In this Whiteboard Friday, Tom touches on four particular insights gleaned from the recent Google documentation leak.

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Google confirms leaked documents are authentic, urges caution in interpreting the data. The post Google Validates Leak, Igniting Questions Around Search Transparency appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

After over 32 hours of silence after the Google Search ranking data leak, Google has finally confirmed the leak, but urged caution around making assumptions on how Google Search ranking works based on the documents.

Google added a couple of new options to the spam reporting tool, including the new site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse, to the form. Again, Google announced these new spam policies last March, enforcing the site reputation abuse this earlier this month.

Earlier this week, we reported on some declines in the number of links reported in the Google Search Console links report. Well, it got a lot worse this morning, and now everyone is seeing huge declines in the link report.

Google is testing shading and boxing in the people also ask details within the mobile Google Search results. So instead of just a plain snippet interface, Google is testing adding some layers to the result by boxing it in with a colored background element.

Google is incentivizing searchers to leave notes on Google Search and Google Discover results by offering them an “early adopter badge.” Google is showing this message in the Google Discover feed and it says, “Add a note to earn a badge.”

Google has added a wheelchair-accessible icon to the Business Profile listings in Google Maps of businesses that self-claim they are wheelchair-accessible.