Needs Met rating is the second main task in Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Raters look at a query, think about what a typical user in that location most likely wants, and judge how well a given result satisfies that need. Unlike Page Quality, which looks at a page on its own, Needs Met is always about the fit between a page and a specific query, including mobile users and their context.
The scale
The scale runs from results that are useless for the query to results that completely satisfy it. Fully Meets is reserved for cases where a single result fully answers a specific, unambiguous need, such as an official site for a navigational query.
- Fails to Meet
- Slightly Meets
- Moderately Meets
- Highly Meets
- Fully Meets
Interpreting the query
Raters are taught to consider the dominant interpretation of a query, common interpretations and minor ones. A query like “mercury” has several meanings, and a result that covers only a rare meaning rates lower. They also consider freshness, location and whether a result is the kind of page a user would want, such as a product page versus an article.
Why it is useful to marketers
Needs Met is a good way to check search intent before writing. Look at your target query, list its likely interpretations, and ask whether your page would Highly Meet the dominant one. If your page answers a minor interpretation, or answers it in a format users do not want, a higher-quality page still may not rank.
Example
A feature page for an informational query
Hypothetical scheduling tool Slotwarden targets “how to reduce no-shows” with a product feature page. Applying the Needs Met lens, the team sees the dominant need is practical advice, which a sales page only Slightly Meets. They write a practical guide and link to the feature from it.
Common mistakes
Judging fit by keyword match
A page can contain the exact query and still fail to meet the need. Read the query as a user would.
Questions
Page Quality rates a page on its own. Needs Met rates how well that page answers a particular query. A high-quality page can still fail to meet a query it does not address.
