Hi folks,

Now that it's been a couple of weeks since the Google API drama, I was wondering what peoples overall takes from it were.

It seemed to me that a lot of the documents just confirmed some industry suspicions - but there were a few interesting bits in there too.

I think that click data will certainly become even more of a focus. I'm also planning a few tests around post authors and looking to see the impact that has.

Will you be changing anything about how you work based on the leak, or is it business as usual?

I'm a bit frustrated that we are all so reliant on a company that basically did a "Bill Clinton" and lied to all our faces about what they have been up to while being happy to take our money and use our data.

In terms of SEO, I'm not sure I'd be doing a whole lot different as what got results will still get results. Until the next time they change the goalposts and update the algo again 🙃

The author thing is interesting. Let us know your results? 

I think the fall out has become less about what nuggets have been revealed we can use to improve rankings and on to the point you make, Google denied claims that were clearly true.

Here's a database someone has created about the Google API leak, lists most of the factors alongside explanations, makes them a little easier to digest https://searchrankingfactors.com/

The overall affect will be minimal. Google is no doubt already making change the weighting of leaked factors. The primary ranking signals won't change. And for businesses who really understand marketing it will be business as normal.

There weren't any real surprises in the documents - many of the functions had already been published in the many patents Google holds.

Consider also that this could easily have been more Google misinformation...

2 minutes ago, fisicx said:

The overall affect will be minimal. Google is no doubt already making change the weighting of leaked factors. The primary ranking signals won't change. And for businesses who really understand marketing it will be business as normal.

There weren't any real surprises in the documents - many of the functions had already been published in the many patents Google holds.

Consider also that this could easily have been more Google misinformation...

It's funny you should say that, in the last couple of days all of the main algorithm tracking tools (algoroo, Mozcast, SemRush etc) are reporting major ranking volatility - the type usually reserved for a major core update.

Definitely feels like Google are scrambling to "patch things up"!

In my opinion, it won't make any difference at all. Anyone that was in the SEO world was not shocked by any of the new data that was revealed. I always assume google is lying to us. 

On 6/10/2024 at 3:04 PM, DSTW said:

It's funny you should say that, in the last couple of days all of the main algorithm tracking tools (algoroo, Mozcast, SemRush etc) are reporting major ranking volatility - the type usually reserved for a major core update.

Volatility usually comes because they were already using iffy techniques. My ranking (across 6 sites) hasn't changed.

Just saw that the guy from Inlinks put a searchable database of the leak up on his website: https://dixonjones.com/google-ranking-signals

Hope that is of some use to anyone wanting to know more!

Just ignore and carry on as normal. Most of the leak was stuff everybody already knew.