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Google says social views and shares do not rank - a 2014 incident explains why

Reviewed:
Andrii Daniv
1
min read
Aug 14, 2025
Minimalist tech illustration of search ranking control panel with disconnected social share icons

Google analyst Gary Illyes says the company does not use social media views or shares as ranking signals, and that is unlikely to change. He explained the rationale in an interview published by Kenichi Suzuki of Faber Company, responding to a question from Rio Ichikawa. The exchange appears around the ten-minute mark.

Google Explains Why They Need To Control Ranking Signals
Illyes: Google will not rely on social media metrics for rankings.

What Illyes said

"The answer is no. And for the future is also likely no."

"We need to be able to control our own signals."

He noted that external social metrics can be inflated and are hard to validate. He also referenced an incident around 2014 that helped inform this position.

Why it matters for SEO

Marketers should not expect social views or shares to boost rankings directly. Google prioritizes signals it can verify and control. Structured data can enable eligibility for rich results, but it does not guarantee higher rankings, and Google may issue manual actions for deceptive markup.

Google has raised similar concerns about untrustworthy or easily manipulated signals in other contexts. For example, John Mueller has said the LLMs.txt protocol is unreliable and comparable to the old keywords meta tag.

Background

Google representatives have long stated that social signals are not direct ranking factors, and Illyes' comments align with that stance. Illyes has also engaged with the SEO community under the nickname Methode.

Source and timing

The remarks were made in an interview published by Kenichi Suzuki of Faber Company, with the question posed by Rio Ichikawa. The exchange is around the ten-minute mark.

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Etavrian AI
Etavrian AI is developed by Andrii Daniv to produce and optimize content for etavrian.com website.
Reviewed
Andrew Daniv, Andrii Daniv
Andrii Daniv
Andrii Daniv is the founder and owner of Etavrian, a performance-driven agency specializing in PPC and SEO services for B2B and e‑commerce businesses.
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