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The most recent Google API leak has sent SEO experts and digital marketing firms into a spin as it seems to indicate that massive changes are coming to Google’s search algorithm. However, taking a closer look at the leak itself reveals that updates to this algorithm are likely not as world-shattering as previous changes have been. Regardless, any time these leaks happen, it means that changes are coming; below is a breakdown of the key insights and takeaways that SEO professionals need to be aware of.
The documents that were leaked revealed simple API calls to a data warehouse. This means that the leak wasn’t an algorithm leak of proposed changes but simply specific data that Google is intent on storing, which may or may not affect search rankings. However, the level of data that Google is willing to store in these data warehouses indicates and confirms the idea that Google keeps a standing record of all a site’s performance and usage data over time. The implications of that record-keeping are that firms need to consistently employ top-of-the-line SEO practices over the lifetime of a domain.
One of the more interesting aspects of the leak was the exact data that was being stored in the API calls. The leaks show that Google has decided to store greater amounts of usage data from sources like Chrome and performance metrics of the domain, which includes user interaction data. The performance data collected seems to indicate that this may be something that begins to affect the search rankings more with the next update to the engine. Click data and non-click mentions also were collected in the leak which seems to indicate Google attempting to collect a much broader range of data. Whether or not this impacts search rankings again remains to be seen.
Minimally, this leak won’t drastically change how SEO should be implemented, but it does demonstrate that Google is at least collecting more comprehensive data about your site. As a result, there are two main takeaways from this leak that firms need to keep in mind moving forward. The first is that since Google is willing to send a lot of this comprehensive data to warehouses, almost everything about your practices could be recorded. Transparency and ethical SEO practices are key, and any shady behavior will almost certainly be identified as more data is stored and may begin to your site’s rankings moving forward.
The other critical point from this leak that is worth mentioning is that SEO professionals need to be optimize all aspects of their site’s performance. Google’s algorithm will inevitably change over time along with their criteria for what affects their search rankings. Google is clearly collecting more comprehensive user and site data with this leak so it’s important for firms to prepare for potential changes by making these optimizations which will help site performance in the long run and in the present.
While this leak was not as groundbreaking as you may have expected, it at the very least indicates that Google has begun to track and store a wider variety of data about your site and will continue to do so in the future. If you are looking to grow your presence in search rankings and have hit a roadblock in your strategy, contact MedShark Digital and let us take care of your digital marketing needs so you don’t have to.