Confirmed today by the company, a collection of 2,500 confidential files from Google has surfaced, disclosing intricate insights into the data collected by the tech giant. Prior to this acknowledgment, Google had maintained silence regarding these materials.
The revealed documents outline the various data Google gathers, which might affect its secretive search ranking system. They offer a rare but unclear peek into how one of the web’s most powerful systems operates.
SEO specialists Rand Fishkin and Mike King initially brought attention to the leaked material. They both conducted preliminary analyses of the documents and shared their findings earlier this week.
The leaked material indicates that Google gathers and possibly utilizes data, such as clicks, Chrome user data, and others, despite company claims that these don’t impact webpage rankings in Google Search. While the extensive documents serve as an information source for Google staff, it remains unclear which data points are actively employed for search ranking.
The information could be outdated, solely for training, or collected without direct application to Search. Additionally, the documents offer no insight into how various elements are prioritized in search algorithms, if at all.
Nevertheless, the disclosed information is sure to roll throughout the search engine optimization (SEO), marketing, and publishing sectors.