Google Leak: 10 Tips for gaining visibility

" Google Leak " refers to the disclosure of Google's API documentation in May 2024. A total of 14,000 factors, which influence the ranking order in search results, were revealed. 

This documentation highlights the data collected by Google. This does not mean that all data is used to establish SERP rankings. However, the last twenty versions of a website are stored. This is why SEO requires constant effort.

From the analysis of these thousands of criteria, it is possible to establish general guidelines that will help you better comply with Google's expectations, and thus improve your SEO. Here, then, are ten tips for gaining visibility thanks to the Google Leak.

1- Establish a specific, sustainable editorial line

Google attaches great importance to the relevance of content on a website. In particular, it uses an LLM to assess the quality of an article or page. In addition, an indicator, Topical Authoritywas found in Google documentation. It is used to detect whether a website's new content is consistent with the identity assigned to it by Google. It should be noted that Google takes brand popularity into account in its rankings, hence the importance of developing your own and publishing quality information.

💡 So it's a good idea to think about a blog's editorial line, to publish articles that relate to it and contain reliable, rich information.

2- Focus on information density rather than content length

The idea that content length is a criterion for SEO has long persisted. Now, however, it seems to be the density of information contained in an article that is taken into account. So there's no need to artificially lengthen an article.

💡 Google is especially keen to highlight content that delivers real knowledge.

3- Associate titles and target query

The Google Leak has reminded us of the importance of inserting target keywords in the title tags of articles. This is an additional signal that a piece of content is relevant. In fact, Google search is based on an analysis of the meaning of an Internet user's query. So it's important to make it clear that a piece of content responds to a specific search intention, so that it can be highlighted.

💡 Paying particular attention to titles and search intentions is therefore essential.

4- Consolidate authors' authority

The documentation suggests that the E-E-A-T criterion does not have the primacy that Google seemed to give it. However, it would appear that authors can be identified and treated as entities using knowledge graphs. An author's influence can therefore influence the ranking of his or her content in the SERP.

💡 It's best not to overlook the criterion of expertise, even if the public indications given by Google seem incomplete.

5- Regularly update content... and internal links!

Google's algorithms take content updates into account. In fact, they are considered a favorable indicator for SEO, since they suggest that content is enriched and always up to date. 

In addition, it is important toupdate the internal links. In particular, recent articles should be linked to older articles, and vice versa. This reinforces semantic coherence in Google's eyes, and allows a website to be seen as a collection of linked pages with relevant content.

💡 It's a good idea to update your website's content and internal links on a regular basis.

Be careful, however, not to update content en masse, as Google may consider such updates to be spam, and thus impose penalties.

6- Beware of AI-generated content

Google Leak has revealed a ranking factor called "AGC", for Artificially Generated Content. If Google detects Artificially Generated Content, it could mean that too many articles that aren't written by humans can hurt SERP rankings.

💡 Making sure you write content manually is a safety precaution, since Google could decide to downgrade the ranking of all pages with generated content.

7- Pay particular attention to the home page

The home page, also known as the index page, is considered the gateway to your website. It's here that visitors are directed to the content that interests them. It's therefore essential to work on the navigation paths it offers, as well as their coherence.

💡 The ranking of the home page affects the ranking of all the others.

8- Think globally: optimize the entire site, not just individual pages

For a long time, it was thought that Google based its SERP rankings solely on page performance. However, the announcement of the arrival of the E-E-A-T criterion has called this idea into question. Indeed, the website seems to be perceived as a whole that needs to be optimized in its entirety. 

💡 The aim is not to optimize every page, but rather to build a website in which visitors can easily find the information they're looking for, that it's genuinely useful to them, and that it's easy to navigate.

9- Analyze page performance and sort it out!

Pages and links that perform poorly in terms of click-throughs can degrade a website's SERP ranking. It's therefore important to monitor the analytics offered by SEO tools to determine which ones to optimize, and which to remove.

💡 Tracking the performance of your website's pages helps you identify which ones to delete and thus maintain your performance, or even improve it!

10- Get clicks to move up the SERP: Google Ads

Last but not least, the Google Leak uncovered the existence of NavBoost. This algorithm takes into account the number of clicks recorded by each page, and influences its ranking in the SERP. So, if a page performs poorly, it will be given less prominence in an organic search.

NavBoost enables Google to adjust its search results according to user behavior. If the results of a query A lead users to formulate a query B, the results of query B will appear in response to query A.

💡 If a page is invisibilized by Google, it's advisable to use Google Ads to sponsor them. In fact, this will increase the number of clicks recorded, which will improve its ranking in organic search.

👉 More tips to improve your website's visibility on search engines: How to appear in Google's AI Overviews?