Google Search Ranking Factors Include "Pornyness"

Feb 11, 2019 - 8:27 am 14 by

Google Pornyness Factor

I know Gary Illyes from Google is going to roll his eyes when he sees this post, but I find it funny and I want to share what he wrote on this Reddit AMA regarding Google's ranking factors. He was asked to share some more search ranking factors, and one that he shared was "Pornyness."

It is basic actually, Google does have an adult content classifier and that type of content does get treated differently for many reasons. So yes, it is an easy factor to pull out and say, yes, Google has a factor for adult content. But just the way he said it was funny.

Here was the question:

The CEO of Google during his testifying to Congress about user data (how the search works) said that there were 200 ranking signal factors, but he only mentioned 3 of them: relevance, freshness, popularity. Would you like to mention several more ranking factors? <3 So I will be able to implement them on my website and get better rankings.

He responded saying local, RankBrain, pageRank/links, language, and he added "pornyness."

The RankBrain bit was interested that he said that but whatever. The "pornyness" is true but made me laugh because most probably don't think of it as a factor.

Someone said the name "pornyness" sounds official and Gary wrote "Actually, it kinda is."

Forum discussion at Reddit.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 15, 2025

Jul 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Maps

Google Local Ranking Documentation Updated

Jul 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Automatically Adding Social Media Links To Businesses

Jul 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console Analytics API New Metadata Incomplete Data Points

Jul 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google AdSense

Google AdSense PIN Verification Issues

Jul 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Requests Text/WhatsApp Number During Setup

Jul 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google: There Is No Internal Linking Over Optimization Penalty