Rand Fishkin and Mike King have exposed over 14,000 Google Search ranking features from a leaked document, verified by Fishkin.
This document reveals extensive details on how Google Search operates, contradicting many statements Google employees have made over the past two decades.
Key Points:
– The leak challenges Google’s public denials about using click signals, dwell time, treating subdomains separately, and considering domain age.
– Mike King contextualized these documents with past leaks and DOJ antitrust testimony, finding a wealth of information on data for content, links, and user interactions.
– The documents describe features such as “siteAuthority,” click signals as votes, session click duration, “hostAge” for sandboxing new spam, and Chrome view measures.
Summary:
- 14,000+ ranking features
- “siteAuthority” calculation
- Click signals as user votes
- Tracking longest session clicks
- “hostAge” attribute for sandboxing
- Page quality scores using Chrome views
Google confirmed the leak but warned against assumptions based on potentially outdated or incomplete information.
Updates:
– Google acknowledged the leak and advised caution in interpreting the data.
– The source of the leak, Erfan Azimi, has come forward with a video:
I’ll continue to delve into these documents over the next few days.
