--- type: "Article" title: "site quality score patent | E-E-A-T trust signals" description: "What Google's site quality score patent (US9031929B1) describes, how the branded query ratio works, and what it does and does not prove." resource: "https://www.laurelinlabs.com/search-systems/site-quality-score-patent" tags: ["site-quality-score-patent", "e-e-a-t-trust-signals", "navneet-panda-patent"] generated: { by: "laurelin-site-build/2026-09-02", at: "2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00" } status: "stable" stale_after: "2027-03-02T00:00:00+00:00" --- # Site quality score patent The site quality score patent (US9031929B1), granted to Google in 2015 with Navneet Panda and April R. Lehman as inventors, describes scoring a site as the ratio of queries that refer to the site by name to queries that lead to clicks on the site's pages. A related Panda patent predicts site quality from phrase use. Google has not confirmed either is used in ranking. For a site, the practical reading is that branded demand relative to generic visibility is worth tracking. ## What is the site quality score patent? The site quality score patent is [US9031929B1](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9031929B1/en), titled "Site quality score", assigned to Google with inventors April R. Lehman and Navneet Panda. It has a priority date of January 5, 2012 and was granted on May 12, 2015, per the [Google Patents record](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9031929B1/en). Search Engine Roundtable [reported the grant on May 14, 2015](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-site-quality-score-panda-pantent-20300.html) and linked Navneet Panda to the Panda algorithm, which is named after him. ## How does the patent calculate site quality? The patent counts two sets of unique queries. The first is queries categorised as referring to the site, which in practice means searches for the site or brand by name. The second is queries after which a user selected a search result from that site. The score is the ratio of the first to the second. A site that people seek out by name, relative to how often they land on it from generic searches, scores higher. A site that attracts clicks only from generic queries, and that nobody searches for directly, scores lower. ## What evidence is there that Google uses the site quality score? The evidence label is patent only. Google files many patents it never uses, and Google has not said this method is in production. Search Engine Roundtable's report of the grant contains no Google statement on use. A second Panda patent, [US9767157B2, Predicting site quality](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9767157B2/en), granted September 19, 2017, describes estimating quality for new sites from the phrases they use, calibrated against sites that already have baseline scores. Google's [ranking systems guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide) does confirm that site-wide signals and classifiers exist, but not that either patent is one of them. ## What does the site quality score patent mean for my site? If the method is used anywhere, a site's branded search demand is a quality input. Even if it is not, branded demand relative to generic visibility is a sound health metric: a site that ranks for many generic queries but that nobody searches for by name is exposed. A falsifiable test: in Search Console, split clicks and unique queries into branded and non-branded. Track the ratio of branded unique queries to all unique queries that led to clicks. The patent predicts that sites with a rising ratio are rated higher over time; your own data can show whether visibility follows. ## Which Laurelin audit checks test for site quality? The new check, [branded search demand is low relative to non-branded visibility](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/trust-signals/373-branded-search-demand-is-low-relative-to-non-branded-visibility), measures the patent's ratio from Search Console data. It measures the input the patent describes, not whether Google uses it. Related existing checks: - [Brand rarely co-mentioned with its topic](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/authority-network/284-brand-rarely-co-mentioned-with-its-topic): brand demand grows when the brand is associated with the topic elsewhere. - [Brand has no resolvable entity](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/authority-network/264-brand-has-no-resolvable-entity): a brand Google cannot identify is harder to categorise as a navigational target. - [Commodity content](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/topical-content/160-commodity-content): commodity pages attract generic clicks without building reasons to return by name. - [No about page](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/trust-signals/225-no-about-page): a basic signal of who is behind the site. ## What are the key dates for site quality score patent? - 2012-01-05: Priority date of US9031929B1, Site quality score ([source](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9031929B1/en)) - 2013-03-15: Priority date of US9767157B2, Predicting site quality ([source](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9767157B2/en)) - 2015-05-12: US9031929B1 granted ([source](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9031929B1/en)) - 2017-09-19: US9767157B2 granted ([source](https://patents.google.com/patent/US9767157B2/en)) ## FAQ ### Who invented Google's site quality score patent? US9031929B1 names April R. Lehman and Navneet Panda as inventors. It was granted to Google on May 12, 2015. ### Does Google use branded searches to rank sites? The patent describes using the ratio of branded to other click-generating queries as a site quality score. Google has not confirmed that it uses this method. Hub: [Trust Signals](/topics/trust-signals.md)