordinary people who post on social media or forums, you may find informal reputation information on the page itself such as comments by other people about the creators. For example, you may find comments or posts from other users helpful to see what other people think about a particular content creator. 3.3.5 What to Do When You Find No Reputation Information You should expect to find some reputation information for large websites and well-known content creators. People or businesses who create content in a professional capacity typically have some reputation information available. However, small websites may have little or no reputation information. This is not indicative of high or low quality. Many small local businesses or community organizations have a small “web presence” and rely on word of mouth. Furthermore, many ordinary people participate in forum discussions or post on social media websites in a personal capacity. People may use an alias or username to post in order to avoid sharing personally identifiable information online. There may be no reputation information available for some individuals. A lack of reputation about people who post personal content is neither a positive nor a negative sign in your assessment of the page. Finally, remember that there are several important considerations involved in PQ rating (refer back to Section 3.1). Reputation is important, but if reputation information is not available for a website or content creator, pay extra attention to other PQ considerations, especially when assessing pages on YMYL topics. Copyright 2023 25 3.4 Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-E-A-T) Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust (E-E-A-T) are all important considerations in PQ rating. The most important member at the center of the E-E-A-T family is Trust. Trust: Consider the extent to which the page is accurate, honest, safe, and reliable. The type and amount of Trust needed depends on the page, for example: Online stores need secure online payment systems and reliable customer service. Product reviews should be honest and written to help others make informed purchasing decisions (rather than solely to sell the product). Informational pages on clear YMYL topics must be accurate to prevent harm to people and society. Social media posts on non-YMYL topics may not need a high level of Trust, such as when the purpose of the post is to entertain its audience and the content of the post does not risk causing harm. Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness are important concepts that can support your assessment of Trust: Experience: Consider the extent to which the content creator has the necessary first-hand or life experience for the topic. Many types of pages are trustworthy and achieve their purpose well when created by people with a wealth of personal experience. For example, which would you trust: a product review from someone who has personally used the product or a "review" by someone who has not? Expertise: Consider the extent to which the content creator has the necessary knowledge or skill for the topic. Different topics require different levels and types of expertise to be trustworthy. For example, which would you trust: home electrical rewiring advice from a skilled electrician or from an antique homes enthusiast who has no knowledge of electrical wiring? Authoritativeness: Consider the extent to which the content creator or the website is known as a go-to source for the topic. While most topics do not have one official, Authoritative website or content creator, when they do, that website or content creator is often among the most reliable and trustworthy sources. For example, a local business profile page on social media may be the authoritative and trusted source for what is on sale now. The official government page for getting a passport is the unique, official, and authoritative source for passport renewal. Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness may overlap for some page types and topics (for example, someone may develop Expertise in a topic due to first-hand Experience accumulated over time), and different combinations of E-E-A may be relevant to different topics. You should consider the purpose, type, and topic of the page, then ask yourself what would make the content creator a trustworthy source in that context. Copyright 2023 26 Trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem. For example, a financial scam is untrustworthy, even if the content creator is a highly experienced and expert scammer who is considered the go-to on running scams! When it comes to Page Quality rating, your assessment of E-E-A-T should be informed by one or more of the following: What the website or content creators say about themselves: Look at the "About us" page on the website or profile page of the content creator as a starting point. Is the website or content creator a trustworthy source based on this information? What others say about the website or content creators: Look for independent reviews, references, news articles, and other sources of credible information about the website or content creators. Is there independent, reliable evidence that the website or content creator is experienced, has expertise, is authoritative, or is otherwise considered trustworthy? Is there independent, reliable evidence that the website or creator is untrustworthy? What is visible on the page, including the Main Content and sections such as reviews and comments: For some types of pages, the level of experience and expertise may be clear from the MC itself. What evidence can you gather from examining the MC or testing the page out? For example, you may be able to tell that someone is an expert in hair styling by watching a video of them in action (styling someone's hair) and reading others' comments (commenters often highlight expertise or lack thereof). Important: The website or content creator may not be a trustworthy source if there is a clear conflict of interest. For example, product reviews by people who own the product and share their experiences can be very valuable and trustworthy. However, "reviews" by the product manufacturer ("Our product is great!") or "reviews" from an influencer who is paid to promote the product are not as trustworthy due to the conflict of interest. Finally, there are many aspects of Trust, some which are not captured by Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness. Please consider other aspects in your overall Trust assessment, such as customer service information for online stores or peer-reviewed publications for academic authors. If a page is untrustworthy for any reason, it has low E-E-A-T. Copyright 2023 27 3.4.1 YMYL Topics: Experience or Expertise? Pages on YMYL topics can be created for a wide variety of different purposes. If the purpose of a page on a clear YMYL topic is to give information or offer advice, a high level of expertise may be required for the page to be trustworthy. However, sometimes pages on YMYL topics are created to share personal experiences, often regarding difficult life challenges. People turn to each other in times of need to share their own experience, seek comfort or inspiration, and learn from others. Factual information from experts and authoritative sources may not satisfy this need. Pages that share first-hand life experience on clear YMYL topics may be considered to have high E-E-A-T as long as the content is trustworthy, safe, and consistent with well-established expert consensus. In contrast, some types of YMYL information and advice must come from experts. Here are some examples: YMYL Topic Valuable sharing of life Experience Information or advice best left to Experts Sleep challenges when Safe and non-medical tips and tricks for Sleep medications that are safe during pregnant sleeping in the last trimester of pregnancy, pregnancy provided by people who have personally (YMYL Health or Safety) struggled with this challenge, for example: how to use pillows to sleep comfortably in a position that is safe for babies Liver cancer treatment A sincere and respectful forum discussion Different treatment options for liver cancer where people are describing how they're and the associated life expectancies (YMYL Health or Safety) coping with liver cancer treatment under each treatment Filling out tax forms A humorous video from a non-expert Instructions on how to fill out tax forms content creator about the frustration of (YMYL Financial Security) doing taxes Saving for retirement Reviews of retirement saving services by Advice on how to invest for retirement: people with first-hand experience using how much to save, what kinds of assets to (YMYL Financial Security) these services invest in, how much money you will need to retire by a specific age, etc. How to vote A social media post by an ordinary citizen Information about who is eligible to vote or describing why they personally believe it's how to register to vote (YMYL Society) important to vote in local elections Copyright 2023 28 4.0 Lowest Quality Pages Lowest quality pages are untrustworthy, deceptive, harmful to people or society, or have other highly undesirable characteristics. The considerations for Lowest quality include quality of the MC, reputation, E-E-A-T, etc., but there are special checks you will need to complete first. As a reminder, here are the steps for doing PQ rating: 1. Assess the true purpose of the page. If the website or page has a harmful purpose or is designed to deceive people about its true purpose, it should be rated Lowest. 2. Assess the potential of the page to cause harm as described in these guidelines. Websites or pages that are harmful to people or society, untrustworthy, or spammy as specified in these guidelines should receive the Lowest rating. 3. Otherwise, the PQ rating is based on how well the page achieves its purpose using the criteria outlined in these guidelines. Steps 1 and 2 are a screening process to quickly detect harmful content before other PQ considerations are applied. To identify Lowest quality pages, start by considering the following: Initial Consideration Lowest Quality Pages The purpose of the page The Lowest rating is required if the page has a harmful purpose, or if it is designed to deceive people about its true purpose or who is responsible for the content on the page. The potential for the page to cause harm as The Lowest rating is required if the MC is harmful to self or others, described in these guidelines harmful to specified groups, or contains harmfully misleading information. The topic of the page, the type of website, and A page on any topic or any type of website may qualify for Lowest. the extent to which YMYL standards apply Give special scrutiny to pages or websites needing a high level of trust, su