Google confirms the authenticity of documents leaked on the Internet

Google has finally confirmed the authenticity of thousands of documents that were massively leaked in recent days. They lift the veil on the functioning of the algorithm of search engine the most used in the world.

The existence of this leak was reported by SEO experts Rand Fishkin and Mike King, who both published initial scans of the more than 2,500 documents and their contents. In particular, they list some of the many criteria taken into account for SEO. Until now, the Mountain View firm had refused to comment on this matter, but it decided to take the plunge.

Valuable information

“ We caution against making inaccurate assumptions about research based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared a lot of information about how search works and the types of factors our systems take into account, while striving to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation “, commented Davis Thompson, a Google spokesperson, to The Verge.

If the company is so incisive, it is because the content of the documents proves to be extremely valuable for the marketing and publishing industries, among others. They rely heavily on Google Search, the essential gateway to finding information and content online. Likewise, it does not want its secrets to fall into the hands of the competition, in a sector that it blithely dominates.

Google takes into account at least 14,000 different criteria, such as internal and external links or the number of clicks on links, when deciding who will come to the top of its ranking. The weighting of these criteria was not revealed during the leak of the documents, which would have been obtained due to their accidental posting on GitHub.

New regulatory debacle coming?

This massive leak could also prove detrimental for the company from a regulatory point of view. It reveals that Google potentially collects and uses data that does not contribute to the ranking of web pages in Google Search, such as clicks, Chrome user data, etc. Google has always denied using data from its in-house browser to boost its search engine.

Coupled with the numerous information revealed during the trial between the Web giant and the American Department of Justice, these documents provide more clarity on its SEO practices, one of the subjects on which the firm is particularly discreet.

Source : The Verge