Recently, the digital marketing community was rocked by a Google data leak involving its internal documents, revealing previously unknown details about how the world's most popular search engine operates.
While many speculate about the implications of this leak, the truth is that understanding these documents requires caution and a critical eye.
This post aims to clarify the main points of this leak, discussing its potential implications for SEO , especially for companies with limited technology expertise.
Google data leak and its confirmation
As we reported here on the blog , on May 28, 2024, thousands of internal Google documents were released on Github by an automated bot. These documents, which appear to come from Google's internal repository called “Content API Warehouse”, were initially shared with Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SparkToro, and later analyzed by Michael King, CEO of iPullRank.
After 32 hours of silence, Google finally confirmed the bank data authenticity of the documents, but stressed the need to be cautious when interpreting this information out of context, outdated or incomplete.
The company told Search Engine Land that many of the details in the documents may not reflect the current reality of ranking algorithms.
Main revelations of the leak
In any case, let's now see what we were able to see from the leaked data.
1. Click data and user engagement
One of the most controversial aspects of the leak was the revelation that Google uses click and user engagement data, such as “goodClicks,” “badClicks,” and “lastLongestClicks,” in its ranking algorithms. This contradicts previous statements from the company, which has always denied directly using these metrics to rank websites.
2. Link weight and diversity
The documents indicate that link diversity and relevance are still important ranking factors, and that PageRank, a system many thought was obsolete, is still active. However, the specific weighting of these factors was not detailed.
3. Penalty factors
It has been revealed that Google has de-ranking mechanisms, known as “demotions,” that can demote content for a variety of reasons, such as links that do not match the target site, signals of user dissatisfaction on search engine results pages, and other content and location-related issues.
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Cautious interpretation of leaked data
It is important to understand that, despite the authenticity of the documents, much of the information may be outdated or not fully applicable. Google has highlighted that its ranking systems are constantly evolving, and what is true today may not be true tomorrow.
Expert analysis
Some SEO experts suggest that the leaked data should be used as a starting point for further testing and research, rather than being considered absolute truths. Michael King, for example , has pointed out that the data provides valuable but incomplete insight into Google's ranking factors.
Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SparkToro , in reviewing the documents, highlighted the importance of building a strong, recognizable brand outside of Google Search as one of the key practical pieces of advice gleaned from the leak.