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As we know, algorithms are very powerful in influencing the search results. However, we also know that Google has human evaluators -- thousands, in fact. In a recent blog post on the Official Google Blog, one of Google's engineering directors shed some light into the role of human evaluators. The relevant piece of information is here:
Google makes use of evaluators in many countries and languages. These evaluators are carefully trained and are asked to evaluate the quality of search results in several different ways. We sometimes show evaluators whole result sets by themselves or "side by side" with alternatives; in other cases, we show evaluators a single result at a time for a query and ask them to rate its quality along various dimensions.
Tedster at WebmasterWorld is pretty interested in these results; the fact that human evaluators actually look at results side by side to help improve the quality of its search results is pretty reassuring.
Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Ryan
09/16/2008 10:26 pm
How cool is that? I wonder how one becomes an evaluator. Anyway, I was wondering if they had eyeballs looking at results sometimes, but just due to the massive volume of searches, I guess it's hard to catch all the funky stuff.
W. Pat Peters
09/17/2008 07:59 am
Does this mean we should start thinking like humans again, and not robots? Geez this seo stuff can get confusing.
No Name
09/17/2008 06:02 pm
Yikes, I definitely don't want to be one of the guys looking at search results all the time.
Terry Henri
11/12/2008 02:38 pm
Whats funny is that Google sends all your search info, including your I.P address to the government.. Big Brother is watching U