Google admits massive document leak related to search algorithm is authentic
NY Post
Google has confirmed that a massive leak of some 2,500 internal documents related to its search engine is authentic – and one expert said the trove shows that “Google tells us one thing and they do another” when it comes to its mysterious algorithms.
The tech giant has been secretive about how its search engine works even as it has wielded outsize influence over the flow of information, traffic and ad revenue online.
Some details appeared to contradict past public statements by Google employees regarding which factors are and are not used to calculate rankings.
For example, a Google Search employee said in 2016 that the company doesn’t “have a website authority score.”
The company has also explicitly denied using Chrome data in search rankings.
Information in the documents, however, suggests that Google considers click rates, data from its Chrome web browser, website size and a factor called “domain authority” – a measure of a website’s importance or relevance on a particular subject – to guide rankings.
