Google is moving away from the 30-point rating system it inherited from its acquisition Zagat last year because it’s just too complicated. Instead, it will replace the confounding restaurant rating math with something a bit more straightforward.
Google says estaurants will be ranked in four levels—poor-fair, good, very good, or excellent. The Zagat system really doesn’t make a lot of sense to the average eater—it grades places on a 30-point scale. Yelp and other guides of course use a more universal 5-star curve. The only other thing that grades on a 30-point scale are Italian Universities. The Zagat score will still exist, it just won’t be the thing you’ll see in the results. Sure, Zagat’s system was familiar to foodies, but to normal people it was nonsensical, so this is a change we can get on board with. [Google via Business Insider via Search Engine Land]
Update: Google has clarified the original post—it’s not getting rid of the Zagat ratings, it’s just changing the way they’re displayed with the more straightforward labels. You can see just exactly how the 30-point score is calculated here.
