Recently, the search engine optimization (SEO) community has been rocked by the news of a major leak of internal Google Search documents. In an effort led by industry experts Rand Fishkin and Michael King, SEOs have been analyzing these documents, which offer unprecedented insight into how Google Search might work. Some of these revelations even challenge long-held assumptions based on public statements made by Google representatives over the years.
While there is no way to know if the systems described are actually part of Google’s ranking algorithm, this insight into Google’s “black box” provides search professionals with an incredible amount of information, which lets you explore some of the intricacies of Google’s ranking algorithms.
What was revealed about Google’s ranking algorithm
The leak, which was shared by an anonymous source and has since been confirmed as real by Google, comes from Google’s Content API Warehouse. Thousands of documents detailing Google’s supposed features and ranking signals were released, providing a comprehensive look at how Google Search might work behind the scenes.
This leak has great potential to impact the SEO landscape. No doubt, many SEO professionals are looking for information that can help strengthen their strategies, although the use of any of these systems in the ranking algorithm is still, and likely will remain, unconfirmed.
Although the data provided is dense, there are some key points from the leaked documents that fish fish i king have shed some light. This includes:
Classification characteristics and attributes: The documentation lists 2,596 modules with 14,014 attributes. However, it does not specify the weighting of these features.
Twiddlers: They are described as functions that can adjust the “information retrieval score” or ranking of a given document.
Dismissals: There are several reasons that can cause content to degrade, including mismatched links, SERP signals indicating user dissatisfaction, and product reviews.
Link: Links continue to be a ranking factor, with diversity and freshness of links important, and relevance being key. But anchor text links “don’t seem to be as crucial or ubiquitous as I would have expected from my early years in SEO,” according to Fishkin.
Successful clicks: Metrics such as badClicks, goodClicks, lastLongestClicks, and unsquashedClicks can be used to measure user interactions. Longer documents may be truncated, while shorter content is scored for originality. Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) also plays a role.
Brand Importance: It seems that establishing a strong and well-recognized brand outside of Google search is critical. This is emphasized as vital to SEO success. Fishkin stresses that brand presence and awareness are important, so it’s important for SEO to create a popular brand in your space that’s well-recognized with positive reviews.
Authorship: Google stores author information. This indicates that authorship and recognition of the entity may play a role in ranking.
Given Chrome data: Data from the Chrome browser can be used to consider ranking, indicating that user behavior in the browser influences search results.
Whitelists: Some domains, especially those related to elections and COVID-19, may be whitelisted. This means that specific sites may receive preferential treatment in search results.
Dates and freshness: Google may consider various date indicators, such as reference dates, URL dates, and on-page content dates, to determine when content is fresh, which it seems to prefer.
Even page titles and font sizes: Page titles and weighted average font size of document terms can be ranking factors.
Understand the context of filtered Google Docs
While leaked documents provide valuable information, it is crucial to understand the context in which this data exists. The documents are linked to Google’s Document AI Warehouse, a cloud-based platform for storing, searching, organizing and analyzing documents and their metadata. This platform is used to analyze both structured and unstructured data, extract AI-generated metadata and assign tags. This context is essential to avoid misinterpretations and overreactions. The documents provide insight into Google’s complex algorithms, but do not necessarily reflect the full picture or the current state of Google’s ranking system. Google has urged caution, saying the leaked information may be out of context, outdated or incomplete.
We know this won’t stop those looking to find an ace in the hole among the documents. Ongoing document analysis seems to focus on understanding the wider implications and verifying the authenticity and relevance of the documents. Social media posts had debated whether the data had been “leaked” or “discovered”, with some suggesting it was accidentally included in a code review and streamed from the codebase Google internal Google has since confirmed the authenticity of the documents, but not without qualifying that search experts should be wary of investing in anything they find.
New Potential Ranking Factors: Implications for SEO
The confirmation of metrics like siteAuthority and Chrome’s data usage highlights some inconsistencies in Google’s previous claims that these metrics are not ranking factors. Considering these potential ranking factors, including link diversity and user behavior, updates the challenge of developing effective SEO campaigns.
For SEO professionals, these leaks point to the importance of continuing to focus on core principles: creating quality content and ensuring a positive user experience. According to King, it is these values that successful SEO strategies should be based on to help generate qualified traffic and earn diverse links. This also seems to align with the general theme of the leaked documents. The leaked documents also emphasize the importance of user interactions in ranking, which. Recently discovered metrics like goodClicks and lastLongestClicks suggest that engaging content that meets and anticipates user needs is what Google’s algorithms prefer.
The newly emphasized role of brand and entity recognition helps reinforce the need for a holistic approach to SEO. As we already know, building a strong brand presence, both online and offline, can improve visibility and credibility in search results. The importance of authorship and the presence of whitelists for specific domains continue to highlight the need for transparency and authority in content creation (on our part and hopefully on Google’s part as well).
Moving forward in a world of brave research
As the SEO community digests these ideas, it’s key to regroup with a more realistic perspective on what comes next. The leaked documents provide valuable information, of course, but they are only one piece of the puzzle.
There will always be uncertainty about how Google’s ranking algorithm works, but that doesn’t stop us from building strategies together around what we know is best for users. It will continue to be relevant (and necessary) to create nuanced yet useful and human-centered content that anticipates and adjusts to the needs of searchers. Continuous learning, open-minded adaptation, and a healthy respect for best practices will help us navigate the ever-changing waters of Google search.
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