What does Google say about SEO?

Search through official Google statements about search engine optimization

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15418 statement(s) found
Should you really ditch Markdown for HTML when it comes to SEO?
John Mueller Jun 23, 2026 ★★★
During the Off The Record podcast episode, John Mueller and Martin Splitt reaffirmed that HTML remains the absolute standard for SEO, with Markdown offering no benefits for search engine optimization. Search engines and crawlers have been optimized f...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO
Should you use localized subdirectories to boost your international SEO?
John Mueller Jun 23, 2026 ★★★
According to John Mueller, choosing between a generic folder structure (e.g., /blog/) or a localized one (e.g., /en-us/blog/) to target the U.S. market (or another market) makes no practical difference for SEO. If using country-specific subfolders pr...
Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure Local Search Search Console International SEO
How can you optimize your content for Google's generative search results?
John Mueller Jun 18, 2026 ★★★
Google recommends providing valuable, unique, and non-standardized content to optimize your presence in generative search results. Local, visual, and video content is encouraged, and documents include tips and clarifications for working with AI agent...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Images & Videos PDF & Files Local Search
Should you trust Google's AI impressions in Search Console to measure your content's real performance?
John Mueller Jun 18, 2026 ★★★
Google Search Console offers performance reports for generative AI, measuring your site's visibility in AI-related features. These reports are currently based on the number of impressions of your site's pages in those features.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO Web Performance Search Console
Should you block your content from Google's AI responses?
John Mueller Jun 18, 2026 ★★★
Google Search Console introduces a control that allows site owners to choose how their content and links appear in AI generative search features. It is advisable to consult the documentation to understand the implications of this setting.
Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files Search Console
Could Google Search creator profiles change the SEO game?
John Mueller Jun 18, 2026 ★★
Google is launching search profiles for creators and publishers based in the United States, providing a space to showcase their social content. These profiles allow for tracking the performance of their content on Google Search and enhancing their so...
Content AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Web Performance Social Media Search Console
How can you leverage Google's preferred sources to excel in AI Overviews and Top Stories?
John Mueller Jun 18, 2026 ★★
Google is expanding the 'preferred sources' option, which enhances the visibility of your content in top stories and in AI Mode and Overviews features, making it easier for users to add your site.
Content AI & SEO
Should you convert your site to Markdown to boost your SEO?
John Mueller Jun 15, 2026 ★★★
Transforming your website into Markdown for better recognition by language models does not provide any tangible advantage, since search crawlers are already optimized to handle HTML, which is the backbone of the web.
Domain Age & History Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO International SEO
Why is HTML still essential for crawling in 2025?
John Mueller Jun 15, 2026 ★★★
Having HTML pages is critical for a search engine to identify the links and structure of your site, which is essential for crawling and discovering new content.
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing Links & Backlinks Pagination & Structure
Should you create separate versions of your site for LLMs, or is that a recipe for chaos?
Martin Splitt Jun 15, 2026 ★★★
Creating parallel versions of your site for different purposes, such as for LLM systems, increases complexity and can lead to errors that are difficult to spot since automated systems won't signal the issues as human users would.
AI & SEO
Do text files for AI really enhance your SEO discoverability?
John Mueller Jun 15, 2026 ★★
Creating text files for AI systems can be useful if these systems want to crawl your site, but it does not improve initial discovery by search engines or AI, which mainly rely on HTML.
Content AI & SEO PDF & Files
Is HTML still the only format that Google can effectively index?
John Mueller Jun 15, 2026 ★★★
HTML remains the standard for being discovered by search engines, and it is important to maintain web pages in HTML to ensure effective long-term SEO.
Domain Age & History AI & SEO
Should you double your documentation in Markdown to please Google’s AI?
Martin Splitt Jun 15, 2026 ★★
For documentation or sites offering code, creating Markdown versions can be beneficial for AI systems that will analyze the content in detail, but that requires having an HTML version for human users as well.
Content AI & SEO PDF & Files
Should you really create an LLMs.txt file for your website?
John Mueller Jun 09, 2026 ★★★
On Reddit, a user questioned why Google seemed to be playing both sides regarding the LLMs.txt file. John Mueller's response: "When an AI platform that brings you clients indicates that it needs the file for your site, I recommend taking the time to ...
Domain Age & History Content AI & SEO Links & Backlinks PDF & Files
Are the Quality Raters Guidelines really a reliable indicator of ranking criteria?
John Mueller Jun 02, 2026 ★★
According to John Mueller from Google, the Search Quality Raters Guidelines are neither an action plan nor a manual for positioning a website in search results. The content of these guidelines does not directly correspond to the ranking criteria of G...
Algorithms Content
Is it really necessary to split your XML sitemap into multiple files?
John Mueller May 26, 2026 ★★★
Some SEO experts choose to split their XML sitemap into several categories based on their site structure. In a Reddit discussion, John Mueller shared the reasons he has observed over the years: Tracking by URL groups: This allows for monitoring disti...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing E-commerce AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Domain Name Pagination & Structure PDF & Files Search Console International SEO
Is it really necessary to check Search Console daily, or are email alerts enough?
John Mueller May 26, 2026 ★★★
On Reddit, John Mueller clarified the usefulness of Search Console email alerts. He believes that email alerts are very beneficial as they indicate major issues. They allow for a quick one-click check to decide whether to take action or ignore the ...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Search Console
Is Google's indexing API becoming unusable due to abuse?
John Mueller May 19, 2026 ★★★
John Mueller stated on Bluesky that Google's indexing API is overwhelmed by bloggers attempting to pose as legitimate sites. This situation is pushing Google to become stricter about access to this tool. This is not the first time Mueller has raised ...
Domain Age & History Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO Penalties & Spam
Is AI truly simplifying SEO workflows or are there critical technical risks lurking beneath the surface?
John Mueller May 07, 2026 ★★
AI can facilitate the creation and testing of websites, but having a technical understanding of deployment scripts, pre-submissions, and linting remains crucial to ensure site integrity, particularly regarding robots.txt files and API keys.
Content Crawl & Indexing AI & SEO JavaScript & Technical SEO PDF & Files Search Console
Are AI-generated websites really undetectable by Google?
John Mueller May 07, 2026 ★★★
Websites generated via 'vibe coding,' which means programmed by AI in natural language, can look like normal sites and do not necessarily reveal their automated origin unless specific models or platforms often associated with this type of generation ...
Domain Age & History AI & SEO International SEO
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