Google Algorithm LEAK - (DON'T TRUST GOOGLE)

Summary

In this video, the host discusses a significant leak of Google's search algorithm, shared with SEO expert Rand Fishkin. The document confirms long-suspected SEO theories, such as the existence of a 'sandbox' for new websites, site authority's impact on rankings, and the use of click data to adjust rankings. It also reveals Google's use of Chrome's clickstream data and the prioritization of certain domains during critical events. The video highlights the importance of building site authority and credibility, and the potential challenges faced by small websites in ranking, urging viewers to download and analyze the leaked document for deeper insights.

Takeaways

• 📜 A massive Google search algorithm document was leaked, revealing internal operations that were previously undisclosed.
• 🔍 The existence of a 'sandbox' for new websites was confirmed, where they are treated differently until they gain credibility, contrary to Google's past denials.
• 🏆 The concept of 'site authority' is recognized internally at Google, indicating the overall authority of a site and its impact on search rankings.
• 👀 Click-through rate (CTR) and user interaction data are used to adjust rankings, a practice Google had previously denied.
• 🌐 Google Chrome's clickstream data is utilized in search rankings, despite Google's previous statements to the contrary.
• 🔗 The importance of links is detailed, including freshness, the tier of linking pages, and detection of link spam.
• 🛑 Google has the ability to manually adjust rankings for critical events, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic or elections, to prioritize credible information.
• 👤 Google tracks and measures authorships and entities, suggesting that building a reputation as an author can positively impact content ranking.
• 🏠 Small websites may struggle to rank despite SEO best practices, highlighting the need to build site authority and credibility.
• 📉 Various demotion factors were revealed, such as anchor mismatch, exact match domain devaluation, product review quality, and SERP demotion based on user dissatisfaction.

Q & A

What is the significance of the leaked Google search algorithm document?

The leaked document is significant because it confirms many aspects of Google's search engine operations that SEOs have long speculated about but were previously denied by Google. It provides insights into how Google treats new websites, evaluates links, uses click data, and more.

What is the 'sandbox' mentioned in the document?

The 'sandbox' is a term used to describe how Google treats new websites differently until they earn a specific amount of credibility. This means that results for new websites may not appear immediately in search rankings.

What does the document reveal about Google's stance on domain authority?

Contrary to Google's public statements, the document shows that they do measure an overall 'site authority' which impacts search rankings. This confirms what many SEOs have long believed.

How does click-through rate (CTR) influence search rankings according to the leaked document?

The document reveals that Google uses systems like 'nav boost' and 'glue' that utilize click data to adjust rankings. They analyze user behavior metrics like good clicks, bad clicks, and long clicks, which play a crucial role in the search algorithm.

What role does Google Chrome data play in search rankings?

Despite previous denials, the document shows that Google uses Chrome's clickstream data, including user interaction, site visits, views, and engagement duration, to influence the site quality score and the generation of site links in search results.

Why are links important in Google's search algorithm?

Links are crucial as Google evaluates their freshness and the specific tier of the linking page. They also detect link spam velocity, which can help them counteract negative SEO attacks.

What is special priority and whitelisting in the context of Google search?

Google prioritizes specific domains for certain searches, such as during critical events like COVID-19 or elections, to ensure that trustworthy sites appear at the top. This manual adjustment of rankings is aimed at ensuring the reliability of information.

How does Google track authorships and entities?

Google explicitly tracks and measures authorships and entities. Building a reputation as an author and ensuring proper markup can positively impact the ranking of content, as Google treats recognized authors as entities in their system.

What impact does the leaked document suggest Google might have on small websites?

The document suggests that small, personal sites may struggle to rank despite following SEO best practices. It is important for these sites to focus on building their site authority and credibility.

What are some specific demotions that can impact a site's ranking?

Demotions can occur due to factors like anchor mismatch (where the link doesn't match the target site), exact match domain issues, product review quality, and potential user dissatisfaction measured by click data.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Google Search Algorithm Leak Analysis

This paragraph discusses a significant leak of Google's search algorithm, which was shared with Rand Fishkin, a co-founder of Moz. The document is massive and confirms many SEO theories previously denied by Google. It reveals the existence of a 'sandbox' effect for new websites, the importance of domain authority, and the use of click data to influence search rankings. It also touches on the use of Chrome's clickstream data and the detection of link spam. The speaker recommends downloading the document and using AI tools for in-depth analysis.

05:01

🚫 Impact of Google's Algorithm on Small Websites

The second paragraph delves into the potential negative impact of Google's search algorithm on small websites. Despite following SEO best practices, small sites may struggle to rank. The document suggests that Google may treat small personal sites differently, and the speaker emphasizes the importance of building site authority and credibility. It also covers various demotion factors such as anchor mismatch, the devaluation of exact match domains, and the recent update on product review quality. The paragraph concludes with a mention of SERP demotion based on user dissatisfaction, measured through click tracking.

Keywords

💡Google search algorithm leak

This refers to the unauthorized release of Google's internal search engine operation documents, which were shared with Rand Fishkin, a co-founder of Moz and a prominent figure in the SEO community. The leak is significant as it confirms many SEO theories and practices, and it is central to the video's theme of discussing the implications of this information on SEO strategies.

💡Sandbox

The 'Sandbox' is a concept in SEO where new websites are treated differently by search engines, such as Google, until they earn a certain level of credibility. The video script mentions that the leaked document confirms the existence of a sandbox, contrary to Google's previous denials, and it affects how quickly new websites can rank in search results.

💡Domain Authority

Domain Authority is a metric that measures the overall authority of a website, which is believed to impact its search rankings. The script indicates that although Google has denied having an 'overall domain authority,' the leaked documents reveal an internal metric called 'site authority,' which appears to serve this purpose.

💡CTR (Click-Through Rate)

CTR is a metric used to measure how often people click on a link in a search result compared to how many people see that link. The video script reveals that the leaked documents confirm Google uses click data, including CTR, to adjust search rankings, which is a significant aspect of user behavior analysis in SEO.

💡Chrome data

Chrome data refers to the user interaction data collected by Google Chrome, such as site visits, views, and engagement duration. The script mentions that Google uses this data in its search rankings, despite previous denials, which is a key revelation from the leaked documents and impacts SEO strategies.

💡Links and Link Spam

Links are an essential part of SEO, and the script discusses how Google evaluates the quality and freshness of links and detects 'link spam.' Link spam refers to the practice of creating a large number of low-quality links to manipulate search rankings, which Google can now identify and counteract.

💡Priority and Whitelisting

The video script reveals that Google manually prioritizes and whitelists certain domains for specific searches, such as during critical events like COVID-19 or elections, to ensure the reliability of information. This keyword is significant as it shows Google's ability to influence search results beyond algorithmic factors.

💡Authorships and Entities

Authorships and entities refer to Google's tracking and measurement of authors and their reputations. The script explains that building a recognized author reputation can positively impact content ranking, as Google treats authors as entities within its system.

💡Impact on small websites

The script discusses the potential challenges small websites face in ranking despite following SEO best practices. It suggests that small, personal sites might be treated differently by Google's algorithm, emphasizing the importance of building site authority and credibility.

💡Demotions

Demotions are penalties or reductions in search rankings for various reasons, such as anchor mismatch or user dissatisfaction. The video script uses the term to explain specific scenarios where Google might demote a site's ranking, which is crucial for understanding SEO penalties.

💡Product reviews

Product reviews are a type of content that the script mentions can be subject to demotion if they do not meet certain quality and trustworthiness standards. This keyword is relevant to the video's theme as it highlights the importance of content quality in SEO.

Highlights

A massive document revealing Google's internal search engine operations was leaked and shared with Rand Fishkin, co-founder of Moz.

The document confirms many SEO theories previously denied by Google, such as the existence of a 'sandbox' for new websites.

Google treats new websites differently until they earn credibility, contrary to previous statements by John Mueller.

The document reveals a metric called 'site authority', confirming Google measures the overall authority of a site.

Click-through rate (CTR) matters and influences search rankings, as shown by systems like 'nav boost' and 'glue'.

Google uses Chrome's clickstream data in search rankings, despite previous denials.

User interaction, such as site visits and engagement duration, influences the site quality score.

Google evaluates links based on freshness and the tier of the linking page, and can detect link spam.

Google can manually adjust rankings to ensure the reliability of information during critical events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Google tracks and measures authorships and entities, suggesting that building a reputation as an author can impact rankings.

Small websites may struggle to rank despite SEO best practices, highlighting the importance of building site authority.

Specific demotions can impact a site's ranking, such as anchor mismatch and exact match domain issues.

Product review quality and trustworthiness can affect rankings, especially after recent updates.

Google tracks user dissatisfaction with search results, potentially demoting pages based on click data.

The document's analysis can be enhanced by using tools like Chat GPT or Gemini to delve deeper into its content.

The document's insights are significant for SEO professionals and can help in understanding and adapting to Google's search algorithm.

Transcripts

what's up guys so not sure you guys

heard but there's been a pretty big uh

Google search algorithm leak someone

shared with ran fishkin he's uh one of

the co-founders of mos one of the ogs in

the space so someone shared with with

him what it looks like to be a massive

document revealing Google's internal

search engine operation so here's the

document right here it's absolutely

massive I'm going to link to a bunch of

blog posts that analyze this extremely

well but if you're interested in taking

a look at this yourself um again you'll

have the link to that but I recommend

downloading this UB version turning it

into a PDF and then feeding either chat

GPT or Gemini they're going to go really

in depth for you and help you analyze

all of that I've been using it and it's

super helpful but anyway let's talk

about some of the things that stood out

to

me um and the main thing is there's so

many things that seos have been talking

about for some time things that we

believe exist based on experiments and

based on different tests that we run uh

and Google has always been saying that

they don't exist but luckily uh these

documents now confirm a lot of those

things plus a bunch of other things so

let's talk about some things that stood

out to me so the first is the sandbox so

there's a section in the document that

proves that Google treats new websites

differently until they earn a specific

amount of credibility here's John

Mueller saying that there is no sandbox

good for him good for us uh so yeah so

there is a sandbox not exactly sure how

long it is people say it's 3 months 6

months but if you do have any website

very important to know that results will

not come right away right so be patient

and just the fact that there is a

Sandbox I think will help a lot of new

website owners next domain Authority

here's Gary is saying they don't have

overall domain Authority but within the

internal documents there is a metric

called site Authority which seems to be

exactly that so it does mean that in

fact Google does measure the overall

authority of the site and that does seem

to be impacting the rankings which we

also already knew CTR matters again

another thing that we've known for a

while they've always denied uh using

click data to influence search rankings

but the leak documents show that there's

systems like nav boost and glue that use

click data to adjust rankings so so they

basically look at 13 months of Click

data to boost or lower rankings based on

user Behavior metrics like good clicks

bad clicks and last long clicks are

considered so so this proves that user

interaction within the search results

are plays a crucial crucial role uh

inside of the Google search algorithm

which we also already knew now next

thing is Chrome data inside of the

rankings so Google has denied using

Google Chrome um for their ranking

algorithms but within the leak documents

uh they reveal that Google does use

Chrome's clickstream data in the search

rankings and that includes stuff like

user interaction site visits views

engagement duration all of this

influences the site quality score and

also the generation of site links within

the search results so again it is

showing that Chrome data is an important

factor and how search results are

determined next links are very important

again we've known this for quite a while

um but the documents do go into detail

about how Google about how Google is

evaluating these links freshness and the

specific tier of the linking page and

then they also seem to detect link spam

velocity so so if you are for example

creating some type of negative SEO

attack on a website Google can see the

amount of Link spam that you're sending

to a specific website and it can detect

and probably uh nullify that negative

SEO attack which is kind of interesting

but it also makes a lot of sense so some

things that I was not expecting special

priority and whitelisting specific

domains so does seem that Google

prioritizes specific domains for certain

searches for example during covid-19

they prioritize covid related

information from credible sources so

same goes for election related queries

ensuring that trustworthy sites appear

at the top so this shows that Google can

manually adjust rankings to ensure the

reliability of information during

critical events but it is also kind of

scary how easy they can just just

manipulate specific searches next

authors and entities so Google

explicitly tracks and measures

authorships and entities so again wasn't

really not really sure how they can do

that at scale but this means that

building a reputation as an author and

ensuring that you have proper markup

will also positively impact your ranking

so Google identifies authors and treats

them as entities in the system so having

a recognized author can boost The

credibility and ranking of your content

next and this one is also quite scary

the impact on small websites it does

seem that Google might be in some way

treating small websites differently so

the documents do suggest that small

personal sites uh can struggle to rank

despite following the SEO best practices

that other massive sites also follow so

very important to focus on building your

sites Authority and credibility which

again we also already knew so then we

have demotions this one's kind of

interesting so specific demotions that

can impact your site's ranking for

example anchor mismatch if the link

doesn't match the target site it's

linking to that link is demoted exact

match domain we've known this for a

while they don't receive as much value

as they historically did back in the

early days you could just get an exact

Max domain just rank whatever you'd like

um product review so this one's probably

based on the recent update uh in terms

of quality and trustworthiness of

product reviews and then Ser demotion

this is interesting so again potential

user dissatisfaction with the page as

likely measured by click so again

they're tracking clicks they know

whether people are liking that specific

result clicking on it how long are they

clicking on it for if they're not liking

that result then they're probably going

to demote it within the serps now

there's so much more guys I've barely

covered uh the main things these are

just the things that kind of stood out

to me I'm going to add links to all the

resources in the description highly

recommend downloading it and turning

into PDF and then adding it to chbt or

Gemini it's going to really help you

guys with the analysis let me know if

you guys have any comments any questions

and I'll see you guys in the next one