# Inside Google’s Ranking System: New Insights from Engineer Testimony
Google’s search ranking process has long been a mystery for website owners and SEO professionals. Now, thanks to recently revealed testimony from a Google engineer, we have unprecedented insights into how the search giant determines which pages appear at the top of search results.
The deposition, part of the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, provides rare technical details about Google’s ranking systems that go beyond the company’s typically guarded public statements about its algorithm.
## The Truth About Manual Rankings
Contrary to what some might believe, Google does not manually rank websites. The testimony confirms that Google relies on sophisticated algorithms built from what they call “hand-crafted signals.” These signals aren’t direct human assignments of rankings but rather carefully designed algorithmic components created by engineers.
These hand-crafted signals incorporate data from multiple sources, including quality raters who evaluate search results, user engagement metrics, and statistical models designed to function across billions of web pages.
## Google’s ABC Ranking Signals Revealed
Perhaps the most valuable insight from the deposition is the confirmation of Google’s core “ABC signals” that form the foundation of its ranking system:
### Anchors
The “A” represents anchors – the external links pointing to a webpage. These inbound links serve as votes of confidence from other sites, signaling a page’s authority and trustworthiness on a particular topic. This confirms what SEO professionals have long believed: quality backlinks remain fundamental to Google’s assessment of page authority.
### Body
The “B” stands for body content. This signal evaluates the presence and context of search query terms within a page’s actual content. Beyond simple keyword matching, Google analyzes how thoroughly and relevantly a page addresses the topic, indicating its topical relevance to specific queries.
### Clicks
The “C” represents clicks and user interaction data. While Google has historically downplayed the importance of click data, the deposition reveals that user engagement metrics like dwell time (how long users stay on a page) do factor into rankings as signals of content satisfaction.
Together, these ABC signals create what Google calls a “topicality” score – a fundamental measurement of how relevant a page is to a particular search query.
## Advanced AI Systems in Google Search
The testimony also confirms Google’s extensive use of cutting-edge artificial intelligence in its ranking systems. Google employs sophisticated models leveraging transformer architecture and BERT technology, collectively termed “eDeepRank,” to evaluate content quality and relevance.
These AI-driven systems enable Google to understand content nuances far beyond keyword matching, helping the search engine better interpret search intent and the contextual meaning of content. This represents a significant evolution from earlier algorithms that focused primarily on keyword density and exact matches.
## Quality Scoring and Popularity Signals
One particularly interesting revelation was Google’s use of a Chrome-based popularity signal. This indicates that Google incorporates browser-derived data to evaluate a site’s popularity in addition to traditional measures like links and engagement metrics.
The deposition also described how Google scores content quality through multiple algorithmic layers, confirming that content quality assessment is not a single measurement but a complex evaluation using numerous factors.
## The Full Complexity of Google’s Ranking System
Beyond the ABC signals and AI components, the testimony revealed that Google applies hundreds or thousands of additional algorithms for:
– Content indexing and analysis
– Link quality assessment
– Anti-spam measures
– Personalization factors
– Result re-ranking
This multi-layered approach ensures the most authoritative and relevant content rises to the top while maintaining trustworthiness and preventing manipulation of the system.
## What This Means for Website Owners and SEO Professionals
These revelations provide valuable confirmation of best practices for anyone looking to improve their search visibility:
1. **Content quality matters**: Google’s sophisticated AI can distinguish between high-quality, comprehensive content and thin or superficial material.
2. **Backlinks remain crucial**: The “Anchors” component confirms that quality links from authoritative sources continue to be a cornerstone of Google’s ranking assessment.
3. **User experience is a ranking factor**: The “Clicks” signal validates the importance of creating engaging content that satisfies user needs and keeps them on your page.
4. **Technical optimization alone isn’t enough**: With Google’s advanced understanding of content, focusing solely on keywords without delivering value is insufficient.
5. **Multiple ranking factors work together**: No single element determines rankings; instead, it’s the combination of signals across Google’s complex systems that determines position.
## The Bigger Picture
What makes this deposition particularly valuable is its context within a legal proceeding, which required more candid and technical disclosures than Google typically offers in its public communications about search.
The testimony provides authoritative confirmation that Google combines human expertise (through data from quality raters), advanced AI models, user behavior analytics, and multiple algorithmic layers to rank web pages.
While the full intricacies of Google’s algorithm remain proprietary, these insights offer the clearest picture yet of how the world’s dominant search engine determines which content deserves to be seen. For website owners and SEO professionals, understanding these fundamentals is crucial for creating content strategies that align with Google’s increasingly sophisticated evaluation systems.
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