The whole SEO industry was shaken after the Google Search data leak because of the information that was revealed to the public. It was a complete surprise that was both pleasant and unpleasant because of the influence that it has and will have on the SEO industry.
In this article, you will find everything you need to know about the leak, how it conforms with the current SEO strategies, and what changes will happen in the future because of it. It does not matter if you are an SEO professional or a webmaster. This information will surely help you optimize your website better and get more satisfactory results from SEO.
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Everyone in the SEO industry got a surprise after a completely unexpected Google Search data leak appeared on a normal day, March 13th, 2024, on GitHub. It brought to light all the factors and methods used by Google to determine the rankings in SERPs, as well as how they change over time.
An automated bot disclosed the information directly from Google’s internal Content API Warehouse. The information is already confirmed to be accurate, making everyone’s reactions significant because the changes it brings to this industry are not small.
The main focus of the leak is the ranking process of Google’s Search. The summary made by Search Engine Land showcases the main points of the revealed documents:
- Current: The documentation indicates this information is accurate as of March.
- Ranking features:2,596 modules are represented in the API documentation with 14,014 attributes.
- Weighting:The documents did not specify how any of the ranking features are weighted – just that they exist.
- Twiddlers:These are re-ranking functions that “can adjust the information retrieval score of a document or change the ranking of a document,” according to King.
- Demotions:Content can be demoted for a variety of reasons, such as:
- A link doesn’t match the target site.
- SERP signals indicate user dissatisfaction.
- Product reviews.
- Location.
- Exact match domains.
- Porn.
This alone shows that the majority of the knowledge used in the SEO industry was true and how important it is to use the proper methods to ensure a good ranking and SEO results. At the same time, it shows some of the potential reasons for demotions, letting SEO professionals know that they need to take care when using these factors to avoid getting the opposite result that they wish for.
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Even though Google didn’t react for a period after the leak, and it seemed that it would keep silent, in the end, there was some feedback, and the truth was revealed. The documents were proven to be accurate. However, the representatives mentioned some key points that everyone should take into consideration. The Verge shows the official reaction and response of Google’s representatives:
“We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information,” Google spokesperson Davis Thompson told The Verge in an email. “We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems weigh, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation.”
It’s vital to understand that the current data will most likely change in the future after the continuous updates that Google makes to its broad core algorithm. For this reason, Google indicates that it’s better to follow the official advice it gives to ensure that you won’t fall prey to outdated information in the future.
It is essential to understand that all the data in these documents lack context. For this reason, they can be easily misinterpreted. That’s why you should not focus all your attention on the information that can be found in this leak. The official sources provided by Google for the SEO community are there for a reason, and they should not be ignored.
If you fall prey to this potential trap, your website will easily lose its ranking or stagnate. Moreover, you may not even understand why because you will see and believe that you covered all the factors used for the ranking process. It will be easy to overlook critical information, such as the weight that different factors may have.
For example, you may focus too much effort on a couple of factors that do not matter much. As a result, your competitors will have an easy time outranking you, making your site stagnate, or even getting demoted. Many other situations like this one can happen if you focus too much on information that has no context attached.
For a long time, debates have focused on what Google told the SEO industry and what the experts believed. However, there are a few controversial points that can now be cleared. You can find the most famous debate points below:
- Links matter. There are two types of SEO experts out there. The ones that do not believe link building strategies are necessary for a website to rank well, and the ones that do think links have an influence or are even essential. Although the leak does not mention how important the factors are, it mentions that links do have an impact.
- Site Authority exists. Google told everyone that there are no factors like DA or DR that influence the rankings. Yet, it seems there is such a thing as site authority that is mentioned in the documents. We do not know how or what impact it may have, so not focusing on it, as Google suggests, may still be the best choice. However, having a high DA/DR as a secondary result could also showcase a site’s potential.
- Successful clicks. Although this is not really a debate because everyone already knows that the direct traffic from SERPs have an impact on the rankings, the documents mention a few factors that may make things more transparent for the experts. The “badClicks, goodClicks, lastLongestClicks, and unsquashedClicks” that can be found in the leak should give you an idea of what goals you should have regarding the visitors’ interactions with your site.
- Branding and rankings. Yes, branding affects the ranking process used by Google. It should have been clearer for more SEO experts that this is a factor. However, Google never mentioned this, and for good reason. Branding is essential for a business, regardless of whether or not it uses SEO.
- Entities?!. To be more specific, the authors of the content posted on websites are remembered by Google, and it seems to be using this information to determine if the content is really written by the mentioned authors. Although there’s not enough context to verify this theory, it has the highest popularity in the industry.
- Chrome data. The data from its own browser seems to be a part of the search algorithm. This would also be one of the factors that an SEO services company can’t influence. At the same time, the importance that’s placed on it should not be significant. The leading theory is that Google uses the information gathered by Chrome to confirm some other factors, such as clicks.
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Everyone in the SEO industry knows several causes of demotion. The most common example is bad links that either do not work or do not match the target website. This is also one reason that regular audits are essential to ensure a website’s correct functionality.
Another cause of penalization that can be inferred is user dissatisfaction. Some of the click factors mentioned above, along with other signals from SERPs, help the algorithm determine if your site satisfies visitors’ needs. As a result, demotions can quickly appear if your content is not enough, does not deliver what the title promises, or if the quality is too low.
Besides the well-known causes of demotion, there are also others that are not as well known. For example, the use of product reviews and locations may cause a penalization if their usage is not proper. Using porn will also bring a similar effect, especially if the website is not related to that industry.
In short, the answer is yes. The leak not only presented the opportunity for all SEO professionals to confirm if their current path is correct, but it also brought some new factors that need to be researched. In time, the top agencies in the industry will check the importance of different factors and refine their strategies.
You can expect new or improved SEO services to appear and the rankings to change based on which companies are able to adapt to these changes and new SEO trends. Even though this is just a theory, the past has shown how this industry adapts to different changes that happen abruptly, so it would not be a surprise for this process to repeat itself.
The best question webmasters should ask themselves right now is whether their SEO partner is the right one. This is another opportunity to check SEO professionals’ capabilities and see their ability to adapt to changes. So, which agency should your business choose to work with?
The fundamental factors used to choose an agency are the same. It’s essential to ensure that your potential SEO partners are capable of change. The ability to adapt is vital in this industry, and the opportunities to see how the SEO companies adjust to significant changes are but a few.
For this reason, you should take your time to research the top options available on the market and see their response to the leaked documents. Doing so will not only help you learn more about the SEO process, but you will also find out which agencies understand the changes and how they adapt.
Keep in mind that choosing an SEO partner is a significant task, especially if you want to use this online marketing method in the long term. So, the ability to adapt to changes also matters a lot because there will surely be more extensive changes in the future, meaning that your partner must continuously adapt to avoid being left behind.
About Author
Larisa Stefan
Larisa is our project manager and SEO engineer. Her personal competencies and professional knowledge fit well at Gamit. She works closely with clients and team members to establish the best SEO strategy for each of our projects and then supervises their completion and reporting.
