Google Search’s Internal Engineering Documentation Leak: What it Means

Google has given us insight into their inner workings and how they may rank search engine results. Back in March, Google Search API documents were published on GitHub. While later removed in early May, this public Google documentation was automatically attached with the Apache 2.0 license, which meant those who had accessed it had the rights to distribute it. While Google already has published its own Content API Warehouse, these particular documents were never meant to be in the public eye.

Naturally, there has been a major stir in the SEO community. Google has been notoriously private about how they rank websites, but this leak has given us an unprecedented insight into their ranking systems and search algorithms – it sheds light on the type of data that matters to them.

What Happened?

The leaked documents were published on GitHub on 13th March. The document contained 2,596 modules and 14,014 attributes – tons of information to work through. The accidental publishing was originally spotted by the CEO of EA Digital Eagle, Erfan Azimi, who shared the information via email with Rand Fishkin, the co-founder of SparkToro. Since then, SEO experts have analysed the document, and what they have revealed is quite interesting. This one may be more impactful than the Yandex Search leak!

You might wonder, are these leaked documents legit? It looks as though they are, as the email to Rand Fishkin also stated the authenticity of the documents was backed up by ex-employees of Google. Google hasn’t yet responded to news of the leak.

What Does it Tell Us?

The documents tell us what kind of data Google stores and finds important. While it doesn’t go into specifics in terms of how ranking factors are weighted, the wealth of information can be very helpful for SEO companies and people who want their websites to rank higher. These documents also tell us that Google may not have been completely honest in their previous statements about how Google’s algorithm operates, as there are some clear contradictions between what they have said and what the documents show.

Want to learn more? Here’s an official Google guide to the Google Search Ranking Systems.

Now, let’s go into the most interesting takeaways from the document regarding search engine ranking.

• Site Authority

Google has said that they do not have a website authority score. However, the leaked internal documents don’t coincide with this statement. That means that the strength of a website’s domain may play more of a role in ranking than many people had previously thought.

• Clicks for Rankings

Despite Google previously stating that they do not use click-centric user signals, these documents show that: yes, clicks do matter. It’s not a massive surprise to us, but if you want to rank high on Google search, you’ll need to bring in successful clicks. Google ranks clicks under any of the following: goodClicks, badClicks, unsquashedClicks, and lastLongestClicks. So, it’s not just about having people click on a link – it’s about having it be successful.

• Sandboxing

What about the sandbox – the idea that newer websites don’t rank as well? Again, Google had previously denied the presence of a sandbox, with the document stating otherwise, as it shows they use the attribute hostAge specifically for sandboxing purposes, which tells Google which sites are more trustworthy based on age and other trust signals.

• E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T, standing for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness may play a part in Google’s ranking factors. It wasn’t mentioned too often in the leak, but it’s worth highlighting that the leak showed that it identifies authors and stores that information.

• Heading Tags and Keyword-driven Meta Titles

We’ve learned from the document that keywords in heading tags and meta titles matter. For example, if a title tag includes particular keywords, it may rank higher for search queries that match it.

• Link BuildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs.

It’s no big surprise, but the leaked document shows that link building does matter when it comes to Google’s ranking system. Within the Google document, it showed that linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. were classed as either low, medium, or high-quality. So, it’s all about having successful links, which means link diversity is an important factor.

Want more insight into the power of link building? Check out our piece on How many links are needed to rank on Page 1 of Google?

• Fresh Content

The document has made it clear that Google cares about content freshness, which relates to how often a page updates with new content as well as the published dates. Essentially, the fresher the content, the higher quality it is deemed by Google.

• YMYL Score

Part of the leaked document tells us that they keep a YMYL (Your Money Your Life) score, which means scoring any content that covers topics that may have an effect on the users in the real world. For example, that includes content concerning health or financial advice.

• Demotions

Many people will be interested in potential demotions, and the leaks show that Google uses algorithmic demotions to rank content. The document highlighted demotions for anchor mismatches and exact match domains. So, if an anchor link does not match the site it’s referring to, the piece of content may get demoted on the ranking system.

The Takeaway

The leaked Google Search API Documents consist of thousands of pages. Thankfully, SEO experts have already sifted through to bring us valuable information concerning search engine rankings. Notably, link building, content freshness, clicks for rankings, and site authority all play a role in Google’s ranking factors. These documents tell us what Google is interested in and which information it stores, and that can help us navigate SEO going forward.

Are you ready to climb the Google ranks? We are SEO experts here at Click Intelligence, and we can help your site increase in traffic with a bespoke campaign. Book a free consultation with us today to get started!