Google denied using click data, domain authority, and a sandbox for 15 years. Then evidence emerged: sworn testimony in US v. Google, a leak of 2,500 internal documents describing 14,014 ranking attributes, and a live audit of four QR code generator sites. The evidence contradicts Google's public positions: Navboost, confirmed under oath as a top signal, uses 13 months of click data; a site Authority attribute exists; a host Age attribute sandboxes new sites; Chrome data is used.

The audit tested four sites in the "one-time-payment QR code generators" niche. The test site (3 months old, 42 pages, full schema) ranked positions 47–92 with zero clicks after 13 weeks. Three competitors—qrcd.com (3.4 years), lifetimeqrcodes.com (7 months), ownqrcode.com (7.5 months)—ranked page one despite thin backlink profiles. The test site's impression data shows a week‑2 honeymoon spike followed by a trust window lasting weeks 3–13, with slow climb as trust accrues.

On‑page perfection cannot beat the trust window. New domains need roughly 3 to 9 months before ranking for commercial queries. Migration resets the clock. Five evidence‑backed actions: target winnable queries, match the query exactly in title/H1, keep your domain, secure ten legitimate mentions (directories, social profiles), and win the "last longest click" to trigger Navboost re‑ranking.