On the 27th of May 2024, a report of an online leak emerged that seemed to detail over 14,000 of Google’s Ranking Factors. This leak sparked lively debate throughout the SEO community, with many awed by the revelations, others sceptical about its authenticity, and others just trying to weave through the juggernaut document to make sense of what it all meant.
Since the leak surfaced, there have been a couple of days to sit with the findings and avoid any reactionary speculation. Here’s what we found.
What Is A Ranking Factor?
Let’s start at the beginning. In simple terms, ranking factors are what Google uses to determine the order of its search results. So when you type in the words ‘Local plumber Richmond’ into a search engine, ranking factors will decide what results you see and why.
There are hundreds of ranking factors, some well-established and known, while the others are closely guarded, leaving us SEO professionals to piece together the rest.
An example of an established ranking factor is content relevance. Google wants the content you create to rank for specific keywords to be relevant, and serve a purpose that benefits the searcher. Google has stated that they hold content relevance as a minimum requirement for ranking relevant sites to applicable keywords.
While in instances like this, Google will expressly state what they consider a non-negotiable for rankable content, in other instances it is the SEOs that figure out what will and won’t rank based on common sense, paired with experimentation.
What Did We Learn From The Leak?
Before we get into our finding of the leak, it’s important to remember that it’s less than a week old. As days, months and even years go on, SEOs will continue to go through the 2,500+ pages of API documentation and pull more from it.
Here are our initial takeaways.
1. Google Puts Emphasis On Domain Authority
Site authority is described by Ahrefs, as a ‘concept that refers to the overall “strength” of a particular domain’. It comes off the back of various factors including the amount of traffic you get, the age of your website, the quality and quantity of backlinks to your site, and the quality of your website – both in content and design.
Google Search Advocate John Mueller has expressly stated that site authority is not a ranking factor that Google employs, yet the leaked documentations prove that not to be the case as they make mention of a “siteAuthority” parameter that can influence rankings.
This makes it more difficult for small and medium size businesses to rank quickly, so SEO will likely show slightly poorer returns until you’ve established credibility.
2. NavBoost & Google Follows Click Data
From the leak, we’ve learned that Google uses Chrome’s tracking data to monitor user clicks and browsing habits. Google representatives have often stated that they do not measure click through ratings or dwell time. However, this document has revealed that this is not the case.
NavBoost is essentially a search ranking algorithm used by Google, whose goal is to improve the quality of search results. Some of the metrics it tracks include:
- Where you first clicked, last clicked and what page prompted the longest click.
- How long the user spends on a site before they click off – otherwise known as dwell time
- Enhancing user experience through UX and website navigation, opting for user-friendly interfaces
These metrics are studied to understand if the search result adequately satisfied the user’s query.
How these metrics might look in practice: Suppose a user searches for healthy breakfast recipes but doesn’t find satisfactory results on the search engine results page. They then refine their search to oatmeal breakfast ideas and discover a site that satisfies their needs, clicking on it and having a positive experience where they stay on the page for a long period of time. As a result, the next time someone searches for healthy breakfast ideas, the oatmeal site is more likely to rank in a more prominent position.
This is how Google picks up the connection of user patterns to determine search results.
Another learning relevant to NavBoost is that it can ‘geo-fence’ data, meaning it will take into account the country or city a user is searching from, as well as factoring in if they are on a mobile device or a desktop computer.
3. Google Will Whitelist Certain Sites
From the leak, we can reasonably conclude that Google will whitelist certain sites that it believes are of high importance in specific circumstances. Some examples of that include:
- During the Covid-19 pandemic, the algorithm can whitelist trusted sources related to the topic.
- While elections are on, Google whitelists trusted websites that will not disseminate false information.
This suggests that Google understands it is the first place people will turn when they’re actively seeking out information on potentially problematic queries, so they are making a conscious effort to avoid their search engine being littered with propaganda sites that get high levels of traffic.
4. Approach Google’s Advice With Caution
As underpinned throughout the previous points, it is wise to approach what Google has to say about Organic Search with caution. Trial and error will always be your best guide. Experiment with different ethical, white-hat SEO tactics to find what works best for your business.
What Does This Document Not Do?
- For all of the information it does give us, it doesn’t go into detail about how individual ranking factors are weighted. With so many thousands of considerations for the search algorithm to take into account, not all will be valued equally, meaning it is up to the SEOs to determine what ranking factors will yield the best bang for buck for respective businesses.
- Moreover, this document doesn’t confirm that all the listed ranking factors are actively used. It could be argued that this is an API index, featuring a collection of functions that are available for use, but not necessarily employed in practice. Given we were just given a giant document without a larger context, it’s not possible to say.
- Interestingly, it didn’t mention E-E-A-T as directly as some SEOs may have thought. Outside of mentioning that Google stores the information of Authors of blog posts, the other elements of E-E-A-T were not mentioned. There is a chance this document predates E-E-A-T which was introduced by Google in 2018 as E-A-T, but updated to E-E-A-T in 2022.
What Has Google Said About The Leak?
It took 32 hours post-leak to hear a response from Google, but they did confirm the leak as an authentic Google document. In a statement to Search Engine Roundtable, a Google spokesperson did put a caveat around the leak, noting:
“We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our system weighs, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation’
Google opted to not discuss any particulars of the leak, citing that they tend to avoid disclosing specific algorithm ranking factors – fearing people will not use the information in good faith.
The key point to take away from their statement is the suggestion that while this document is legitimate, it may be outdated. For those of us on the outside, there is no way to prove or verify this.
Why Was This Information Leaked?
The person who did the initial leak, Erfan Azimi, claims that his intention to make these documents public was to force Google to behave more transparently. Efran hopes that this leak will compel Google to be more accountable for public statements that directly conflict with the actual practices that improve rankings.
What Should Your Business Take Away From This Leak?
There is a lot of information to digest, so let’s outline some of what your business should be thinking about moving forward as you continue to increase your presence on Google.
- Focus On Brand: When you are developing content to rank for search terms, do so in a way that leverages what makes your business unique, and how you are relevant to the query being searched.
- Prioritise High-Quality Content: The findings of this report suggest that high-quality content that engages with users will be the best key to high rankings.
For example, if users search for ‘Queen Victoria Market Coffee’ and bypass the top result—a vendor list from the official Queen Victoria Market website—instead of choosing a blog on page two listing the best cafes in the area, Google will quickly adapt. Even if the official site ramps up its link-building efforts, it’s unlikely to outperform the strong user-intent signals favouring the blog. So create content that people will click on.
Trend Awareness The SEO industry is constantly changing, adapting and evolving, so it’s important to make sure you’re staying abreast of the current trends and best practices.
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