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How 14,000 ranking features were exposed by a Google data leak New
How 14,000 ranking features were exposed by a Google data leak Background New

How 14,000 ranking features were exposed by a Google data leak

How 14,000 ranking features were exposed by a Google data leak Background New

How 14,000 ranking features were exposed by a Google data leak

Rand Fiskin, the co-founder of Moz and creator of the Domain Authority metric, may have published one of the biggest and, if you’re interested in the world of SEO, one of the most exciting, data leaks of the year!

A few weeks ago, it is believed that an anonymous Google insider reached out to Fiskin to share internal documentation which gave insights into thousands of Google’s ranking features.

It is not clear why the anonymous source chose Rand Fiskin, who has been out of the SEO game for several years now, however, I think I speak for every SEO out there when I say I’m glad they did!

A nightmare for Google, but an incredible find for online marketers!

The leaked data included thousands of documents, with details on the data that Google collects and processes when crawling websites, insights into ranking algorithms, system functions and content evaluation.

Much of the content of this leaked documentation seems to contradict a number of statements that Google representatives have made over the years.

This includes ideas that the search algorithm doesn’t use domain authority as a metric, and that clicks don’t affect rankings.

The data in this recent leak contradicts these claims, confirming the use of a “siteAuthority” parameter, which is believed to influence ranking, and a system called “NavBoost”, which uses click data to change search results.

Key takeaways from the leak includes the fact that the number and diversity of backlinks pointing to your website is important, we should be including target keywords in title tags at all costs, and having expert and authoritative authors helps satisfy E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) guidelines.

To verify the legitimacy of the leaked documentation, Fiskin reached out to several former Google employees who all attested to the fact that the data did, in fact, appear authentic.

Google has yet to make a public statement on this matter, however, it has confirmed to Barry Schwartz, Executive Editor at SEO Round Table, that the data leak is real. It has advised caution when making assumptions based on information that may be out-of-context, outdated or incomplete.

Looking for help to boost your rankings on Google? Reach out to the friendly team at Engage Web today!

Lizi MacGregor

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