An internal document was leaked on Monday outlining the factors Google Search considers when ranking and displaying web search results.
The documents were given to and subsequently made public by Rand Fishkin of the software company SparkToro, who previously worked in the search engine optimization (SEO) industry.
This “Google API Content Warehouse” contains internal API documentation that explains to employees how the various components that generate search results work. It totals more than 2,500 pages. Some of the documentation describes outdated systems, but others appear to be up to date.
Judging from what was published, it appears that Google published this (possibly accidentally) via GitHub starting on March 27. The documentation was then removed on May 7. However, it had been indexed by third-party services during this period, so copies of it may still be available after Google's removal.
While this data shows what factors Google Search considers when ordering search results, it doesn’t reveal the importance/“weight” of each factor to the final ranking.
This data may be useful to those in the SEO community who are trying to adapt to Google search ranking changes and appear higher on pages, after reviewing the document and arguing that it contradicts what Google has publicly said about how search works.
Google has yet to publicly comment on the leak.
The company announced its last big search update in March, aiming to surface more authentic and “helpful” content, updating its core ranking system to determine whether a page is “written for search engines, not humans.”
FTC: We use automated affiliate links that generate revenue. more.