Some webmasters have seen
referrer URLs in their web site log files that start with eval.google.com and
end with an email address. The eval.google.com web site exists
but it is only available if you have login information and
access it from a special network.
Do humans change Google's search results?
It has turned out that eval.google.com is some kind of quality
center. Google pays people from all over the world US$10 to US$20
per hour to check Google search results every day.
These people, called International Agents at Google,
seem to have been recruited through universities. There is
also a job
posting for Google quality raters on Monster.com:
Google Inc.
is recruiting
part-time, temporary,
home-based workers
to help with
work on a search
quality evaluation
on a project
basis. [...]
Candidates
will evaluate
search results
and rate their
relevance. Thus,
all candidates
must be web-savvy
and analytical,
have excellent
web research
skills and a
broad range of
interests. Specific
areas of expertise
are highly desirable.
An official Google spokesman has confirmed that the quality
center exists and that real people rate the quality of search
results.
What does this mean to your web site?
As long as you didn't optimize your web site with shady tricks,
this means nothing to your web site. The human reviewer try
to filter web pages that use unethical search engine optimization
methods such as cloaking, hidden text, etc. from the search
results.
We've said it before in our newsletter: ethical search engine
optimization is about everyone winning.
- Search engines:
They win as they
are provided with
pages that are
easy to understand
and that contain
the quality information
that their visitors
search for.
- Searchers: They
win as they are
getting what they
ask for from the
search engines.
They search for "green
widgets" and
get a page about
green widgets.
- Web site owners:
They win as they
are getting quality
visitors who are
interested in what
their web site
has to offer.
As long as you optimize your web pages with ethical search
engine optimization methods, you don't have to be afraid of
human reviewers.
If you want to know how to optimize your web site
with ethical search engine optimization methods, take a look
at our free
guide to ethical search engine optimization.
|
"We
can now research, track and optimize each of our sites in
one toolset. This allows us to be more efficient and more
responsive to changes in our marketplace. We have been using
and older version of 
