--- type: "Article" title: "Google site authority | E-E-A-T trust signals" description: "What the leaked siteAuthority attribute is, how it squares with Google's domain authority denials, and what the hostAge sandbox debate shows." resource: "https://www.laurelinlabs.com/search-systems/site-authority" tags: ["google-site-authority", "e-e-a-t-trust-signals", "siteauthority-leak"] generated: { by: "laurelin-site-build/2026-09-02", at: "2026-09-02T12:00:00+00:00" } status: "stable" stale_after: "2027-03-02T00:00:00+00:00" --- # Site authority (siteAuthority) siteAuthority is an attribute in the Google Content Warehouse API documentation leaked in May 2024, described as converted from a quality signal and applied in Qstar, Google's quality score. Googlers had said for years that Google does not have an overall domain authority score. The two can both be true: siteAuthority is a quality input, not a third-party style link metric. Google has not confirmed how it is used. For a site, it means reputation accrues at site level and new hosts start from little. ## What is siteAuthority? siteAuthority is an attribute in the leaked Google Content Warehouse API documentation. In the [CompressedQualitySignals module](https://google-api-content-warehouse.hexdocs.pm/0.4.0/GoogleApi.ContentWarehouse.V1.Model.CompressedQualitySignals.html) it is described as "converted from quality_nsr.SiteAuthority, applied in Qstar". Qstar is the quality score described in trial exhibits as [Q*](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/search-systems/q-star-quality-score). Mike King of iPullRank was among the first to highlight it, in an analysis dated [May 27, 2024](https://ipullrank.com/google-algo-leak). ## What has Google said about domain authority? Googlers have repeatedly said Google does not use an overall domain authority score. Search Engine Roundtable reported one of the most quoted examples, a tweet from Gary Illyes, on [October 28, 2016](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-domain-authority-22906.html). Read closely, the statements and the leak are not a direct contradiction. The denials were usually aimed at third-party metrics such as Moz's Domain Authority, which are link-based estimates. siteAuthority is documented as a converted quality signal feeding Qstar. What the leak does undermine is the looser message that Google has no site-level measure of standing at all. ## What evidence is there that Google uses site authority? The evidence label is leak evidence. The attribute name and its one-line description are real documentation, and Google did not dispute the leak's authenticity, but the documentation does not show weights, how siteAuthority is computed, or whether it was in use at the time of the leak. Separately, Google's own [ranking systems guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide) confirms that site-wide signals exist, and DOJ exhibit [PXR0356](https://www.justice.gov/atr/media/1398871/dl) describes Q as largely related to the site rather than the query. Those support the idea of a site-level quality input without confirming the siteAuthority attribute specifically. ## What about hostAge and the Google sandbox? The sandbox debate is about whether new sites are held back. The leaked [PerDocData module](https://google-api-content-warehouse.hexdocs.pm/0.4.0/GoogleApi.ContentWarehouse.V1.Model.PerDocData.html) includes a hostAge attribute, described as the earliest firstseen date of all pages on a host, with data "used in twiddler to sandbox fresh spam in serving time". That wording supports a narrow claim: new hosts can be filtered when they look like spam. It does not show a blanket delay for every new site. [SparkToro](https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/) and [iPullRank](https://ipullrank.com/google-algo-leak) both presented it as contradicting earlier Google denials of a sandbox. ## What does site authority mean for my site? Build standing on one host. Content published on a fresh subdomain, microsite or newly registered domain starts without the site-level signals the main host has accumulated, and new hosts are the ones the hostAge description associates with spam filtering. A falsifiable test: when you launch a new section, compare time to first impressions for URLs placed in a subfolder of the established host against a comparable set on a new subdomain. If site-level signals matter as the leak suggests, the subfolder set should gain impressions faster. ## Which Laurelin audit checks test for site authority? The new check, [content split across new subdomains or microsites instead of the established host](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/authority-network/372-content-split-across-new-subdomains-or-microsites-instead-of-the), flags where a site is dividing its standing. It is a proxy: siteAuthority cannot be read from outside Google. Related existing checks: - [Low referring domain authority vs competitors](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/authority-network/281-low-referring-domain-authority-vs-competitors): third-party link metrics are the nearest observable proxy, with the caveats above. - [Expired domain parasite abuse](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/guardrails/305-expired-domain-parasite-abuse): the abuse pattern that trades on inherited site-level standing. - [Unintended cross-domain canonical](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/technical-foundations/54-unintended-cross-domain-canonical): sends signals to another host by mistake. - [Redirect to an irrelevant page](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/technical-foundations/34-redirect-to-an-irrelevant-page): migrations that fail to carry signals to equivalent URLs. - [Thin content](https://www.laurelinlabs.com/audit/topical-content/159-thin-content): weak pages dilute a site-level quality signal. ## What are the key dates for Google site authority? - 2016-10-28: Search Engine Roundtable reports Gary Illyes saying Google does not really have overall domain authority ([source](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-domain-authority-22906.html)) - 2024-05-27: iPullRank analysis highlights the siteAuthority attribute in leaked documentation ([source](https://ipullrank.com/google-algo-leak)) - 2024-05-29: Google comments on the leak, cautioning against out-of-context assumptions ([source](https://searchengineland.com/google-responds-to-leak-documentation-lacks-context-442705)) ## FAQ ### Does Google use domain authority? Google does not use third-party metrics such as Moz's Domain Authority. The 2024 leak does show a siteAuthority attribute described as applied in Qstar, Google's quality score, but not how it is calculated or weighted. ### Is the Google sandbox real? The leak shows a hostAge attribute described as used to sandbox fresh spam at serving time. That supports filtering of spammy new hosts, not a fixed delay for all new sites. Hub: [Trust Signals](/topics/trust-signals.md)