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Evidence reference
Search Engine Land reported that Illyes said click behavior could be used directly in certain cases, including personalized search results.
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This is a stable reference page for one canonical claim in the Editory evidence base. It exists for traceability and citations; the curated documentation is the readable entry point.
Cited by documentation
Sources
- Former Googler: Google 'using clicks in rankings'
Search Engine Land · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-21
“In certain cases it makes sense to use clicks directly. For instance if you have personalized results” — Quoted Illyes/Sullivan exchange (2015 SMX AMA transcript excerpt)
“the thing [click through rates] is about personalization” — Following line of the same quoted exchange
- #SMX Advanced keynote: Google's Gary Illyes talks RankBrain, Penguin update & more
Search Engine Land · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-21
“We use clicks for very specific things, like personalization” — Audience-questions section of live-blog
- SMX Advanced 2015 Live Blog: AMA With Google Search
Search Engine Land · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-21
“In certain cases, it does make sense to use clicks — in personalized results, for example.” — HTML lines 279-284
Release: seo-geo-product-v0.3 · Phase Two freeze: P2-CORE300-FINAL-v1.0 · Generated: 2026-08-23T08:01:40Z