Google’s Dismissal of Appen: An Insight into Search Quality Ratings

The recent parting of ways between Google and Appen, a firm providing Search Quality Raters, has caused quite a stir in the digital marketing community. At Digital Sunbird, we carefully examined the situation to provide a clear comprehension of the events. The rumours of Google shifting towards AI search quality raters are plenty but do they shield the entire truth? Let’s explore.

Misconceptions Surrounding Search Quality Raters

The chatter in the SEO social media circles usually alternates between two notions:

• Google is dismantling its search quality raters team
• Google is shifting toward AI search quality raters

The notion that Google intends to stop using human search quality raters completely lacks factual foundation. Google is known to collaborate with multiple companies, including ones like Telus and RWS, known to provide quality ratings services.

Factors Behind The Google-Appen Severance

Speculation among experts implies that Appen cessation could be related to monetary factors. It is believed that Appen employees, influenced by Google’s worker’s union, were advocating for improved wages, a theory mentioned in a Forbes report. Hence, colleagues postulated that Google could be reducing expenses by releasing Appen personnel, especially since they have ties with Google’s unionized workers. However, other events indicate that this might merely be a coincidence.

Google has recently given notice of another round of layoffs, affecting its engineering team. It is plausible that Appen’s dismissal was part of this generalized cost-cutting measure.

The AI Takeover: Myth or Fact?

Among the digital conundrum, SEOs put forth a theory that Google might introduce AI quality raters in place of human individuals. While some argue that AI might not have the capability to replace human raters presently, they believe it very well may in the near future. This prospect instills fear in some SEOs, who predict a nightmare scenario – AI escalating quality ratings to cover the entire web. The rumour, though, suffers from lack of concrete proof, and is sadly, exaggerated.

The Role of AI in Google’s Search Quality Ratings

Google has used AI mechanisms and algorithms for years to rate webpages for search quality. Tools like the ‘Helpful Content System’, ‘Reviews System’ and ‘SpamBrain’ already partake in evaluating websites on a large scale. Thus, the question is not if Google will replace its Search Quality Raters with AI, but rather express the fact that humans continue to be involved in the process while Google has already implemented AI to rate websites for search quality.

Training AI with Existing Data Sets

Indeed, one cannot overlook the fact that training AI involves using datasets. The data provided by Search Quality Raters could be instrumental in machine learning processes. This dual application – along with their primary role of rating new algorithms’ search results – validates the importance of maintaining human raters’ involvement in the system. Therefore, it can be inferred that Google doesn’t plan to eliminate human search quality raters soon.

Conclusion: The Sky is Not Falling

In conclusion, despite recent upheavals, as we can observe, the sky isn’t falling for Google, Search Quality Raters, or SEO strategies at large. Let’s consider it just another exhilarating week in the dynamic landscape of SEO!

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