Inside the Google Search Algorithm Leak: SEO Revelations and Contradictions Uncovered

By Kiley Sather

June 6, 2024

The biggest Google Search Algorithm leak to date happened a few weeks ago, and the internet has been in a frenzy dissecting the documents to see what we can glean from it all.

The leak included detailed API documentation that revealed information about the nuances of Google Search and its internal ranking features, much of which contradicts what Google has previously told the public about Search. When asked to respond to the leak, Google representatives noted that the API documentation “is genuine but outdated and lacks necessary context.” But, knowing what we know now, can we even trust this statement? The only logical conclusion is to take what we hear and read with a grain of salt.

Regardless of the inconsistencies from Google, valuable insights can be learned from the leak that can provide a leg up, so why not learn more? There's a ton of information and hundreds of articles summarizing the API documentation, so we've sifted through a handful of these articles to help boil things down. Here are our takeaways:

"Domain Authority" is very important. Authority can be gained or accomplished by:

  • Age of the domain (the older and more established, the better)
  • Popularity and size of a brand
  • High-quality backlinks from trusted sources
  • Citing authors of site content like blog posts, and having a profile for each author to help establish trust and reliability for content

Good UX plays a huge part in rankings. No surprise here, but it's always worth nothing. This can be accomplished through:

  • A simple and easy-to-use navigation
  • Ensuring the site is accessible and following ADA guidelines
  • Technical SEO factors like load time, preventing the site content from shifting around, and not having too many ads on the page

Quality content that is human-generated and relevant to users is key. A few pointers:

  • Content should be unique, updated frequently, and not overuse keywords
  • Get to the point within the first 1000 words of longer-form articles; there are theories that Google only reads the first 1000 words anyway (and we know users don't like to read)
  • Nothing in the leaked documents specifies word or character count for page/post titles, meta descriptions, and URLs, so these can be as long as you want…within reason

Successful clicks matter. Google uses an array of measurements like, “badClicks, goodClicks, lastLongestClicks and unsquashedClicks” to track this. An example:

  • If a user lands on your site from Google Search and then quickly clicks back to the results page, Google sees this as “the user left because your site doesn't have good information on it,” which is bad for your site's ranking.

Big brands will always rank higher. Google no longer rewards SEO-savvy sites that know the right tricks. It is the trusted and established brands that will continue to be rewarded with their search-measurable popularity, and the established domains that searchers already know and click.

  • It is the trusted and established brands who will continue to be rewarded with their search-measurable popularity, and established domains that searchers already know and click. That said, it is recommended to try and build your brand outside of Google search to help with Google search.

It can't hurt to invest in Google Ads. Several of the above tips align with this, and while it wasn't part of the leaked documentation, it only makes sense that investing in Google Ads will help with rankings. Afterall, Google is a business and will likely reward those who contribute to its revenue streams.

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