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Experts analysing the leaked documents claim Google has lied about how its Search algorithms work, but many of these sources are directly involved in SEO companies.
Google is facing a wave of criticism over how its search algorithms work, after a massive batch of documents was found online.
The leak contains thousands of pages that appear to be internal Google documents, which were shared on GitHub in March 2024. The documents were deleted in a commit change earlier this month, suggesting Google made an error in sharing the documents.
Google has not responded to requests for comment from multiple media sources to confirm the legitimacy of these documents. But various individuals looking into the documents claim they show how Google Search functions. These individuals also claim the documents are a counter to statements Google has made in the past.
What is in the leak?
Rand Fishkin, the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, said an anonymous source sent him the documents. The source said they contradict statements made by Google over the years.
“In particular the company’s repeated denial that click-centric user signals are employed, denial that subdomains are considered separately in rankings, denials of a sandbox for newer websites, denials that a domain’s age is collected or considered and more,” Fishkin said.
Mike King, the founder and CEO of digital marketing agency iPullRank, wrote an overview of the leaked documents and said he “contexualised” them with previous Google leaks and documents revealed from the ongoing antitrust case the tech giant is facing in the US. King claimed this initial review suggests Google has “lied” over the years.
“‘Lied’ is harsh, but it’s the only accurate word to use here,” King said. “While I don’t necessarily fault Google’s public representatives for protecting their proprietary information, I do take issue with their efforts to actively discredit people in the marketing, tech and journalism worlds who have presented reproducible discoveries.”
How accurate are these claims?
The technical details of the documents make it difficult to confirm these claims and it must be noted that experts such as King are directly involved in the SEO sector. The anonymous source who leaked the documents to Fishkin quickly revealed himself to be Erfan Azimi, the founder and CEO of SEO company EA Eagle Digital.
A report by The Register looking at the documents said the leaked files are noteworthy as they reveal the things Google considers important when ranking web pages for relevancy. But it also said there is “scant information” about what the thousands of attributes in the documents are used for or their importance.
The Verge reports that the documents don’t appear to be a “smoking gun” against Google, but offer a deep look into what is normally regarded as a “tightly guarded black box”.
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