I get this is the go-to response now, for good reason, but there isn't really anything too shady going on with this particular case at least not from Google. This is more about them trying to keep SEOs from figuring out how they rank things so they can't pollute the search results even more.
Every comment is shitting on Google but here is the what the SEO expert said about the leak when it was presented to them:
This person’s sole aim appeared quite aligned with my own: to hold Google accountable for public statements that conflict with private conversations and leaked documentation, and to bring greater transparency to the field of search marketing. And they believed that, despite my years removed from SEO, I was the best person to share this publicly.
Just read through that blog. Look at the absolute indignity these SEO assholes have at the idea that the search engine wouldn't tell them exactly how to fuck it up with their garbage.
This is entirely about advertising. Hell, the leaker revealed their identity, and it's the guy that runs this company:
Companies like this and the assholes behind them are a cancer on the internet and they have been for a very long time. You cannot point the finger at Google and not also point the finger at them, they are the other half of the shit equation.
As I just noted on another response, mostly it was that I came up with a delicious turn of phrase and couldn't not post it. And yes, while broadly I think that Google deserves every bit of shit that's thrown their way and more - that they could vanish from the face of the Earth tomorrow and the internet could only benefit - this particular incident really isn't a good example.
Oh FFS. Hadn't realized that implication yet. I fucking hate SEO internet polluters.
I suppose on the bright side maybe, between this and the garbage showing from their AI search, they'll actually dedicate the necessary resources to make their search usable.
Forgive me for not reading all 2500 documents, but I haven't heard anything to suggest there was a bunch of sinister stuff in there -- and there's nothing implicitly evil about having docs leaked.
I have to admit that I was so pleased with that turn of phrase when it came to me that I went ahead and posted it in spite of the fact that this specific incident doesn't appear to be a good example.
Now it would be bloody awesome if someone would leak how their data collection in Android works and how much of their privacy policy is actually not just for good PR.
A collection of 2,500 leaked internal documents from Google filled with details about data the company collects is authentic, the company confirmed today. Until now, Google had refused to comment on the materials.
The documents in question detail data that Google is keeping track of, some of which may be used in its closely guarded search ranking algorithm. The documents offer an unprecedented — though still murky — look under the hood of one of the most consequential systems shaping the web
Its all about governments not protecting their citizens from the beginning, with things that are quite obvious. Even using these corporations in benefit for politicians. Corporations will always try to get the biggest beef at the lowest spending, there is no news here.