• HOME
  • WHAT WE DO
    • ARTICLES
    • EDITORIAL
    • BLOGGING
    • ECOM
    • NEWS
    • TRANSLATION
    • OUTREACH
    • VISUAL
  • ABOUT US
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR NETWORK
call
01263 889269
fb in tw
  • HOME
  • WHAT WE DO
    • ARTICLES
    • EDITORIAL
    • BLOGGING
    • ECOM
    • NEWS
    • TRANSLATION
    • OUTREACH
    • VISUAL
  • ABOUT US
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR NETWORK
Book a Consultation

Google using “quality raters” to flag offensive content in search

March 16, 2017
-
Blog
-
No comments
-
Posted by David Hobart

Google has stepped up its attempts to eliminate offensive and upsetting content from search results by using thousands of independent contractors to flag inappropriate news, images and articles. The work of these “quality raters” will help the tech giant improve and optimise its search algorithms.

Google started using contractors to rate search results depending on their usefulness to real queries back in 2013, but these third parties will now be able to flag specific content as “Upsetting-Offensive” if SERPs show anything that, for example, promotes hate against a certain race or ethnic group, features graphic violence or contains information about harmful activities.

However, flagged content must be more than a merely upsetting topic. Google cited the recent controversy about Holocaust history searches to highlight that “a factually accurate source” is deemed appropriate, while a result showing a denial site deserves a red flag.

Google rolled out the rating system in an update on Tuesday. The company has come under increasing pressure during the last six months to clamp down on fake and extremist content, and its latest move should go some way towards deranking inappropriate articles, though its main aim is to improve algorithms moving forward.

“In other words, being flagged as ‘Upsetting-Offensive’ by a quality rater does not actually mean that a page or site will be identified this way in Google’s actual search engine,” Search Engine Land editor Danny Sullivan said. “Instead, it’s data that Google uses so that its search algorithms can automatically spot pages generally that should be flagged.”

Many of the offensive results may have been flagged previously by quality raters anyway, as some of these pages are likely to have fallen under the “Low Quality” content category or scored poorly on the “Needs Met” scale. Google said that this is just another way to improve its feedback programme and potentially deliver better results so that users can surface high-quality content that they want to read.

“We will see how some of this works out,” Google search engineer Paul Haahr told Search Engine Land. “I’ll be honest. We’re learning as we go…We’ve been very pleased with what raters give us in general. We’ve only been able to improve ranking as much as we have over the years because we have this really strong rater programme that gives us real feedback on what we’re doing.”

Tags
Content
Google
search engines
← PREVIOUS POST
YouTube to replace Annotations Editor with End Screens and Cards in May
NEXT POST →
Editorial content best for ad visibility and recall
  • Content Writing
  • News Feeds
  • Language & Localisation
  • Content Marketing
  • Video Production
  • Photography & Graphics
  • Content Placement
  • Audience Builder
[sc_twitter_feed]
Categories
  • Blog
  • Competition
  • Latest News
  • Uncategorized
Archives
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • October 2008

Leave a Comment

Your feedback is valuable for us. Your email will not be published.
Cancel Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related News

Other posts that you should not miss.

Four tricks to boost content marketing lead generation

July 19, 2018
-
Blog

Content marketing is an effective way to generate leads, but over time even a successful campaign can benefit from a refresher. If you’ve noticed a drop in your …

Read More →
Posted by Chris Lee
2 MIN READ

Germany Awards Bangladeshi Bloggers

April 14, 2011
-
Blog
Read More →
Posted by David Hobart
1 MIN READ

Google spam report highlights efforts to deliver high-quality search

May 3, 2016
-
Blog

Google has revealed that there was a notable increase in the number of websites using “thin, low-quality content” during the last year, while its own spam-fighting efforts and …

Read More →
Posted by David Hobart
2 MIN READ
footerimg

Call Purecontent on +44(0) 1263 519749 or contact us using the form above. We would love to hear about your next content project.

United Kingdom

cc-contact First Floor, North Lodge Park, Cromer, Norfolk NR27 0AH

sales@purecontent.com

+44 (0)1263 519749

United States

cc-contact Suite 136, 99 Wall Street, New York NY 10005

sales@purecontent.com

+1 6468 591 132

Services

  • Articles
  • Editorial
  • Blogging
  • Ecom
  • News
  • Transcreation
  • Visual
  • cc-social-links
  • cc-social-links
  • cc-social-links
  • cc-social-links
  • cc-social-links
  • cc-social-links

©2021 Purecontent

Google using “quality raters” to flag offensive content in search | Purecontent
×

Download Brochure

Please complete the form below to download our latest brochure.