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Dofollow Digest #4: first look at Google's leaked API docs

Dofollow Digest #4: first look at Google's leaked API docs

Eric Carrell
June 08, 2024

Greetings, compadres -

Eric Carrell here with dofollow.com. This is issue #4 of our newsletter series on SEO for marketing leaders.

In case you haven’t heard, 2,500 pages of Google search API documentation was leaked on May 27th, 2024. This API documentation has given SEOs an insider look on how the ranking systems work.

However, while we know the documentation update is at least newer than August, 2023 and Google has verified the leak, it’s possible some of the information is outdated.

Over the next couple of newsletters, we’ll explore takeaways from the documentation leak. In this issue, we’ll discuss key takeways as they pertain to link building, specifically.

Let’s get into it.

🔬First Looks at Google’s API Docs

In this issue, we’re going to focus on link specific information that was leaked in Google’s API docs. In following issues, we’ll examine other information and areas as we research the documents more in depth. Since we’re a link building firm who is always trying to stay up to date with the latest information coming out of Google, our eyes went straight to new information surrounding the role of links in SEO.

Here are key takeaways regarding links/site authority/linking infrastructure in the Google API leak:

Google does have a domain authority feature

Google has long downplayed the idea of a domain authority function in their ranking algorithm, but from the leaks we’ve learned that they actually do measure the strength of an entire domain.

In fact, a recent study showed that 96% of websites ranking in the top ten search results had over 1,000 referring domains.

This, paired with leaks showing that Google actually does have a domain authority feature, shows how important it is to actively build links from authoritative websites.

Google’s site authority metric isn’t to be confused with third party sitewide metrics like DA or DR, and we still don’t know all of the ins and outs of the signals.

Fresh links appear to have more value

From the documentation, we’ve been able to discern that links in fresh, newer content seem to have more value. At dofollow.com, we always try to build links in newer content. We’ve understood that older content might get crawled less, so we’ve wanted to focus on building fresh links.

However, from the documentation, we also understand that some pages that have lots of internal links and traffic also hold value because it’s a stronger page.

This doesn’t mean that building links in older content is ineffective, but the takeaway should be to opt for building links in fresh content when possible.

Anchor text

There are a few things to note about anchor text here. First, Google has a score to measure the spamminess of an anchor text. Over-optimization of anchor texts can get your page demoted. I was very happy to get this data in - we still have to fight with clients who want over-optimized anchors, and I’m surprised people still insist on it. Your anchors should be relevant, natural, and diversified.

Also, it seems that Google also uses the surrounding text to understand the link. This means that it’s important to note where your link is being placed, that it’s relevant and makes sense for the article.

To get an assessment of your backlink profile to see if any risky backlinks may have been built by others, you can reach out to us for a free backlink assessment at the bottom of this email.

📰 Industry News & Google Updates

Interested in getting a free link building assessment? We’ll do a deep dive into your backlink profile to find any toxic links, areas of improvement, quick wins, etc. Get in touch below :)