For years, Google’s almighty Search algorithms have been something of a secret, one that SEO analysts, web devs, and site owners alike have attempted to navigate and predict to the best of their abilities in order to improve Search rankings and, ultimately, get the right content in front of the right people. While Google representatives often provide glimpses into the ins and outs of their ranking algorithms – even providing this handy SEO Starter Guide – a recent Google document leak has offered us an unprecedented look into Google Search, and what is used to rank content.
In March, over 2,000 internal documents were released on Github, which appear to list over 14,000 ranking attributes for Google Search. Importantly, this leak only indicates that these ranking features exist; it does not show how those features are weighted. The leak also indicates that Google whitelists certain websites, and that it may use Chrome browser data for rankings as well.
SEO experts work hard to improve SERP rankings, trying to promote certain pages in the SERP. But did you know that a website may be able to be demoted, too? If links don’t match or product reviews are less than stellar, there’s a possibility that the content could be demoted.
It also appears that Google may adjust rankings for smaller sites.
Here are a few other standout pieces of information we learned from the leak.
Chrome Data: Google seems to use browser clickstream data to better understand user behavior.
E-E-A-T’s Importance: E-E-A-T may not be as crucial to Search rankings as previously thought, as the leaked documents don’t explicitly mention those metrics beyond some author-related attributes.
Title Scores: Google’s titlematchScore presumably measures the relevance of a page title to a Search query.
Whitelists: It appears that Google has whitelists for websites in specific categories, like COVID or politics. Websites on these lists would, theoretically, be boosted in Search rankings.
A Google spokesperson cautioned “against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information”. The company won’t comment on any specifics of the leak, because, as they put it, bad actors could use that information to manipulate the rankings.
In the end, what’s most important is creating content that is engaging and informative. While this leak may help experts to better understand what goes into ranking a website, the best way to ensure that your site ranks is by crafting pages on your website that people want to spend time on.
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