*An Anonymous Source Shared Thousands of Leaked Google Search API
Documents with Me; Everyone in SEO Should See Them
*
By Rand Fishkin <https://sparktoro.com/blog/author/rand/>
May 27, 2024
On Sunday, May 5th, I received an email from a person claiming to have
access to a massive leak of API documentation from inside Google’s
Search division. The email further claimed that these leaked documents
were confirmed as authentic by ex-Google employees, and that those
ex-employees and others had shared additional, private information about
Google’s search operations.
Many of their claims directly contradict public statements
<https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ctr-search-rankings-27157.html>
made by Googlers over the years, in particular the company’s repeated
denial
<https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ctr-dwell-time-signals-myths-27083.html>
that click-centric user signals
<https://www.blindfiveyearold.com/is-click-through-rate-a-ranking-signal>
are employed, denial
<https://iloveseo.com/seo/google-says-subdomains-vs-subfolders-doesnt-matter/>
that subdomains are considered separately in rankings, denials
<https://www.seroundtable.com/google-sandbox-nope-28082.html> of a
sandbox for newer websites, denials
<https://www.seroundtable.com/google-domain-age-23697.html> that a
domain’s age is collected or considered, and more.
Naturally, I was skeptical. The claims made by this source (who asked to
remain anonymous) seemed extraordinary–claims like:
* In their early years, Google’s search team recognized a need for
full clickstream data (every URL visited by a browser) for a large
percent of web users to improve their search engine’s result quality.
* A system called “NavBoost” (cited by VP of Search, Pandu Nayak, in
his DOJ case testimony
<https://thecapitolforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/101823-USA-v-Google-PM.pdf>)
initially gathered data from Google’s Toolbar PageRank
<https://moz.com/blog/what-is-googles-pagerank-good-for-whiteboard-friday>,
and desire for more clickstream data served as the key motivation
for creation of the Chrome browser (launched
<https://www.npr.org/2008/09/05/94299337/google-launches-chrome-web-browser>
in 2008).
[...]
continua qui:
https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/
