Federal Court Forces Google to Share Navboost Click Data With Competitors

A federal judge just ordered Google to hand over its Navboost click data to competitors.

If you’ve been reading our blog, you already know what Navboost is. It’s Google’s internal system that uses click-and-query data to adjust search rankings. It came to light during the DOJ antitrust trial in 2023, when a senior Google engineer confirmed under oath that click data is “the main signal used by Navboost.”

That was the trial. Now we’re in the remedy phase. And the remedy tells you even more than the trial did.

The court’s order.

As part of the antitrust remedies, the court ruled that Google must share its Navboost data with qualified competitors who meet certain security standards. Not the models or algorithms built from the data — the underlying data itself. That includes query text, user language, location, device type, ranking information, and SERP interaction data: clicks, hovers, and time spent on pages.

Google must also share what it calls “Glue” data — a related dataset covering how users actually interact with search results.

The data-sharing mandate lasts six years and implementation begins 60 days after the final judgment is entered. Separately, the court barred Google from entering exclusive default search deals, though it can still pay for non-exclusive placement.

Why the remedy matters more than the trial testimony.

During the trial, we learned that Google uses click data for rankings. That was significant. But a court ordering Google to share that data with competitors? That’s a whole different level of confirmation.

Think about what this remedy implies. The judge determined that Navboost data is so central to how search rankings work that other companies literally cannot build a competitive search engine without access to it. If click signals were a minor ranking factor — nice to have but not essential — this remedy would make no sense. You don’t force a company to share data that doesn’t matter.

The court effectively said: click data is the competitive moat. It’s the thing that makes Google’s rankings work. And without it, no one else can compete.

What this means for you.

We’ve spent years presenting evidence that CTR is a ranking factor. We’ve pointed to patents, engineer quotes, sworn testimony, and internal documents. This is one more piece of that puzzle — and it’s a big one.

A federal court has now determined that click-and-query data is so important to search rankings that withholding it from competitors constitutes an antitrust violation. That’s not us saying clicks matter. That’s the United States judiciary saying it.

Does this mean CTR is the only thing that matters? No. We’ve always been clear that CTR is one factor among many. But when a federal judge builds an antitrust remedy around the premise that click data is essential to search, it’s hard to argue the signal is irrelevant.

If you’ve been on the fence about whether clicks influence rankings, this should settle it.

SerpClix uses an army of over 400,000 real human clickers to boost your organic CTR. Get started with a free trial or log in to your dashboard to set up your next click order.

Please note: there are no guarantees in search engine optimization, ever. There are innumerable factors that can affect search engine rankings. And, realistically, most sites should focus their efforts on traditional SEO before even thinking about using non-traditional techniques like SerpClix. All SEO efforts can involve an element of risk. Some techniques are certainly more risky than others. SerpClix employs real human clickers, so we think our service is far less risky than trying to use automated or robotic click methods. But, like all SEO strategies, there is an element of risk because Google’s algorithm is unknown and subject to change at any time. For more information please see our Buyer FAQs.