Inside the Google algorithm

The algorithm that powers Google Search is one of the most important, most complicated, and least understood systems that rule the internet. As of this week, though, we understand it a little better. Thanks to a huge leak of API documentation, we got an unprecedented look at what Google cares about, how it ranks content, and how it thinks the internet should work. The leaked documentation is dense, and it doesn’t tell us everything about how Google ranks, but it does offer a set of signals we’ve never seen before.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss everything in the leaked documents, the SEO community’s reaction, the potential regulatory implications of it all, and what it means to build a website in 2024.

After that, we talk about the recent spate of media companies (including Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company) making content and technology deals with OpenAI. Are media companies making the same mistakes they did with Facebook and others, or are they actually trying to make sure they don’t make those mistakes again? We have a lot of thoughts, and we also want to hear from you in particular — disclosure is The Verge’s brand, after all, and we want to know how you think we should talk about all this. Email us at vergecast@theverge.com, call the hotline at 866-VERGE11, and tell us everything on your mind.

Finally, we do a lightning round of other tech news, including Apple’s AI plans at WWDC, Discord’s kinda-sorta pivot, a Fitbit for kids, “edgy” engagement, and the Sony party speaker The Verge’s Nilay Patel can’t stop talking about.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with the Google leak:

• Google won’t comment on a potentially massive leak of its search algorithm documentation
• Google confirms the leaked Search documents are real
• From SparkToro: An Anonymous Source Shared Thousands of Leaked Google Search API Documents with Me; Everyone in SEO Should See Them
• From iPullRank: Secrets from the Algorithm: Google Search’s Internal Engineering Documentation Has Leaked
• From Search Engine Land: How SEO moves forward with the Google Content Warehouse API leak

And on OpenAI:

• Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI
• Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
• OpenAI has a new safety team — it’s run by Sam Altman
• Why the OpenAI board fired Sam Altman

And in the lightning round:

• David Pierce’s pick: Discord’s turning the focus back to games with a new redesign
• Alex Cranz’s pick: The Fitbit Ace LTE is like a Nintendo smartwatch for kids
• Nilay’s pick: X is hiding likes to encourage ‘edgy’ engagement