In a major development for the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) community, an extensive leak of Google’s internal documentation has provided unprecedented insights into the search giant’s ranking mechanisms.
The leak, which included more than 2,500 pages of sensitive information, shed light on Google’s ranking factors and processes, offering SEO specialists and managers a rare glimpse into how the dominant search engine really works.
The documents revealed several significant details, many of which contradict public statements Google has made to the SEO industry:
Google recognized early on the need for full clickstream data, which is the record of every website visited by a browser. This led to the creation of the Chrome browser to improve search result quality.
This article aims to break down the implications of this leak for non-technical marketers to answer three key questions:
The story was broken by Rand Fishkin (ex-CEO of Moz, co-founder at SparkToro and recent DMI podcast guest) who received the initial documents and then broke the story in his article here.
An anonymous source, later revealed to be Erfan Azimi, contacted Fishkin to discuss documents that were accidentally made public on GitHub between March and May 2024.
This leak exposed more than 2,500 pages of Google’s API documentation, which are technical manuals that describe how software components interact (you can read a technical breakdown of the leak here). These documents contained 14,014 attributes, specific features or variables used in Google’s internal “Content API Warehouse.”
The documents do not reveal the “weights” applied to the attributes, meaning they do not specify the relative importance of each attribute within Google’s search algorithm. Nonetheless, this leak provides overdue clarity on the individual attributes, offering valuable insights for the marketing industry.
It’s worth taking a step back to put the leak in its wider context. What is SEO?
Well, SEO is the practice of increasing traffic to websites from the non-paid listings on search engines. Every time someone searches on Google, which has 91% of the global search engine market, Google’s automated systems must “decide” which websites to show on the results page.
There is also a huge global industry of SEO managers and professionals, all of whom spend their days working to be rewarded by Google with better ranking positions for their websites. Naturally, if these SEO professionals knew the components of Google’s decision-making system, it would help channel their energy more productively.
Google has good reason to keep its ranking factors secret. Not only does it want to keep this sensitive information away from competitors, it wants to prevent some of the less ethical marketers from gaming the system. Google requires high-quality SEO results to keep users engaged, all the better to serve paid listings against their future search queries.
This tantalizing glimpse behind the curtain this story has given us has implications for every marketer. We have rounded up the ten most important findings below.
Google evaluates the overall authority of a website using a metric called “siteAuthority.” This metric assesses the trustworthiness and credibility of a website, which significantly influences the rankings of its individual pages. A higher siteAuthority indicates that a website is more likely to rank well in search results, as it is seen as a reliable and authoritative source.
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Google uses click data, such as click-through rates (CTR) and user interactions, to adjust search rankings. This means that user behavior directly impacts how pages are ranked. When users frequently click on a result, it signals to Google that the page is relevant and useful, thereby potentially improving its ranking.
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New websites or those suspected of being spammy are temporarily placed in a “sandbox,” limiting their visibility in search results until they establish credibility and reliability. This practice helps Google filter out low-quality or untrustworthy sites, ensuring that only reputable sites are prominently displayed.
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Google uses various signals to evaluate content quality, including user engagement metrics, the effort behind user-generated content, and the quality of reviews. High-quality content that meets user needs is more likely to rank well, as it provides value and enhances the user experience.
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Google personalizes search results based on individual user preferences and behaviors, tailoring the search engine results pages (SERPs) to provide the most relevant content for each user. This means that two users searching for the same term might see different results based on their past behavior and preferences.
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Google uses machine learning models to rank content, continuously adapting its algorithms based on vast amounts of data and user behavior. These models help Google understand the context and relevance of content, making the search results more accurate and useful.
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The leaked documents underscore the importance of video content for enhancing search rankings. Google uses a metric called “isVideoFocusedSite” to determine if a site primarily features video content. Sites with over 50% video URLs are classified as video-focused, potentially boosting their search presence. This trend reflects the growing inclusion of video results in SERPs across various industries.
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Metrics such as dwell time (how long a user stays on a page) and long clicks (when a user does not quickly return to the search page) are important for ranking. These metrics indicate that users find the content valuable and relevant, which can improve the page’s ranking.
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Some ranking signals mentioned in the leaked documents, such as the “Link Juice” concept and PageRank sculpting, are no longer in use. This indicates that Google continuously updates its algorithms to improve search result accuracy and quality.
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The leak reveals discrepancies between Google’s public statements and its internal practices, highlighting a lack of transparency. This disparity can lead to misunderstandings and misaligned SEO strategies. For example, the Google engineer Gary Ilyes has repeatedly stated that Google does not use clicks to affect rankings. As we saw in takeaway number two, this does not appear to be entirely true.
Some of these contradictions will be familiar to anyone that has been following the Google antitrust case in the US. For example, the Google VP of Search, Pandu Nayak, has testified about “NavBoost.” This system, which initially gathered data from the Google Toolbar, motivated the creation of the Chrome browser to collect more comprehensive clickstream data. This data, which tracks every website visited by users, is crucial for improving the quality of Google’s search results.
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It would be impossible to quantify the number of hours SEO professionals have spent debating the ranking factors of Google’s top-secret algorithm. This leak offers us all a rare glimpse into the intricacies of Google’s ranking algorithms, providing invaluable insights for SEO professionals and putting a few debates to bed.
By understanding these factors, non-technical SEOs can refine their strategies to align more closely with Google’s actual practices. Embracing these insights and actions will lead to more effective SEO practices, better website performance, and ultimately, greater success in the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization.
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