Google Publishes Guidelines For Its Ranking Systems

Google has published a help document that outlines its “notable” ranking systems deployed throughout the years. Some of them are still in use today, while others are not. The list outlines how the company defines each system, how it is used, and what it means for Google Search.

The document, A guide to Google Search ranking systems, lists the ranking systems currently used in Google Search, and those that the company retired.

Those being used include:

  • Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)
  • Crisis Information systems
  • Deduplication systems
  • Exact match domain system
  • Freshness system
  • Helpful content system
  • Link analysis systems and PageRank
  • Local news system
  • Multitask Unified Model (MUM)
  • Neural matching
  • Original content system
  • Removal-based demotion system including legal removals and personal information removals
  • Page experience system
  • Passage ranking system
  • Product reviews system
  • RankBrain
  • Reliable information systems
  • Site diversity system
  • Spam detection systems

Retired ranking systems are either no longer in use, or incorporated into new systems. Here’s a list:

  • Hummingbird
  • Mobile-friendly ranking system
  • Page speed system
  • Panda system
  • Penguin system
  • Secure site system
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