Most people know that Google uses an automated algorithm to sift through sites in order to return those that are most relevant for your search. Google’s algorithm uses over 200 unique signals or ‘clues’ in judging the relevance of a site.

But did you know that Google also employs people to manually rate sites? It’s often thought that the ‘Quality Raters’ have the ability to change where a site appears in the search results on Google, but the comments of a Rater in the interview below, suggests that Google uses the Raters’ feedback to tweak and improve its algorithm.

“An interview with a Google search quality rater” from Search Engine Land delves into how these Quality Raters work, what they look for, and how Google uses their feedback. It’s worth read to get a few pointers as to what Google is looking for in a website.