Google Terminates Appen Contract: What Does It Mean for SEO?
Publication date:23.01.2026
Blog category:
SEO and Promotion
Entering the year 2024, Google decided to end its contract with Appen, the company that provided search quality evaluators. This decisive step can have big consequences for SEO, because the quality of search affects the ranking of pages and, in turn, the conduct of business on the Internet.
"In the most recent announcement, Appen disclosed that it received notice from Google LLC on January 20, 2024 to terminate its global contract for inbound services. This will result in the termination of Appen's services provided by Google until March 19, 2024."
🚀And while it's unclear what the cancellation of Appen's contract means for the Search Quality Evaluator program, Google updated its Search Quality Evaluator guidelines in November 2023.
- 📌 Apen is a source of search engine evaluators (QA) for Google, as listed in the company's latest vacancies.
- 📌 The jobs were likely posted before Google notified Appen of its decision to cancel services.
- 📌 The news item states that Appen shares have been affected and are now at an all-time low.
It is not yet known, but search quality may be affected because quality raters play an important role in determining the relevance and usefulness of web content.
Perhaps. Termination of the contract may change the way Google evaluates the quality of websites, which may affect the ranking of the sites.
It is possible. Google has already made cuts in several departments, and according to CEO Sundar Pichai, more cuts are on the way.
🧩 Summary: At the time of writing, the details of the cancellation of Google's contract with Appen remain unknown. However, this has caused considerable concern in the SEO community, as quality raters play a key role in shaping Google's ranking algorithms.
🧠 Own considerations: These changes may point to a broader strategic shift at Google, especially given recent layoffs at the company. It's important to keep an eye out for further updates to understand how this may affect SEO and search quality. All of this highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptability in SEO.
✍️ Автор: Володимир Катюшин, експерт у сфері вебтехнологій.
Статтю згенеровано з використанням ШІ на основі зазначеного матеріалу, відредаговано та перевірено автором вручну для точності та корисності.
Літературні джерела!
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-terminates-contract-with-appen-for-search-quality-raters/506006/
