Experts who analyzed the leaked documents claim that Google is lying about how its search algorithm works, and many of these sources have direct ties to SEO companies.
Google has faced intense criticism over how its search algorithm works after a trove of documents were discovered online.
The leaked information includes thousands of pages of what appear to be internal Google documents that were shared on GitHub in March 2024. The documents were removed in a commit change earlier this month, suggesting that Google made a mistake in sharing them.
Google has not responded to multiple media requests for comment to verify the legitimacy of these documents, but various people who have reviewed them claim that they show functionality in Google Search. These people also claim that the documents contradict statements Google has made in the past.
What's in the leak?
Sparktro co-founder and CEO Rand Fishkin said he was sent the documents by an anonymous source who said they contradicted claims Google has made over the years.
“In particular, the company has repeatedly denied that it employs click-centric user signals, that subdomains are considered separately in rankings, that it does not have a sandbox for new websites, or that domain age is collected or taken into account,” Fishkin said.
Mike King, founder and CEO of digital marketing firm iPullRank, wrote a summary of the leaked documents, saying he “contextualized” them with previous Google leaks and documents revealed in the ongoing antitrust case the company faces in the U.S. King argued that this initial investigation shows that Google has been “lying” for years.
“'Lyed' is a harsh word, but it's the only appropriate word to use here,” King said. “While I don't necessarily blame Google representatives for protecting their company's proprietary information, I do take issue with the company's efforts to actively discredit people in marketing, technology and journalism who have published reproducible findings.”
How accurate are these claims?
The technical details of the documents make these claims difficult to verify, and it's important to keep in mind that experts like King have direct ties to the SEO sector. The anonymous source who leaked the documents to Fishkin was quickly revealed to be Erfan Azimi, founder and CEO of SEO company EA Eagle Digital.
The Register, which reviewed the documents, said the leaked files are noteworthy because they shed light on what Google considers important when ranking the relevance of web pages, but that there is “little information” about what the thousands of attributes in the documents are used for, or how important they are.
The Verge reports that while the documents do not appear to be “smoking gun” against Google, they do provide a detailed look into what is typically considered a “closely guarded black box.”
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